#3798. Walking the Line

Art, level: Kindergarten
Posted Sun Jun 18 11:56:48 PDT 2006 by Diane Drosity (malcomliddy@aol.com).
Watson Lane Elementary, Louisville Ky 40272
Materials Required: book---Little Green by Keith Baker
Activity Time: 30-45 minutes
Concepts Taught: line as a tool in art, dramatic interpretation of art element

Date: Age/Grade Level: P1

Subject: Art/Literacy # of Students: 24 # of IEP Students: 9

Major Content: Art / Literacy Unit Title: Art Elements

Lesson Objectives--Students will
· Participate in shared reading of story about line--Little Green by Keith Baker
· Look at various lines and begin to label types of lines
· Participate in walking on various kinds of lines

Connections--National Standards Addressed:
· Standard 2: Using knowledge of structures and functions. Students will begin to develop an understanding of line by looking at various lines and walking on a variety of lines.
· Standard 6: Making connections between visual arts and other disciplines,. Students will integrate language arts and visual arts.

Context----This lesson was designed for a five year old class consisting of thirteen boys and eleven girls with nine African-American students. Nine students have IEPs with disabilities ranging from speech only, attention deficient disorder, severe emotional behavior disorder, and mild Autism. Students will be participating in a shared reading lesson aimed at introducing the children to the element of line. Students will listen to the story Little Green. Students with IEPs will be placed near the front during the shared reading activity and students with ADHD will be given small carpet mats to sit on in order to give these students more boundaries. As the text is being read, students will be making lines in the air with their fingers. After the lesson, students will be taken to the gym (due to a lack of space in the classroom) in order to walk on various lines, which will be made with tape ahead of time. The use of kinesthetic experiences will also help students with IEPs. Other adaptations in this lesson include: behavior contracts, guidance from teacher.

Resources--
Book: Little Green by Keith Baker
Tape
Audiocassette of "I Walk the Line" by Johnny Cash

Procedures--Day 1: Students will be reminded of the first art element discussed during power point presentation. Students will be told that they will be listening to a story about a little boy who watches a bird and copies the bird's movements to create art. Teacher will introduce story through a picture walk. Students will describe the pictures and the movements of the bird. Teacher will read the story and then discuss. Students will be asked to describe lines made by the bird and the art made by the boy. Students will be reminded that anyone can be an artist and that the boys art may not look like anything real but it is art. Teacher will reread story. Students will be instructed to draw the various lines in the book in the air with their fingers as the story is read.

Students will then be taken to the gym to walk various kinds of lines while listening to the song "I Walk the Line". Note: Teacher will need to prepare lines ahead of time using tape.

Day 2: Students will revisit the book Little Green. Today, students will use scarves or streamer to act out the various lines in the story.

Day 3: Students will use creative movement and the theater technique tableau to show a variety of lines. Students will walk around the room singing: Lines, Lines, some are straight. Let's see what lines we can make. After singing, students will use their bodies to represent a kind of line--freezing in a position.

Day 4: Students will work in small groups to develop a performance of the flight of the bird in the story Little Green.

Student Assessment--Students will be assessed during shared reading activity through teacher observation and level of participation. Students will be video taped during the lesson. Formal assessment is not necessary for this introductory lesson.

Reflection/Analysis of Teaching and Learning--Students were very excited about the lesson. The book Little Green was a book that students could easily relate to and enjoy. Students loved the walking activity--it got them up and busy. Students did very well with developing a performance as well.

Lesson Extension/Follow-up--This was an introductory lesson to get children interested. It was very successful. More work will be done in the area of line in order to develop more understanding.