For this weeks Wonderlab, we once again let the kindergartners explore and play at stations. We rotated the stations so students could play with and discover new and exciting mediums. The Kindergartners have taken well to being able to play with new things and it keeps them thinking about new possibilities. These opportunities to explore without an end product in mind has resulted in a lot of learning among the students. They are starting to understand the possibilities and limitations of the mediums. Some students have even asked to blend mediums from each station, making the connection that art mediums can work together. Their newly discovered understandings of the mediums have also lend them a hand in expressing themselves when they have something specific in mind they want to create!
Inquiry/Learning Target:
How does playing with new materials allow one to better understand them?
Key Concepts:
New mediums and tools lead to new ideas
Different experimentations lead to different discoveries.
Artists and designers test different ideas to discover new potentials.
Essential Understandings:
Artists and designers play, discover, and create with new materials to understand mediums, tools, and creative potential of each.
Skills:
Listening to instructions
Sharing materials
Creative problem solving
Respecting others
Cleaning materials
Taking care of materials
Keeping items separate from each other
Keeping area clean
Taking risks
Explaining ideas
Sharing discoveries with others
Documentation: For full documentation of this lesson for kindergarten click the following links;
Reflection: There was still some very exciting discoveries happening at all of the stations for this class. But it slowly because a mad house! Students started to get bored and wanted to wander to other stations, some were not engaged in the materials put in front of them and some just restless in general. Our solution to this problem that we used in following classes as well was ending the stations early and reading books out loud! It was a good break for students.
Third Grade Lesson; Chalk Pastels in Space
For our fifth Wonderlab lesson, the students started class as astronauts that where on a space mission, documenting the different things they have seen, or see in space! Students had just learned about space, planets and the different atmospheres found in space the day before in their class so they came in with a lot of facts and information that helped create ideas, with the teacher asking for different things found in space, they students where able to orally create a list with the teacher on things they learned about that you might see in space. The teacher reminded the students of the use of chalk and chalk pastels they had explored with last wonder lab and the different rules and techniques that could be used to create their space documentation. They had available chalk pastels and three different colors of paper in order to elaborate their ideas, as well as laminated prints of space images to reference - the teachers reminded the students of the chalk pastel rules, informing them to keep messy hands off others, always grab an apron to avoid clothes getting dirty, and no breaking of the chalk pastels. Some students leaned towards using the reference pictures as a guide in creating their cosmic galaxies using the colors found in the images in their own work, others went a route where they creating a story or plot to their drawings, like spaceships having a space battle, or seeing aliens in spaceships around them, or even being sucked into a black hole. Overall everyone utilized the chalk pastels, either blending the colors, creating sharp lines with the chalk pastels, or using both techniques. Students were given an opportunity to share with their shoulder partner what they saw in space at the end of the lesson, allowing them to correlate they're doing with their ideas. Inquiry/Learning Target:
How do artists and designers tell stories with their art?
How can artists use their imaginations to create visions of new or made up places?
Key Concepts:
Through art, we can bring what is in our minds to life and share it with others
Once you have explored a medium, you can better use it and manipulate it to create your unique vision
Essential Understandings: Artists and designers use their imaginations to create their own visions of the universe and express it through their art
Skills:
Listening to instructions
Sharing
Creative problem solving
Brainstorming
Story telling
Imagining new places
Respecting others
Cleaning materials
Taking care of materials
Keeping items separate from each other
Keeping area clean
Keeping selves clean
Taking risks
Community harmony maintenance
Documentation: For full documentation of this lesson for third grade click the following links; (No B-day for this lesson)
Reflection: Students absolutely loved this lesson. They used their previous knowledge of the medium to create their exciting narratives about what they would see in space if they were astronauts. Students were using both drawing and blending techniques to get their desired effects. The colored paper was an exciting touch. We also saw the students taking better care of their chalk pastels. There wasn't much that went bad or that needed improvement this class. It was over all very successful!