Context: The story "The Dot" is from a reading textbook used by Ms. Carrie Franklin in her first grade classroom. This lesson was taught in the Spring of 2008, to this first grade class, and focused on how everyone has the ability to create art.
Impact: 1.01 Develop phonemic awareness and demonstrate knowledge of alphabetic principle: Competency Goal 2: The learner will develop and apply strategies and skills to comprehend text that is read, heard, and viewed. 2.02 Demonstrate familiarity with a variety of texts (storybooks, short chapter books, newspapers, telephone books, and everyday print such as signs and labels, poems, word plays using alliteration and rhyme, skits and short plays). 2.04 Use preparation strategies to anticipate vocabulary of a text and to connect prior knowledge and experiences to a new text. Arts Education – First Grade 2.01 Become familiar with a limited number of basic art media, techniques and processes which may include: Drawing - crayons, oil pastels, non-toxic markers, brushes, computers, pencils, sidewalk chalk Cut paper - glue, scissors, folding, bending 3-D - clay, paper, found objects, including wood scraps 2.03 Develop fine and gross motor control 2.09 Render own thoughts and feelings visually. Competency Goal 5: The learner will understand the visual arts in relation to history and cultures. (National Standard 4) 5.01 Recognize that people in many times and places have made art.
Competency Goal 1: The learner will develop and apply enabling strategies and skills to read and write.
2.05 Predict and explain what will happen next in stories.
Visual Art:
Competency Goal 2: The learner will develop skills necessary for understanding and applying media, techniques, and processes. (National Standard1)
Alignment:
NCDPI Standards
Standard 6: Elementary teachers have an understanding of the basic concepts of the arts.
Indicator 1: Teachers understand the basic vocabularies, materials, techniques, and thinking processes of each arts discipline (art, music, theatre, dance).
This standard was met through the discussion that accompanied this lesson. Prior to reading "The Dot", my class and I discussed art. I asked them if art was simply painting. They explained to me that art is dancing too, and sculpting, and all kinds of things. After reading the story, we looked at pieces of art from George Seurat. We talked about how he invented a new kind of art called Pointillism, which uses only dots to create the entire picture.
Indicator 2: Teachers have an informed acquaintance with exemplary works of art from a variety of cultures and historical periods.
During this lesson, my class and I discussed the works of George Seurat. Seurat was a French painter from the late 1800s. I had the students look at his work "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte" and tell me if the painting was from today's time, or if it was from a long time ago. I had them examine the painting and give reasons to support their answers.
Standard 12: Working alone, or with arts specialist teachers and/or other qualified arts professionals, elementary teachers are able to integrate the arts into the elementary curriculum.
The story of "The Dot" was a part of the required text for the first grade classroom in which I am doing my student teaching. However, rather than simply reading the story and going on, I took this as an opportunity to teach my students about George Seurat and his style of Pointillism. The story we read was about a girl who used nothing but dots to create her artwork. Seurat was the same way, and for this lesson plan, my students were pointillistic artists as well. This language arts lesson plan allowed me to integrate visual arts into it with ease.
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