"There's a Monster in My Closet"

Grade 1

Longfellow Elementary, Columbia MD

1st GRADE UNIT PLAN

Longfellow Elementary School

DEVELOPMENTAL RATIONALE:

Students in the first grade are developing their fine motor skills and distinguishing between 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional space and form. They are beginning to understand symbolism, such as the monster they create representing the things that they are afraid of. Student’s art is showing simple realism and conscious decisions about color choices. The narrative element of the art is more important then the product, the story of a monster being in their closet is more intriguing then what that monster looks like. Students at this age are egocentric, they are expressing their own personal fears and their own personal monster. Students draw what they know and not what they see and tend to exaggerate, drawing from imagination comes easier to these students.

UNIT OBJECTIVE:

• Students will explore texture, line, and printmaking processes through the creation of a printed monster representing the fears they hide from the world. 

THE UNIT PROBLEM STATEMENT:

•  What does the monster in your closet look like?

GUIDING QUESTIONS:

• What does the monster in your closet look like? 
• What are you afraid of that no one knows about?
• How do you transfer an image from one surface to another?
• What is texture? and how can you create it?
• What is the difference between rough and smooth?
• Where can you find textures?
• What is the difference between a 2d surface and a 3d surface?
• What textures does you monster have? Is it rough, smooth, have fur, have scales, have skin?
• If your monster were hiding in your closet, what would that closet look like?

CONCEPTS AND SKILLS:

CONCEPTS:

• students will visually represent personal hidden fears through imaginary
• students will understand that not all fears are scary, but can be approached and overcome
• texture and line can be used to create realistic imagery
• texture can be tactile as well as visual
• line can be used to define an outline, be made with many different tools and used to invent forms
• students will transfer imaginative images from one surface to another using printmaking tools and techniques
• students will understand that printmaking processes can be used to create multiple copies of the same image
• students will transfer simple ideas using lines, shapes, and textures using printmaking tools and techniques 
• students will be aware of one’s self and the world around them
• students will be aware of 2 dimensional space vs 3 dimensional space through exploration of rubbing textured 3d surfaces
• students will understand the narrative element of their artwork, the concept of the monster representing their fears

SKILLS:

• students will be able to manipulate art media, materials, and tools safely
• students will be able to trace their drawing with glue
• students will be able to cut out their monster successfully
• students will be able to transfer an image from one surface to another
• students will create multiple copies of their image

DISPOSITIONS:

• students will be open to expressing and sharing their personal fears with others
• students will explore materials/play with materials with enthusiasm and interest, making new discoveries

STATE/DISTRICT OUTCOMES:

MARYLAND STATE CURRICULUM: (grade 1, fine art)

Standard 1.0 Perceiving and Responding: Aesthetic Education: Students will demonstrate the ability to perceive, interpret, and respond to ideas, experiences, and the environment through visual art.

• INDICATOR 2. Identify and compare ways in which selected artworks represent what people see, know, feel, and imagine
• OBJECTIVE b. Use color, line, shape, texture, and form to represent ideas visually from observation, memory, and imagination

Standard 2.0 Historical, Cultural, and Social Context: Students will demonstrate an understanding of visual arts as an essential aspect of history and human experience.

• INDICATOR 1. Determine ways in which works of art express ideas about self, other people, places, and events
• OBJECTIVE b. Use selected works of art as inspiration to express ideas visually and verbally about people, places, and events

Standard 3.0 Creative Expression and Production: Students will demonstrate the ability to organize knowledge and ideas for expression in the production of art.

• INDICATOR 1. Create images and forms from observation, memory, imagination, and feelings
• OBJECTIVE c. Create artworks that explore the uses of color, line, shape, texture, form, and selected principles of design, such as pattern and repetition, to express ideas, thoughts, and feelings

THE HOWARD COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM, THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ART PROGRAM: (primary, grades 1-2)

CONCEPTS based upon the elements of art and the principles of design: 

• Texture - Texture can be visual or tactile
• Line - Line can be used to define an outline, be made with many different tools and used to invent forms

PRINTMAKING:

• transfer simple ideas using lines, shapes, and textures, transfer personal symbols and imaginative images from one surface to another using printmaking tools and techniques

PRIMARY LEVEL (grades 1-2) My Art - All About Me

• “Children’s artistic behaviors are developed through directed exploration of tools, techniques, the formal qualities of art, and master exemplars. This fosters a sense of self that is encouraged within the artists using memory, observation, imagination, and/or narrative. Through a variety of media experiences, students are lead on a journey toward finding a place in their perception of the world.” 
• use basic art vocabulary to describe their work and the artworks of others
• be aware of one’s self and the world around them

VOCABULARY:

• fear: be afraid of or scared of something
• representation: the depiction of someone or something in a picture or other work of art
• sketch: a rough or unfinished drawing or painting, often made to assist in making a more finished picture
• transfer: convey (a drawing or design) from one surface to another
• brayer: a hand roller used in printmaking techniques to spread ink 
• ink: like paint but thinker 
• texture: the feel of a surface
• rough: an irregular surface
• smooth: a surface free from roughness or bumps or ridges or irregularities
• 2d vs 3d

INSTRUCTIONAL RESOURCES/MATERIALS:

MATERIALS:

• rubbing texture objects: wood grain, sand paper, fabric toll, wire mesh, corrugated cardboard, smooth, fur lines 
• crayons (rubbings) 
• pencils, paper (rubbings and printing) 
• cardboard (monster plate), glue 
• scissors, markers (name on closet)
• ink, brayer, paint brush

RESOURCES:

• book - There’s a Nightmare in the Closet Mercer Mayer
• movie - Monsters Inc.  www.youtube.com... 

VISUALS:

• prezi of monsters
• how to use a brayer, printmaking instructions
• rubbings and textures, surfaces

ARTIST EXEMPLARS: 

• Sendak Where the Wild Things Are
• Mercer Mayer
• Monsters Inc.

LESSON SEQUENCE FOR THE UNIT: (see sequence chart and scripts)

DAY 1:

• read book There’s a Nightmare in my Closet by Mercer Mayer
• talk about fears that students keep hidden, like a monster hiding in a closet (monster in the closet represents their own hidden fears)
• artist exemplars of monsters
• sketch what their monster will look like from imagination
• draw final monster and go over with glue

DAY 2:

• introduce printmaking, artist exemplars/visuals about printmaking
• do rubbing of their monster
• demo printmaking process
• print monster with ink and brayer, use thin paper, do steps together as a class

DAY 3:

• artist exemplars/visuals of texture
• introduce rubbing technique, demo of rubbing (visual)
• explore texture through rubbings
• add texture rubbings to create the textures of their monsters, fur, scales, skin

DAY 4:

• cut out monster and make closet, texture rubbing for closet door and walls, name on front of closet

DAY 5:

• critique/discussion of works
• drawing of you meeting your monster