#3236. Snakes

Art, level: Elementary
Posted Mon Oct 11 05:23:48 PDT 2004 by Jason Arnold (jasonarnold00@yahoo.com).
University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, Johnstown, PA

Standard:
• 9.1. Production, Performance and Exhibition of Dance, Music, Theatre and Visual Arts
9.1.3. A. Know and use the elements and principles of each art form to create works in the arts and humanities.
9.1.3. B. Recognize, know, use and demonstrate a variety of appropriate arts elements and principles to produce, review and revise original works in the arts.

Objectives:
• The students will show competency in following directions.
• The students will complete the project and have a snake.
• Students will show an understanding of patterns.

Cross-Curricular Integration
• Reading
• Science
• Math

Materials
• Colorful plastic cups (preferred at least 10 per student)
• One pantyhose leg per student
• Newspaper
• Colorful plastic plates (2 per student)
• Paper fasteners or hot glue
• Pen or other sharp instrument for poking holes
• Scissors
• Fishing line
• Book: Jungle Tales: A Fun Collection of Animal Stories
• Colored paper

Instructional Procedures:
• Anticipatory Set
Begin by asking the students what they know about snakes
Facilitate a discussion based on their knowledge
Introduce the trade book to the class
Read it to the class
Lead a short discussion about the story and what the snakes did.

• Developmental Activities
Explain to the students that they are going to be making their own snakes that can slither.
Show the students an example of the art project
Explain the steps that are to be taken to produce the snake
 Using the pen, punch a hole in the base of each cup.
 Thread the cups onto the pantyhose leg through the holes you have punched. To space the cups, put a piece of balled up newspaper into each cup after it is threaded.
 Cut out eyes from paper to glue onto the snakes head
 Thread the pantyhose through the base of another cup which will be the mouth. Tie a knot in the end of the pantyhose.
 Attach the eyes to the head using either paper fasteners or hot glue
 Cut a triangular piece for a tail, punch a hole in it and fasten it to the end of the snake's body
 You can attach fishing line to the snake and hang it from the ceiling.
Pass out the materials that have been prepared
 Give each student
• At least 10 cups
• A leg from the pantyhose
• Scissors
Walk around and make sure that the children are making them correctly
Allow the students the choice of different colored papers.
Show them in the book how each snake has a different pattern on their body.
Tell them to make their own patter for their snake from the paper and then glue it onto the snake's body.
• Closure
Clean up the materials and collect the snakes
Make a bulletin board out of the different snakes

Assessment:
• Evaluate how well the students are acting socially while making the project
• See how well the students are following directions

Special Needs Adaptations
• For students that don't have very good fine motor skills
• Pair the students up and make longer snakes so that the children can help each other.
Technology Integration
• One Computer in the Classroom
• With only one computer in the class room I would prepare a PowerPoint presentation about snakes. This presentation would be approx. 10 slides. The slides would start off with general information about snakes. From there the slides would cover different individual snakes and their characteristics. The information for these snakes would come from http://www.kentuckyawake.org/plantswildlife/showAll.cfm?CatID=21.
• Six Computers in the Classroom.
• With six computers I would have the students break up into groups and go to http://www.kentuckyawake.org/plantswildlife/showAll.cfm?CatID=21 themselves. Prior to this I would give them the general knowledge about snakes from the PowerPoint presentation described above. Each group would be responsible for giving a 5 min talk about their assigned snake.
• Each Student has a Computer in the Classroom
• With each child having a computer I would first start off with the PowerPoint presentation as described above. I would end the presentation on the King Cobra. Each student would be directed to go to http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/97/kingcobra/index-n.html. At this website they will encounter a wealth of interactive information about the King Cobra. Each segment of the King Cobra has information on it.