Introduction to Visual Art

Some of the earliest records of humanity exist as markings on rocks and cave walls. Art works throughout history have recorded and interpreted events from various perspectives – cultural, economic, political, gender, and aesthetic, to name just a few. Visual depictions offer many unique viewpoints and serve as “windows” to the past.

However, visual art is not valuable only for the sake of history. Visual art experiences involve artist and viewer in a process of thinking about art, human nature, and the artist’s unique way of expressing his or her understanding.

It is important for students to experience visual art both as artists and as audience. As artists, they can use the processes and materials of visual art to explore their own ideas, feelings, cultural identities, observations, and imaginations. As audience, they can see how other artists have expressed their ideas about the world and their place in the world we all share. In contemporary art (including such forms as painting, printmaking, architecture, sculpture, craft, commercial art, film, video, multimedia, and gallery installations), we see artists’ reflections on the world in our own lifetimes. Through visual art, we come to see and know ourselves.

The Visual Art Strand

The visual art strand provides students with opportunities to:

• develop their perceptual abilities
• learn to use the language, methods, and materials of visual art
• explore their own and other artists’ ideas, feelings, cultural identities, observations, and imaginations through visual art expressions
• examine the role of visual art in cultures and societies, past and present
• explore the role of visual images in their own daily lives.

The curriculum is organized into four required units:

Unit 1: Learning to See
Unit 2: Ideas and Inspirations
Unit 3: Making Sense of Things
Unit 4: The World of Art

The three components of the Arts Education Curriculum (creative/productive, cultural/historical, and critical/responsive) are to be integrated within these units. (Refer to page 3.) Making art works, solving problems, exploring the visual environment, looking at works of art, and learning about the role of artists in cultures and societies can all be undertaken within each unit.

The following describes what teachers will find in the visual art section of the curriculum guide:

• Visual Art Unit Overviews and Sample Topics for Grades 1 to 5: This chart displays the four required units, the corresponding mini-unit themes, and sample topics for Grades 1-5.
• Foundational Objectives: There are eight foundational objectives for Kindergarten to Grade 5. These are broad objectives that are achieved gradually over the Elementary Level. This section includes a description of each foundational objective.
• Kindergarten to Grade 5 Developmental Continuum: This chart shows the scope and sequence of learning for visual art from Kindergarten to Grade 5. The chart displays both foundational and specific learning objectives.
• Instructional Guidelines: Instructional guidelines are general instructions to the teacher. They apply throughout the year.
• Guiding Students in Their Creations: This section is intended to show how a teacher can help students become aware that every creative experience involves problem solving and decision making.
• Planning from the Visual Art Section of the Curriculum Guide: This section is intended to assist teachers in planning art lessons and units or mini-units from the curriculum guide. A template for lesson planning is provided, along with a unit planning checklist.
• Learning Objectives Checklist: This checklist appears at the beginning of each grade and displays the learning objectives for the grade. Objectives selected for the grade’s sample unit are checked.
• Unit Overviews: The unit overviews include a statement about the unit’s purpose, a list of concepts and terminology, a sample topic, a list of suggested resources for the sample topic, and a starter list of suggested activities for use in planning.
  
  There are four unit overviews per grade. Each unit overview includes suggestions for two mini-units. Both mini-units are required; however, the activities provided within the mini-units are suggestions only. The chart on the next page displays the four units, the corresponding mini-units, and the sample topics for Grades 1 to 5.
• Sample Unit: Each grade includes one sample unit. The sample unit is intended to show how a series of lessons can be developed from the suggested ideas in the unit overviews. All sample units are ava ilable on CD-ROM and Saskatchewan Learning website.
• Appendix A: This appendix appears at each grade level and describes introductory activities for the elements of art. The activities should be incorporated throughout the year within the context of the units.

•  Appendix B: This appendix also appears at each grade level and describes introductory drawing activities that can be incorporated throughout the year as the need for them arises.
•  Glossary: A glossary is included at the end of the visual art section. The glossary provides basic definitions of terms. If more information is needed, the teacher should refer to resources on visual art and design listed in Arts Education: A Bibliography for the Elementary Level (2003).

Visual Art Unit Overviews and Sample Topics for Grades 1 to 5

Note: The mini-unit themes listed in this overview are required. The topics listed, however, are samples or examples. Teachers may choose other topics to express the required mini-unit themes. Mini-units in bold-faced type have been developed in the curriculum as sample units with lesson plans using the sample topics listed (available on CD-ROM and Saskatchewan Learning website) .

Foundational Objectives

There are eight broad foundational objectives for the Elementary Level. These objectives are to be developed throughout the Elementary Level and can be achieved through the specific learning objectives. The foundational objectives cover the scope of the visual art program and embody the three components of arts education.

The eight foundational objectives are listed below and are followed by an explanation of each objective.

The students will:

1. Understand the elements of art and develop concepts that lead to an understanding of order in the visual environment.
2. Begin to develop skills that help them depict people and objects accurately.
3. Begin to understand the variety of sources for visual art ideas.
4. Begin to develop own ideas into visual art expressions, using the processes and materials of visual art.
5. Begin to think and talk about own visual art ideas and expressions.
6. Develop understanding of the work of a variety of visual artists.
7. Begin to talk about, interpret, and respond to works of art.
8. Become aware of the visual environment and visual art in the daily life of own community.

1. Understand the elements of art and develop concepts that lead to an understanding of order in the visual environment.

The elements of line, colour, texture, shape, form, and space comprise the basic language of visual art. The elements occur naturally in the environment; all human constructions incorporate the elements. From the time young children make marks with a pencil or crayon, they are using the elements of art. See Appendix A at the end of each grade level for activities related to the elements of art. See the glossary on page 234 for descriptions of the elements.

The principles of design include emphasis, balance, movement, repetition (pattern), variety, contrast, and unity. Teachers should note that different resources describe the principles of design somewhat differently. Although kindergarten to grade 5 students will not study the principles of design in depth, they should be introduced to concepts that will lead to further study in later years. Repetition (pattern), contrast, and balance are appropriate concepts to introduce at the Elementary Level.

Pattern is created through repetition of shapes, colours, lines, textures, and forms. There are formal patterns (with obvious rhythm, like the pattern on a chessboard) and informal patterns (with no obvious rhythm, like the pattern formed by pebbles on a beach).

Contrast refers to the range of difference between elements. For example, there is a lot of contrast between black and white; there is less contrast between two shades of grey. Artists and designers use contrast to emphasize or de-emphasize images, shapes, and/or textures in their work.

Balance in visual art is achieved through manipulation of “visual weight”. The simplest form of balance is symmetrical balance, where one half of a work is identical to the other. Balance can also be achieved in a less formal manner through placement and emphasis of elements and images.

It is important that teachers encourage students to identify and describe examples of pattern, contrast, and balance in the natural and constructed environments, in art works, and in their own work.

2. Begin to develop skills that help them depict people and objects accurately.

In part, the visual art program is concerned with educating the sense of sight. Although we all take in information through our senses, we do not automatically take in and process all the information that is available to us. Learning to “see” helps students become astute observers of their visual environment and contributes greatly to their ability to draw. Students’ observation of visual detail contributes to their understanding of the whole.

At the Elementary Level, students should be encouraged to recognize subtle differences in the appearance of people, animals, plants, and the various objects evident in their surroundings. An understanding of proportion, perspective, point of view, and spatial relationships is crucial to a student’s developing skills in image-making, both two- and three-dimensional. Appendix B at the end of each grade level suggests age-appropriate activities for developing drawing skills.

3. Begin to understand the variety of sources for visual art ideas.

This is the first of three foundational objectives related to the creative process. This objective focuses on ideas for art works; the next two focus on decision making and reflection.

This foundational objective encourages students to become aware of the fact that ideas come from many sources and that whenever they create something, there is a purpose related to their idea. Purposes will vary. At the Elementary Level, students might depict an event or people from memory, observation, or imagination. They might wish to express feelings, or experiment with art materials or concepts. At the grade 3 level, students should begin to keep a journal of visual art ideas, a practice they will continue throughout their years of studying visual art.

4. Begin to develop own ideas into visual art expressions, using the processes and materials of visual art.

An idea in visual art is simply a starting point. The idea is developed through the process of creating the work. Development of an idea involves decision making about subject matter, the elements of art, composition, materials, and tools. Development often involves experimentation.

This foundational objective is aimed at developing students’ awareness of the many decisions they make, and encouraging them to think more deeply about their decisions. (For further information on creative decision making, see Guiding Students in Their Creations on page 217.)

5. Begin to think and talk about their own visual art ideas and expressions.

Reflection is essential to the creative process. Creating art works is not as simple as having an idea and then executing it. The result may not express the original idea to the student’s satisfaction, and this provides an opportunity to reassess and try again. The student may have learned something that can be applied to the next work, and the original idea may lead to another idea, or a more refined one.

It is important that students learn to reflect on the meaning they communicate through each work, and whether or not that meaning truly portrays their ideas.

6. Develop understanding of the work of a variety of visual artists.

 The arts are expressions of people. Sometimes the expressions are those of an individual; sometimes they are cultural in nature and express the traditions or perspectives of groups of people. An understanding of this can help students see the role of the arts in people’s daily lives, throughout history and in the present.

Students can study the work of artists in a thematic context or through in-depth studies of the work of one artist. The artists studied will depend on the students’ interests and the teacher’s access to art works, reproductions, and other visual images.

7. Begin to talk about, interpret, and respond to works of art.

Generally speaking, people do not know how to approach works of art, especially difficult ones. Viewers tend to make quick judgements without giving a work much thought. This foundational objective encourages students to withhold their judgements, and to give themselves time to observe and interact with a work more fully before coming to any conclusions.

Whenever art works are presented to students, the teacher should guide the students through a process from Responding to Arts Expressions, included on page 45 of this curriculum guide.

8. Become aware of the visual environment and visual art in the daily life of own community.

The visual environment affects people enormously. The visual art strand aims to empower students to interpret and make decisions about visual messages received daily through advertising, public messages, popular culture, and the mass media. Through study of their own visual environment, students become aware of how artists affect and are affected by the visual environment, the influence of visual information in daily life, and the many areas in which people work in the visual arts.

The Visual Art Curriculum and the Viewing and Representing Strand of the English Language Arts Curriculum

While there appears to be similarity in the activities in which students are involved within the representing and viewing strands of English language arts (ELA) curricula and those found within arts education curricula, the purpose and emphasis for each activity is different. For example, as an activity, students may be drawing images, viewing, and discussing art works in both subject areas. The activity appears to be the same; however, the learning objectives and the concepts that are taught within that activity are different.

Representing Example

In both subject areas, for example, students may be creating a visual image to convey an idea. While students might be drawing a picture in both an English language arts class and a visual art class, the objectives, the concepts, and skills learned in each class will be different. In visual art, the objectives might be for students to develop drawing skills, manipulate art materials to achieve specific effects, incorporate visual symbols for personal expression, or work in a particular artistic style from a period of art history. In ELA, the students may also be drawing a visual image, however, the objective might be to teach students how to clarify written text with a visual illustration. Other ELA objectives might include, for example, using appropriate visual aids to enhance spoken and written communication. Another ELA objective may be to choose words, sounds, and images for a particular audience, purpose, and situation. Although the students are drawing a visual image in visual art and English language arts, the learning objectives, skill development, and the concepts discussed are different.

Viewing Example

As another example, students in both subject areas may be viewing and responding to a book illustration. The activity appears to be the same, however, in visual art the students may be studying different styles of book illustrations, learning about a specific artist, or comparing the illustrations to other styles in fine art or popular culture. In ELA, students might be viewing the illustration to determine how the image enriches the text of the story. Other ELA objectives might include determining the usefulness of visual information for particular purpose(s) using criteria, or using various visual texts to find information.

Although students may be drawing or viewing in both ELA and visual art, the concepts, understandings, and skill development will be different for each area of study. Each subject area will use distinct strategies or processes to achieve its specific objectives. For example, the LAPS (listen, ask, picture, summarize) strategy in ELA is intended to support achievement of specific listening objectives. The learning objectives and, therefore, the criteria for assessment would also be different. In visual art, the visual composition or drawing skills may be the focus of assessment, and in ELA the appropriateness of the visual aids that the students selected for a specific audience may be the focus of assessment. It is essential, therefore, that teachers select appropriate learning objectives from each area of study when planning such activities.

Kindergarten to Grade 5 Developmental Continuum

The chart on the following pages displays the scope and sequence of learnings from Kindergarten to Grade 5. It includes broad foundational objectives for the Elementary Level with grade-specific learning objectives. This chart represents the required content for visual art.

Instructional Guidelines for Teaching Visual Art at the Elementary Level

The following guidelines are general instructions to the teacher for visual art instruction throughout the year.

1. Use visual images throughout the year to illustrate concepts and to help students understand the visual environment.

These images should include art works or reproductions of art works, visual images from the community (e.g., signs, billboards, buildings, designed objects), and images from the media (e.g., advertisements, videos, films, and book illustrations). All Saskatchewan schools have been provided with a copy of Saskatchewan Art Works, which includes text and slides. In addition, several good reproduction kits are listed in the Arts Education: A Bibliography for the Elementary Level (2003).

To make the best use of these images, the teacher will:

• look for art works or images with subject matter that will be of interest to the students
• use images from the students’ own community
• include Saskatchewan artists so students learn that the arts are a part of their own times and place
• include the art of First Nation and Métis artists so students learn about the past and present contributions of the First Nation and Métis peoples of Canada
• use a wide variety of art forms and styles throughout the year
• use a process from Responding to Arts Expressions (see page 45) to guide the students’ experiences with art works and other images.

 2. Introduce the students to a variety of materials.

 The exact materials used depend on what is available in the school, but it is important to provide experiences with as many media as possible during the elementary years. As creating is a decision-making process, it is important that students are eventually able to make decisions about which materials will best solve the particular problem they have set for themselves. Be sure that materials are both two- and three-dimensional.

 Some of the materials and media that are appropriate for Elementary Level students are:

• pencil
• crayons, markers, pastels
• paint (to be used with a variety of applicators such as brushes, fingers, sponges, and sticks)
• collage – using a variety of cut and torn papers, fabrics, found materials
• clay
• simple methods of printmaking
• construction using cardboard and found objects
• papier maché.

3. Establish practices in the classroom to encourage ongoing, spontaneous image making.

Perhaps one of the best ways of doing this is to provide a supply of scrap paper that students can use independently. Beginning in Grade 3, encourage students to keep a visual art journal. They can draw in their journal, or perhaps glue in images from magazines. They can ask questions in their journal using visual images. They can draw their dreams, events that have meaning to them, people, or made-up stories. The idea is to get students used to expressing themselves in and responding to visual language. When teaching other subject areas, give students the option of using visual language rather than written language to record personal thoughts.

By the time students are in Grade 4 or 5, many of them want to draw realistically. Students often try to draw realistically from memory, and then become frustrated with the results. Point out to them that artists who draw very realistically use models, photographs, and often real objects. They do “studies” to learn to draw something they will need in an art work. Encourage students to do the same. If, for example, a student is trying to draw a horse, encourage the students to study pictures of horses; do “studies” of the head, the legs, and the body. Encourage the student to use observation rather than memory if they want to draw realistically.

Appendix B at the end of each grade level contains ideas for helping students learn to draw.

4. Guide the students in their art making.

The process of creating is often misunderstood. Teachers are afraid to guide the students too much in case they stifle creativity. However, the creative process is really a problem-solving process, and teachers should guide students through their creative problem solving. In many cases, this is simply a matter of asking the individual student thought provoking questions, and encouraging him or her to consider various solutions to problems encountered during visual art experiences.

This curriculum provides a model for guiding students through creative problem solving (see the following section entitled Guiding Students in Their Creations).

5. Provide time for individual reflection and group discussion about the students’ visual art expressions and the processes they used when creating them.

Reflection is essential in order for students to see the relevance of arts activities and to develop a personal commitment to their arts explorations. Reflection time can be used in a variety of ways: 

• one-on-one discussion with a student
• journal writing
• small group discussions
• large group discussions.

6. Explore the elements of visual art within meaningful contexts.

It is essential for students to learn the language of visual art; however, this language has little relevance to students if it is taught in isolation rather than within a meaningful context.

Appendix A at the end of the each grade level provides introductory activities for the elements of art. Teachers are encouraged to turn to Appendix A whenever they see the opportunity for students to learn about the elements within a unit of study.

Not all students have the same knowledge of the elements. Refer to Appendix A at various grade levels if the necessity arises.

7. Have each student keep a portfolio of his or her work.

The portfolio is a way of establishing with students that their work in visual art is valuable; that they can be discerning in their decision making about what to keep and what to discard; and that they are progressing in their learning about art.

It is important that the maintenance of a portfolio be connected to various aspects of the creative process (i.e., exploration of ideas, decision making about methods and materials, and reflection). Students need not keep only their finished projects. They can also keep their experiments and the evidence of their exploration of ideas (e.g., sketches, webs, or notes and comments).

The teacher can use the portfolio as an assessment tool. For example, the student might be asked to select three pieces from his or her portfolio: one idea, one piece that was not so successful, and one piece with which he or she is satisfied. The selections can then be discussed in a conference with the teacher. The portfolio can also be discussed in three-way meetings with student, parent(s)/caregiver, and teacher.

Guiding Students in Their Creations

The focus in this curriculum is on the development and expression of ideas, rather than on “one shot” activities that emphasize only the final product. Visual art, including the student’s art work, has meaning beyond the final product. The process of creating is the means by which students explore and learn. Art making, therefore, must be seen as a creative problem-solving process.

There may be times when a teacher wants the students to practise a skill or technique (e.g., cleaning a brush or using a printmaking roller), but meaningful art projects are far more than opportunities to practise skills and techniques. Whenever students apply knowledge, use techniques, express ideas, or solve design problems, they need to engage in creative problem solving.

It is important that the teacher guide students through the steps below, keeping in mind that they do not exclude strategies such as field trips, brainstorming, research, journal writing, or watching videos at any point in the process. It must also be noted that the process of creating is an organic one that takes shape as it progresses. The steps described below are spiralling rather than linear and do not necessarily occur in order. Encourage students to work at their own pace and to make as many of their own decisions as possible throughout the process.

Guide individual students through the following steps:

1. Define the problem to be solved.

Have the student state what he or she is trying to do, or articulate the idea to be developed; for example, “I want to do a picture of my dog.” Remember, even though all students are working in the same unit, these are usually individual problems. Each student or each group of students defines the problem in a unique way.

2. Make a plan.

The student might say, “I need a piece of paper and brown and white paint and a brush.”

3. Begin working.

4. Stop and reflect on how the plan is working .

Upon reflection, the student might decide, “The white and brown paint are running together. The dog’s legs won’t fit on the page. It doesn’t look like my dog.”

5. Propose solutions through guided discussions.

The student might propose solutions such as the following:

I could bring a picture of my dog to look at.

• It doesn’t matter that it doesn’t look like my dog so I could just keep going.
• I could wait until the brown paint is dry before I use the white paint.
• I could use a bigger piece of paper.
• I could lay the paper flat so the paint doesn’t run.
• I could leave the legs off and make the dog lying down.
• I could turn it into a rabbit because it looks more like a rabbit.

6. Go back to the original intention.

The teacher can ask, “Do you want to change your intention, or do you want to stick with your original idea?” Both are valid. The student may or may not reply by saying, “I still want to do a picture of my dog.”

 7. Make a decision about which proposed solutions are most appropriate for the situation.

 There are many solutions to the problem; a student might decide, for example:

 I can’t wait for the brown paint to dry because I don’t have enough time.

• I can’t get a picture of my dog so I’ll find a magazine photograph of a dog that looks like mine.
• I will lay the paper flat so the paint doesn’t run and I will use a bigger piece.

8. Try the solutions. 

9. Repeat steps four to seven if necessary.

Through teacher and student interaction during the process, the student learns that:

• he or she will be making decisions when engaging in creative activities
• there is no one answer to a problem
• even though all the students in the class might start out doing the same activity, their individual problem solving may lead to unique explorations
• the teacher is a collaborator in problem solving, rather than someone who has all the answers.

The teacher’s role is to:  

• guide students through the steps
• engage the students in discussions while they are working
• provide the materials needed for the students to try out their solutions
• allow the students several tries at solving art problems, rather than giving each student one piece of paper, and the same sized brush
• de-emphasize the product as the reason for engaging in art activities so that the students do not feel like they have “failed” if their chosen solutions do not work
• emphasize the problem-solving aspects of an activity
• keep cumulative records on student progress, rather than looking at one final product for evaluation purposes.

Planning from the Visual Art Section of the Curriculum Guide

The Curriculum Structure

The visual art section of the curriculum encourages teachers to plan their art programs in units – that is, in a series of connected lessons. For many elementary teachers, this is a change from past classroom practice in arts education.

The curriculum outlines four required units. Each unit is presented in two mini-units which are simply shorter units. The mini-unit topics have been designed so that during the elementary years students experience a varied range of contexts for their learning in visual art.

The time allotment for visual art is 50 minutes per week. It follows, then, that roughly three to five weeks could be spent on each mini-unit. However, it is not required that the two mini-units be given equal time.

The activities provided for each mini-unit are intended to be a starter list only. As teachers become more experienced in using the guide, they will certainly want to add other activities or adapt the ones provided for different topics. The activities are listed in three categories: introductory, main, and concluding activities. These three categories have the following purposes:

Introductory Activities

• to engage the students’ interest and attention
• to provide a context for learning
• to introduce skills or materials needed for the activities that follow

Main Activities

•  to explore a theme or topic toward achieving the selected objectives

Concluding Activities

• to give the students opportunities to reflect upon their experiences
• to explore possible extensions to the unit, or to provide a bridge into a new unit of study.

Planning Lessons and Units

A sample planning form for a visual art lesson can be found on page 221. Remember that lessons can include research, discussion, or reflection as visual art experiences. Students need not, indeed should not, be expected to complete a visual art product in every art period.

The following are steps to consider when planning visual art units.

Step One

Familiarize yourself with the information provided for your grade. Become familiar with the scope of learning objectives. Study the four unit overviews. Become familiar with the units and mini-units. Read the sample unit for your grade. This provides a model for unit planning. Read the sample units for other grades to get a sense of how other units and themes or topics are addressed.

Step Two

Select a unit. Most teachers begin with Unit 1: Learning to See; however, the units may be taught in any order. Choose a mini-unit theme and topic. You may use the topic suggested in the guide, or select one of more relevance to your students and community.

Step Three

Outline a sequence of lessons. At this point, be brief – a sentence or two describing each lesson. Refer to the Starter Lists of Activities in the guide, or develop your own activities. Lessons are probably 25-minute lessons (two per week) or 50-minute lessons (one per week), although teachers could plan for any combination totalling 50 minutes per week.

Step Four

Plan the lessons in detail. You may wish to use the sample planning form on page 221. The following are important aspects of lesson planning: 

• Select appropriate learning objectives for each lesson. A checklist is provided at the beginning of each grade. Remember that some learning objectives may need to be taught only once during the year, while others may need to be taught and/or reinforced several times, depending on the students’ progress and the nature of the objective. For example, in Grade 1, “understand size comparisons” may be the focus of only one or two lessons, while “view art works with curiosity” may be the focus of several lessons. Some learning objectives will, in all likelihood, be selected for all four units. Be sure to include Common Essential Learnings objectives. A checklist is provided.

• Select resources to which you have access and that apply to the theme of your mini-unit. Check the Saskatchewan Art Works kit, which was provided to each school, for any reproductions that may fit in your mini-unit.

• Determine the means of assessing achievement of the objectives. Remember to plan for ongoing assessment rather than for assessment only at the end of a mini-unit. Sample assessment forms are included in this curriculum guide.

• Outline procedures for each lesson in the mini-unit. Be as detailed as you feel you need to be.

Step Five

Refer to the Sample Checklist for Planning a Visual Art Mini-unit (page 220). This checklist is a means of ensuring that Core Curriculum Components and Initiatives are included in every unit. It also acts as a reminder of the importance of including a variety of teaching strategies in visual art.

Sample Checklist for Planning
a Visual Art Mini-unit

Teachers should check most of the following for each mini-unit:

• Have I chosen a topic that unifies the lessons in the mini-unit?
• Have I set appropriate learning objectives, including learning objectives that address the Common Essential Learnings?
• Have I mapped out a series of lessons within a mini-unit?
• Have I included introductory activities from Appendix A (elements of art) and/or Appendix B (drawing), if needed?
• Have I included opportunities for the students to explore and to express themselves through visual art language and materials?
• Have I included activities that develop the Common Essential Learnings objectives?
• Have I included opportunities for the students to research ideas and topics?
• Have I included opportunities for both individual and group work?
• Have I included opportunities for discussion?
• Have I included opportunities for student reflection on their own work?
• Have I included art works, reproductions, or images from magazines, photographs, children’s book illustrations, or other sources?
• Have I included appropriate art works from Saskatchewan Art Works?
• Have I considered all three components (creative/productive, cultural/historical, and critical/responsive)?
• Have I included First Nation and Métis content, either specifically or as examples of general concepts?
• Have I tried to make the activities relevant to the students and their communities?
• Have I made plans to assess the extent to which students have achieved the learning objectives during the mini-unit?
• Have I considered both process and product in the selection of my assessment strategies?

Other:

Sample Planning Form for a Visual Art Lesson

Grade 4 Visual Art

Learning Objectives Checklist

The students will:

Grade 4 Unit Overviews

Unit 1: Learning to See

Time: 6-8 weeks

Educating the sense of sight is an important part of the visual art curriculum. Just as teachers provide experiences to empower students through written and spoken language, they also provide students with experiences to help them interpret visual information and express themselves using the language of visual art. Students should be encouraged to observe details in their surroundings, to explore the relationships between objects and their environment, and to search for meaning in visual images. The unit focuses on developing the students’ perceptual abilities and awareness of the environment.

Mini-unit: The Constructed Environment

Sample Topic: Buildings

Suggested Resources

• Books and pictures of buildings and skylines
• Examples of blueprints or architectural designs
• Pictures of buildings from many countries
• The Tipi (poster), Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre

Starter List of Activities

Teacher Note:

The following Starter List of Activities is intended to aid the teacher in planning mini-units and/or units. The activities are described very briefly and are just a sample of the many activities that can be developed to explore the theme or topic.

There is not enough time to do all the activities suggested in the Starter List. Teachers need to choose activities from the list or design others to meet the objectives of the curriculum and their students’ needs and interests.

Introductory Activities

The constructed environment provides a wealth of visual information for students to explore. Encourage students to continuously add to their repertoire of images, lines, colours, textures, shapes, forms, and patterns by observing and noting design and construction in their environment.

Look at buildings. Look for the elements of art. Is there a particular style of building that seems to be common in the community? What are its characteristics?

Look at the “skyline” of buildings in the community. Do the buildings tend to be high or low? Are there any tall buildings that are particularly noticeable? What is their function? From what materials are they constructed? Compare a tall building and a low building.

If you live in a farming community, look at farm buildings. Are there any general characteristics? How do they differ from one farm to the next? Look, for example, at a round metal granary and a frame granary.

Look for ways in which principles of design are applied (i.e., contrast, pattern, visual balance). Look at buildings specifically for visual balance. Do parts of a building look heavier than others? Is the building symmetrical or asymmetrical? If it is asymmetrical, what has been done to achieve balance?

Collect pictures of buildings for displays and discussion.

Study buildings from different countries.

Study the construction of the tipi and its contemporary use.

Main Activities

Have the students list factors that contribute to a building’s design (e.g., function, economics, materials at hand, climate, landscape, space). Keep track.

Give the students a design problem to solve. For example, the town has been given a large amount of money by a wealthy resident to build a new memorial town hall, city hall, or Band office. Refer to the students’ list of factors that influence design. Have students then design the ideal hall for their community. Have them draw the design, including details such as materials, decoration, size, and shape. They could go on to construct a model from materials at hand.

Different groups of students could be given different design problems and the results compared. (Another example could be that the town or city has been forced to build a new fire hall, but has very little money or space.)

Concluding Activities

Compare and discuss the projects and the different ways the problems were solved. Display the designs and/or models in a public place, perhaps the town or community centre.

Mini-unit: Signs and Symbols

Sample Topic: Sign Language and Codes

Suggested Resources

• Information on Indian sign language in Keepers of the Earth by M. Caduto and J. Bruchac
• Research material on codes and their uses

Starter List of Activities

Introductory Activities

Ask the student if they know of any ways of communicating without speaking. If a student puts up his or her hand, use that to start the discussion. (“Cathy has her hand up. What does that tell me?”) List ways that people communicate without speaking – sign language used by the deaf, semaphore, Indian sign language, and codes are examples. Have a resource person demonstrate signing.

Main Activities

With the students, select one system for further study. Study the history of that system. For example, if Indian sign language is selected, find out why and how it was developed. Research the use of sign language among Indian peoples of North America. Learn about sign language as a complex communications system.

Students might choose to learn about signing for the deaf. If possible, invite a resource person to the classroom who can teach signing and provide information about its origins.

Learn about Indian hide painting and its traditional uses. Invite a resource person to the classroom to talk about hide painting. With the help of their invited guest, have the students do hide painting on cloth or brown paper if hide is not available.

Learn about various code systems. Have students relay messages using codes that they have created.

Concluding Activities

Structure a situation in which students communicate with a form of sign language.

Have students do research projects on the use of codes. For example, during World War II Navajo soldiers were selected as radio operators in the Pacific because it was believed their coded communication system was one that could not be deciphered by the enemy. Have the students prepare reports and presentations on this and other topics having to do with the use of codes.

Unit 2: Ideas and Inspirations

Time: 6-8 weeks

Ideas for arts expressions come from many different sources (e.g., the imagination, the environment, other art works, personal experiences). In this unit, students use the environment and their own observations as starting points for arts expressions. Although the students focus on the environment and observation in this unit, ideas for expressions need not be limited to these two sources in other units during the year. The unit focuses on the various ways an artist gets an idea and makes that idea personally meaningful.

Mini-unit: Nature

Sample Topic: Insects and Spiders

Suggested Resources

• Children’s books about insects and spiders (Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White is one example)
• Reference books about insects and spiders
• “Kokopilau, the Hump-Backed Flute Player” and “Creating Kokopilau” in Keepers of the Earth by M. Caduto and J. Bruchac
• An insect collection, if one is available in the school or community
• Reference materials on masks, particularly insect masks
• Inuit, Métis and Indian Art (slide kit),Saskatchewan Education, Northern Division
• Saskatchewan Art Works slides #25, 28, 34, and 36 (art works with environmental references)

Starter List of Activities

Introductory Activities

This mini-unit is based on the idea that the natural environment is a rich source of ideas for artists. Help students discover that the resulting expressions are influenced by the artist’s own experiences with and feelings about the environment.

Look at many different insects and spiders. Try to get students to observe as much detail as possible. Keep records, both visual and written. Use magnifying glasses if they are available. Observe differences between insects adapted to various environments (e.g., water insects and/or flying insects).

Have students think about colour, line, texture, shape, and form.

Design projects in which students learn about insects and spiders. Making wall charts or doing reports on insects are other suggestions.

Main Activities

Study insect or spider legends in various cultures. What roles do insects or spiders play in these legends?

Make insects and spiders out of paper to hang from the ceiling. Encourage students to experiment with cutting, folding, curling, and rolling paper into different shapes to suit their needs. Focus on the insects’ or spiders’ body parts and encourage students to accurately simulate them, using just paper, scissors, and glue or tape.

Make insect or spider stencils or templates by cutting the shape of the insect or spider out of heavy paper or light cardboard. Use the stencils or templates to create repeated patterns on another piece of paper. Design, for example, a length of wallpaper using an insect motif. Make sure students apply in their designs what they observe and know about insects (i.e., visual details).

It may be appropriate to use the term “symmetrical” here, as many students are likely to make their work symmetrical.

Do a mural with each student contributing insects and spiders (either a realistic mural, or black stencil insects/spiders on white paper).

Make insect and spider masks. Study the significance of masks in various cultures. This could grow into a whole other unit of study, including the concept that the natural environment influences the work of many artists.

Concluding Activities

Look at art works in which the environment has been influential. (Indian and Métis art work is sometimes strongly influenced by the environment.)

Display the students’ work. As a group, look at all the various ways the environment has influenced their work.

Mini-unit: Observation

 Sample Topic: Animal Portraits

 Suggested Resources

• Pets
• Photographs of pets
• Magazine pictures of animals
• Photographic or other portraits from home
• Art works that are portraits
• Self-portraits
• Stories or poems about animals such as Stranger in the Woods by C. Sams, book and video
• Animals and pictures of animals such as Saskatchewan Native Wildlife Series poster
• Reproductions of works by nature artists
• “Caring for Animals: Inside and Outside” in Keepers of the Earth by M. Caduto and J. Bruchac
• Stories or poems about the circus
• Books with photographs of circus animals
• Magazine photos of sports figures
• Saskatchewan Art Works slides #17, 34, and 40 (animal portraits)
• Saskatchewan Art Works slides #31, 32, 36, and 43 (human portraits)

Starter List of Activities

Introductory Activities

This mini-unit is based on the idea that students and artists can get ideas for arts expressions from things they observe around them. Help students to learn that skill at drawing and three-dimensional image making grows when the student incorporates accurate observations.

Have a pet day. Students can bring either their pets or photographs of their pets to school. Students who do not have a pet can bring a picture of an animal they would like to have for a pet. Have students work in pairs to list everything they observe about their pet (e.g., size, colour, texture, eye shape). Ask students to list at least twenty details about each pet.

Study portraiture. Look at art works that are portraits of people as well as animals. What does an artist try to incorporate or capture when he or she does a portrait? What makes a portrait unique? Why do people commission portraits? What might be the difference between a commissioned portrait and a portrait an artist would choose to do without a commission? Why might an artist choose to do a self-portrait?

Have the students do self-portraits, incorporating some details that make the portraits unique; for example, a student might draw himself in his favourite hockey team’s jersey. Students can do the initial outlines for their portraits by working in pairs to draw each other’s “contour” or outline in front of a projector.

Main Activities

Have students select and do research on an animal. Do animal portraits, incorporating all the details they discover in their research. These portraits can be two-dimensional (e.g., paintings, oil pastels, or collage) or three-dimensional (e.g., clay, or papier maché). Have the students work from photographs. Remind them that artists who want to work realistically make constant observations of their subjects.

Have the students create interesting frames or bases (for three-dimensional works) for their animal portraits. Challenge them to develop an idea for a frame or base that fits with the animal portrayed. Think about colour, pattern, texture, or shape to develop an idea.

Study animals that you might find in the circus. Have the students create an imaginary circus by each selecting an animal for which they will be responsible. Research and find pictures of that animal. List twenty details that make the animal unique. Have the students create a “Wall of Fame” for their circus by each doing a portrait of their animal, being sure to incorporate all the physical details they can. Remind students to look at pictures often and refer to their list of details. Create unique frames for their portraits.

Concluding Activities

Hold an event where the animals are inducted into the “Wall of Fame”. Invite another class.

Create a story about an animal, either in written form, through oral storytelling, or in their visual journals.

Have students collect photographic portraits of their favourite sports figures. (These are often in news or sports magazines.) Discuss the portraits. Which ones tell something about the individual? (Some do and some do not.) Put together a sports portrait scrapbook as a group project. (Be sure to broadly define sports with the students, so that gymnasts, swimmers, skaters, and more non-commercial athletes are included.)

Unit 3: Making Sense of Things

Time: 6-8 weeks

The previous unit encouraged students to explore where ideas for arts expressions come from, and to make decisions about ideas for their own expressions. This unit deals with how arts expressions can be ordered to best suit the original idea.

All art works have their own sense of order and composition. All artists make decisions about how to compose their ideas, whether they work formally or rely on random occurrences. This unit encourages students to look at order in its many forms in the environment, and to explore the many possibilities for order in moving from idea to arts expression. The unit focuses on the decisions an artist makes when moving from ideas to expression.

Mini-unit: A Sense of Order

Sample Topic: Designs from Nature

Suggested Resources

• Old calendars with nature photos on them
• Buffalo Woman by Paul Goble
• Kaleidoscopes
• Photographs and books with pictures of animals in their natural habitat
• Books on particular crafts (e.g., how to books and picture books on quilt making such as Pieces: A Year in Poems and Quilts by A. Grossnickle Hines
• Objects from nature
• The Flower Beadwork People , Saskatchewan Education
• Where Did You Get Your Moccasins? by Bernelda Wheeler
• Inuit, Métis and Indian Art (slide kit), Saskatchewan Education, Northern Division
• Examples of repeated patterns and more free-flowing decorations. These can often be found in wallpaper samples and in clothing: T-shirts, for example.
• Craft objects with decoration inspired by the environment
• In Praise of Hands (video), National Film Board
• Resource people from the community
• Tea cups
• Books on tea cup design and decoration
• Saskatchewan Art Works slides #24 and 26 (pattern)
• Saskatchewan Art Works slides #26 and 35 (contrast)
• Saskatchewan Art Works slides #27, 37, and 43 (balance)
• Saskatchewan Art Works slides #24 and 42 (symmetry)
• Saskatchewan Art Works slides #24, 25, and 38 (craft)

Starter List of Activities

Introductory Activities (Pattern)

Discuss formal pattern (repetition at regular intervals) and informal pattern (repetition at irregular intervals). Look at formal and informal patterns in nature. Dandelions scattered in a field form an informal pattern. The pattern on a butterfly’s wings is an example of a formal pattern.

Take black and white photographs of formal and informal patterns in nature.

Create formal and informal patterns using printmaking techniques (e.g., stamping, potato prints, string prints, Styrofoam prints, and stencilling both positive and negative).

Look through kaleidoscopes. Are the patterns formal or informal? Are the shapes symmetrical or asymmetrical? Have students create on paper (paint or collage) a kaleidoscopic pattern. Look at the results. Discuss the patterns.

Introductory Activities (Contrast)

Discuss the concept of contrast. Discuss how it relates to camouflage in nature. Look at the markings on various animals such as butterflies, moths, male and female birds, skunks, and frogs. Which blend in and which stand out? Why?

Have each student do two paintings of, for example, a frog – one in which the frog is camouflaged and one in which it stands out. Discuss the results.

Introductory Activities (Visual Balance)

Discuss the concept of real weight. Have students hold objects in their hands and decide which are heavier or lighter than others. Weigh objects if a scale is available.

Look at art works with shapes in them. Which shapes look heavier? Why? (Size, colour, other attributes.)

Look at something that is perfectly symmetrical. Its symmetry gives it balance.

Have students do a collage where they cut several objects out of magazines. These could be random or relate to a particular theme, such as animals, cars, or machines. Have students glue their pictures one at a time, first making the work balanced, then gluing on a picture to throw the balance off, then gluing on another to make it balance again. Display the finished work. Have each student explain why his or her work does or does not look balanced.

Main Activities

Design a group research project around a specific craft. For example, if quilting is chosen, study quilt patterns and the concept of quilting bees. Design a series of lessons during which the students learn the basic skills of the craft. For example, have the students learn to make a small quilt, either individually or as a group. Study the cultural significance of the craft.

Study the designs of the Métis and the Plains Cree, focusing on the importance of the environment to the Métis and Cree peoples.

Have students bring craft objects from home. Look at the crafts available and pick out the ones that have decoration inspired by the environment. This can include such things as floral designs, animal motifs, wheat sheaves, seashells, and almost anything that comes from nature. Observe the immediate natural environment and brainstorm the many motifs that could be used for decoration.

Have the students plan the decoration of a craft object based on a design from their own natural environment. This can be accomplished using repeated motifs (as in a quilt pattern), or using free-flowing decorations (as in a brush painting on a T-shirt). Have the students do preliminary experiments, prints, and sketches on paper. Encourage students to think about the following:

• Why they selected the particular motif they did. What is its personal significance?
• How they plan to use the motif they selected to decorate their craft object. For example, how will the student use the motif of a spider to decorate the quilt?
• Why the style they have selected fits with the particular craft object. For example, why does the student think using a repeated pattern will work well?

Allow the students to make all of the above decisions, and encourage them to be conscious of their own decision making.

Concluding Activities

Display the students’ craft objects along with the real objects from nature, and any preliminary drawings, prints, or paintings that were done. Discuss the connections between the inspirations and the resulting designs.

Have students bring tea cups from home. Examine the decoration on the tea cups. Some will be repeated patterns, others will have “paintings” on the sides. Many will have designs inspired by the environment. Talk about the difference between manufactured products and handmade products. Who came up with the designs for the tea cups?

Have the students create designs for a cup and saucer. Have each student do a painting of a cup and saucer with his or her own personal design on it.

Mini-unit: A Sense of Purpose

Sample Topic: Visual Storytelling

Suggested Resources

• Stories, myths, and legends
• “Telling the Stories” in Keepers of the Earth by M. Caduto and J. Bruchac
• Cartoons
• Books on cartooning
• Comic books and reference materials on comic book illustration
• Information on hide painting, song scrolls, pictographs, petroglyphs, rock paintings, sand painting, and other forms of visual storytelling
• Books on filmmaking with children
• Animated films
• Short films created by hand drawing on 16 mm film (such as those by Canadian filmmaker Norman McLaren)
• Used 16mm film (to be bleached and drawn on)

Starter List of Activities

Introductory Activities

This mini-unit encourages students to think about why artists make particular choices when organizing constructions, art works, and other visual expressions. Help students learn that many decisions are made based on the artist’s purpose for creating the work.

Read the students a simple story, myth, or legend. Have them tell you the sequence of events in the story.

Have the students watch you do a simple movement sequence. Have them recount the sequence, either by telling or by doing it.

Look at cartoons. Discuss the way a story is broken into “boxes”.

Main Activities

Study cartooning. Collect cartoons and examine them carefully for ways of breaking a story into events. Study books on cartooning. Create cartoons. Study comic books. Find out about comic book artists. Have the students bring their favourites. Check the illustrations. Study techniques. Have students create comic book characters and draw their adventures.

Study traditional means of visual storytelling among Indian peoples. For example, traditional hide paintings are a means of passing knowledge about historical information and events from one generation to the next. Invite a hide painter to the classroom to talk about both traditional and contemporary hide painting.

Design a unit of study on storytelling through photography. Have students plan a sequence, then photograph it in a series. Students may need other students to be “actors” for their story sequence. Mount and display the photographs.

Study filmmaking and video. Students at this level can do a simple animated film or video. There are many simple techniques for animation. Have students work in small groups of about four students. Drawing with markers on used bleached film is a simple way to introduce students to the technical aspects of filmmaking. View short dramatic and animated films.

Concluding Activities

Display the students’ work. Discuss the students’ stories. Invite other students in the school to see the work.

Unit 4: The World of Art

Time: 6-8 weeks

This unit is designed to make students aware that visual art in its many forms is a part of the life in their own community.

People who work with visual images include painters, quilters, ceramic artists, beadwork artists, sculptors, sign painters, and people who arrange displays in store windows. These people and others like them live in all communities. By studying them and the work they do, students can begin to understand the role visual images play in daily life, and the many ways visual images reflect and define culture. The unit focuses on the students’ understanding of the role of visual art in various cultures, time periods, and their own homes and community.

Mini-unit: Visual Images and Daily Life

Sample Topic: Advertising

Suggested Resources

• Product advertisements from magazines, flyers, and posters
• Pictures of neon or other signs
• Movie posters
• Book covers or dust jackets

Starter List of Activities

Introductory Activities

This mini-unit encourages students to become aware of the connections between visual art and daily life. They can see that many artists choose their subject matter from what they see around them. Help students to see that visual art is present in their own community.

Have students walk down a main street in their community. Have them note the number and different kinds of advertising signs they see in formats, such as small hand-drawn signs, billboards, neon signs, posters, and flyers on fences. What draws their attention to them? Keep track of the ones students like best; the ones students think attract the most attention. Discuss why shop owners put up signs and posters.

Main Activities

A video rental store usually has many advertising posters. Arrange a class visit and discuss, or ask the manager to give the classroom several old posters. What is it about the posters that make you want to see the movies?

Have students create advertising posters for their favourite movie.

Have students write a book report on a book they have enjoyed. Then have them create a poster containing the elements of their book report, only using visual images.

Look at the covers of books. Do they make you want to read the book? Have students design and make dust jackets for their favourite book.

Have students create advertising posters for various commercial products. Have students design their own cereal boxes.

Have students create signs for various kinds of shops.

Have students create a fence with paper or cardboard all along one wall or hallway. Each student can then create a poster, or flyer to put on the fence. Discuss the criteria before they start. What is going to make the signs successful in attracting attention? Create a context for the signs – several competing circuses or winter carnivals coming to town at the same time, for example.

Concluding Activities  

Look at the students’ work and discuss. Have other students file past “the fence”. See which posters catch their eyes. Why? You could continue the circus (or other) theme for other projects.

Mini-unit: Artist Study

At each grade, students should experience a mini-unit or unit of study that uses the work of an artist as its focal point. The artist selected depends on what resource material to which the teacher has access. The teacher could select a local artist, an artist from the Saskatchewan Art Works Kit, any other Saskatchewan or Canadian artist, or an artist that has art historical significance (Picasso, for example). The teacher chooses an artist whose work will be of interest to the students, or students choose from a selection presented by the teacher.

Remember that, although resources at hand might be limited, this unit should include research. Consult with your school or community library staff. The class and/or teacher can write to art galleries for information and order books on interlibrary loan. Some art galleries have slides that can be sent out on loan to teachers and inexpensive exhibition catalogues that can be purchased. Many artists and art galleries have Internet websites with images and biographical information. Periodicals such as Canadian Art are also sources of biographical information and colour reproductions.

The following is a suggested way that an artist study unit or mini-unit can be conducted. This suggestion uses the work of contemporary Saskatchewan artist Bob Boyer. Any artist of interest to the students can be substituted for the artist suggested here.

Sample Topic: Bob Boyer

Suggested Resources

• Books, exhibition catalogues, periodical articles, and Internet information about Bob Boyer
• Excerpts appropriate for Grade 4 students from Boreal Forest with Bob Boyer, video
• Reproductions of Bob Boyer’s work, especially his geometric paintings on blankets or canvas
• Saskatchewan Art Works slide #26 (Bob Boyer)
• Saskatchewan Art Works slide #15 (Angelique Merasty, birchbark biting)
• Saskatchewan Art Works #55 (Stan Day, abstract painting)
• Colour reproductions and books on abstract expressionism and colour field painting (artists such as Jack Bush, Frank Stella, Hans Hoffman)
• Books or videos on traditional Plains Indian and Métis designs 

Starter List of Activities

Introductory Activities

Review geometric shapes. Find examples in the classroom, the natural environment, and in pictures. Look for shapes that are more free-flowing and do not seem to fit into the category of geometric (e.g., clouds, goldfish, rain puddles). Introduce the term “organic” to describe these shapes.

Introduce or review the terms symmetrical and asymmetrical. Have students do “ink-blot” designs as examples of symmetrical designs. Study birchbark biting as an example of art work that is symmetrical.

Look at some of Bob Boyer’s works without telling the students the titles. Discuss the geometric shapes. Are the works symmetrical? Ask the students what things they notice about Bob Boyer’s works on first encountering them.

Many of Bob Boyer’s titles imply narrative (e.g., “He’ll Be After His Horses”, “The Mountains, the Night and the ‘49’”, “A Seven Arrow Storm”). Read aloud the titles of the works the students have looked at. Do the students have any comments about the titles? Do the titles sound like there are stories attached to them? Can they guess at the stories?

Main Activities

View and discuss the work of Bob Boyer. As with any viewing activities, use a process such as one included in this curriculum guide on page 45. Explain that Bob Boyer was a Métis artist who was born in Prince Albert. He studied art at the university of Regina and was a professor of Indian Art.

Examine books or videos on traditional Plains Indian and Métis designs. Look at pictures. What do the students notice about the designs? Can they identify which are geometric and which are organic? Do they see any designs that remind them of shapes in Bob Boyer’s paintings?

Involve the students in some form of research to learn more about Bob Boyer, his life, and his work. At the grade 4 level, the students might work in groups to find information and make brief presentations to the rest of the class. Before they begin, guide each small group in a conversation through which they clarify their research questions. What exactly would they like to find out? They should also think about how they will present their findings.

The elements of art and principles of design are very important in Bob Boyer’s work. Draw students’ attention in particular to the elements of colour and shape. Examine the artist’s use of pattern and contrast. How does he achieve balance in the works?

Examine works by other abstract artists who are concerned with colour and shape. For example, compare and contrast Saskatchewan Art Works slides #26 (Bob Boyer) and #55 (Stan Day).

Many of Bob Boyer’s paintings are created on blankets rather than the traditional painting surface ¾ canvas. Study the role of blankets in traditional First Nation and Métis cultures. Why do the students think the artist has chosen to do some of his works on blankets?

Bob Boyer used certain shapes and symbols in many different paintings. Have the students look at several of the artist’s works that contain, for example, arrows. Can the students guess at why the artist chose to repeat this motif? Are there any clues in the titles? Is it important that the viewers know why, or can they respond without knowing the answer?

Have students respond to Bob Boyer’s work by:

• creating abstract paintings that emphasize shape and colour
• creating symmetrical paintings
• creating paintings that make use of repetition
• creating several different paintings (three or four) that include the same shapes or symbols.

Concluding Activities

Have students title their works with titles that imply narrative.

Display the student works along with reproductions of Bob Boyer’s works. Hold an “opening” to which parents are invited.

Summarize previous discussions to ensure that the students understand Bob Boyer’s paintings as art works that display both his Métis heritage and his knowledge of modern art.

Grade 4 Appendix A: Introductory Activities for the Elements of Art

This curriculum defines the elements of art as line, colour, texture, shape, form, and space. The following are examples of introductory activities the teacher can incorporate into units of study as the need arises. These are just samples; there are many more such activities in any number of books on the elements of art.

Texture

• Continue to look for a variety of textures in the environment and in the classroom.
• Have students create textures by doing rubbings and then simulating the textures with pencil, crayons, or markers on paper.
• Have students create real texture in clay and plasticine.
• Examine how artists make objects look as though they have texture in a variety of art works.

Colour

• Have students make a basic colour wheel with primary and secondary colors. Point out to the students that black, white, and grey do not appear on this colour wheel because they do not have “hue”.
• Although it is not required that students learn tertiary colours at this level, they could mix the tertiary colours to make a 12-colour colour wheel. This could be done as a group project.
• Have students write colour poems. Have them tape sounds to match colours.
• Focus on complementary colours. What is the optical effect of placing two complementary colours next to one another? Have students do designs using only two complementary colours. Discuss the effects.
• Have students do stop signs using two complementary colours instead of red and white. Discuss the effects.
• Look at art works and designed objects, such as clothing or wallpaper, for various uses of colour. Discuss.
• Set up a “colour” learning centre.

Line

• Remind the students that there are many different ‘line qualities” and that they can use line in a variety of ways in their own work. Create many different kinds of lines.
• Review contour lines.
• Review the concept of “hidden lines”, or lines that are created through repetition of colours, lines, and shapes.
• Study birchbark biting.
• Have students experiment with hidden lines in their own work. Use graph paper and create hidden lines by colouring in the squares in different patterns and colours.
• Cut or tear small circles or other shapes from coloured construction paper. Do a collage with a focus on creating hidden lines.

Shape

• Review geometric shapes and forms. Find examples in the classroom, the natural environment, and in pictures. Look for shapes that are more free-flowing and do not seem to fit into the category of geometric (e.g., clouds, goldfish, rain puddles). Introduce the term “organic” to describe this shape.
• Have students do charts showing a variety of geometric and organic shapes.
• Have them draw a great variety of shapes. Look at the shapes the students have drawn and determine which are symmetrical and which are not.
• Have students do an “inkblot” type of design as an example of symmetrical.
• Look for symmetrical and asymmetrical shapes in the environment.
• Have the students sit or stand in various positions – cross-legged or hands on hips – in front of a projector light. Identify the positive and negative shapes on the screen.
• Look at art works, pictures, and/or nature slides, to identify the following: negative, positive, symmetrical, asymmetrical, geometric, and organic shapes.

Form

• Review the difference between shape and form.
• Organize a recess scavenger hunt. Ask students to find four geometric and four organic forms on the playground.
• Create geometric constructions using Lego.
• Create a large, classroom geometric sculpture using cardboard boxes. Paint and decorate it. Discuss and decide whether it will be symmetrical or asymmetrical.
• Inuit soapstone carvings tend to be organic. Read about Inuit carvings. Look at pictures or real sculptures. (A parent or other person in the community may own a carving and lend it or bring it to class.)

Space (Two-dimensional)

• Explain to students that, in two-dimensional work, the surface that is to be marked is the space (e.g., the piece of paper, the canvas, the poster board). The artist uses this space to express his or her ideas. Look at some two-dimensional works to clarify this.
• On the two-dimensional surface, the artist might make the space positive or negative. Show the students a jigsaw puzzle put together, but with a few pieces missing. Have them think of the puzzle pieces as positive space, and the shapes left by the missing pieces as negative space.
• Have students cut several shapes from paper (e.g., circles). Have them glue their shapes onto a piece of paper in a design that pleases them. The shapes in their work are positive. Can they identify negative space in the same work?

Space (Three-dimensional)

• Review the difference between space and form, and the relationship between the two. By one definition, space is the volume occupied by a form. In sculpture, space also refers to the open spaces that are important to the sculpture.
• Have students construct a sculpture using blocks and found objects in which they explore the relationship between space and form. Have students consider whether there are any spaces in their sculpture that are important to the sculpture, but are not occupied by form?

Grade 4 Appendix B: Introductory Drawing Activities

This curriculum guide does not advocate the teaching of drawing skills in discrete units of study. However, students need to be guided to develop their skills within the contexts of other units of study, and in ongoing daily activities such as visual journal keeping.

The following activities are intended to introduce grade 4 students to some of the concepts upon which drawing skills are built. They are to be used by the teacher where appropriate and as the need for them arises. More activities can be found in reference books on teaching drawing to children.

Overlapping

• Have students cut several squares or circles from construction paper. Lay the shapes, one overlapping the other, in a row on a piece of paper. What is the effect? The closest shape can be seen in its entirety; the others cannot. Have students draw the overlapping shapes. Is it easy to see which is closest?
• Look for magazine pictures and art works that show overlapping.
• Have the students select something that they like to draw (e.g., airplanes, cats, horses, cars). Have them draw two, one overlapping the other. Encourage the students to create a context or story to go with the drawing.
• Encourage students to practise this activity in their visual journals.

How People Move

• Have pictures/models of skeletons for the students to look at. Have students work in pairs to trace the contour of each others’ bodies on large sheets of brown paper. Encourage different students to simulate different actions such as dancing, swimming, running, shooting a basketball, or skipping. Cut out. Have students draw their own skeletons on the paper. Correctness of the drawing is not the important focus at this level. Have students understand, rather, that their bodies have a skeletal structure, and that the joints allow them to execute different movements.

Practising Contour Drawing
Contour drawing simply involves drawing the “contour” of people and objects. It is a well-established technique in the teaching of drawing (Nicolaides, 1941).

• Have students cut pictures of people from magazines. The whole person must be in the picture. Have students draw the contour (right on the pictures) of people, using one continuous line without lifting their pencils.
• Have students draw the contours of simple objects by having them look at the object and not at their paper. As the eye follows the contour of the object, the hand draws the contour. Students get better and better at this as they practise.
• Have the students collect objects to draw. Encourage them to do contour drawings in their visual journals – their hands, for example.

Practising Drawing Shapes

• Have the students look at magazine pictures of people and objects and draw basic geometric shapes over the pictures. Have them measure the shapes to see how they compare to one another in size.
• Have them measure each other’s arms, legs, and/or head to see how they compare in size. They may be surprised, for example, that their hands are almost as long as their faces. Have them work in pairs to draw each other: first, draw the basic shapes, paying attention to size. Then have them add contour lines over the shapes.
• Encourage them to practise throughout the year. They can do this with objects as well as people – chairs, for example.
• Modelling people with clay or plasticine also helps students understand form and proportion.

Ongoing Activities

• Encourage students to draw in their own time and to tell about the stories they create on paper. Encourage students to keep a visual journal or diary (sketchbook). In this, they can practise skills learned in more formal lessons, or they can create unique expressions that they may or may not want to share. They can also keep a written record of ideas and reflections.
• Give students themes to explore in their journals. Have them create a superhero and draw stories of his or her adventures.
• Encourage them to draw their stories in cartoon boxes to show a sequence of events. If they want to use “bubbles” or other means of making the characters speak, fine.
• Give them assignments such as, “Draw as many different rocket ships or missiles as you can imagine.”
• Encourage the students to draw whatever is of interest to them. Encourage them to look at pictures in books for more ideas for adding visual detail.
• Encourage students to cut and glue in their journals, and to keep visual notes through pictures they cut from magazines and newspapers. They can incorporate these in their own drawings.

Visual Art Glossary