Patterns and Shapes in Our Community
Summary:
Students will create pictures of their community in the style of the artist Paul Klee (using shapes and patterns).
Main Curriculum Tie:
Kindergarten - Mathematics
Standard 3 Objective 1
Identify and create simple geometric shapes.
Materials:
Additional Resources
Background For Teachers:
This lesson uses the class Alphabet Book created in ABC Community Walk activity. It may also be completed as an independent activity. In this lesson students will look at, and replicate, work by the artist Paul Klee. The following information may be shared during class discussions about this artist. It is recommended that students be exposed to a variety of Paul Klee works of art over a period of time. They can become familiar with his art style during a brief class discussion.
Paul Klee was born in Switzerland in 1879. He liked writing poetry and music as much as painting. He decided to focus on painting and studied in Munich, Germany. He observed the world around him to inspire his paintings. With his pencil and brush, and even his camera, Klee studied the varied shapes, lines, and colors of things around him, including plants, animals, and people. In his pictures, he wanted to express more than we see with our eyes. Therefore, looking at his pictures we can see forms of actual things often surrounded by more abstract colors, lines, and objects that may represent emotions, movement, and even sound. He felt close to nature and carefully studied the natural things around him. He encouraged his own students to look beyond what the eye or camera sees to find new and exciting worlds. He loved colors and most of his paintings are filled with beautiful colors.
The artist Wassily Kandinsky is another artist you may want to study. He also does a lot of paintings using geometric shapes.
This lesson uses the environment as a source of shape identification. It is beneficial for students to have previous exposure to the four basic shapes (square, circle, rectangle, and triangle) and their names. Students will practice finding shapes, therefore it is beneficial to have clear blackline examples of each of the shapes to refer to.
Intended Learning Outcomes:
5. Understand and use basic concepts and skills.
6. Communicate clearly in oral, artistic, written, and nonverbal form.
Instructional Procedures:
Invitation to Learn
Following the completion of the class ABC Community book, carefully review the photographs that have been taken. Ask the students, “Do you notice shapes and patterns in the photographs?” Look specifically for patterns and shapes. As students begin to identify items in the photographs, direct the conversation towards the patterns or shapes that may be found in the various photographs. Tell the students they will look closely at the things around them, as well as in books, to find shapes.
Instructional Procedures
Extensions:
* Shared poems: Use the class ABC Community book or the Paul Klee replication pictures as an inspiration for a class poem. Choose something you saw on your class walk to write about or write about the experience itself. You may want to choose one of the following formats:
Lanterns-
1 – one syllable
line 2 – two syllables
line 3 – three syllables
line 4 – four syllables
line 5 – one syllable
Example:
sky
so blue
many clouds
above the earth
now
Parts of Speech Poems
line 1 – one article (a, an, the) + one noun
line 2 – one adjective + one conjunction + one adjective
line 3 – one verb + one conjunction + one verb
line 4 – one adverb
line 5 – one noun (relating to the noun in the first line)
Example:
The cliff,
sharp and rocky,
juts and looms
above.
Wall.
Stair Poems
step 1 – the topic or main idea (usually one word)
step 2 – three adjectives describing the topic
step 3 – a place or time connected with the topic
step 4 – a summarization of the topic or a phrase that means the same as the topic
Example:
Winter
snow, cold, ice
all dressed in white
January
(From Poetry Party by Linda Spellman.)
Family Connections
Neighborhood Shape Walk As a family, go on a walk around your neighborhood or in different rooms in your house. Keep a list, organized by type of shape, of the items you find. See how many different items you can find of each shape. Notice which shapes are more apparent and which are harder to find.
Attachments
* shape_book.pdf
Assessment Plan:
Assessment should be ongoing during this activity through class discussions and teacher observation of student work.
As students share their artwork with the class, notice and record which students are able to readily identify the four basic shapes in their picture. Ask students to explain to the class how they chose the name of their picture and how they used shapes to create a portion of their picture. Check student’s spatial relation knowledge by asking him/her to describe his/her picture using terms listed in the math Core Curriculum (e.g., on, over, under, above, below, top, up, down, in front of, behind, next to, beside, etc.).
You may also want to complete the Folded Shape Books listed above as a part of the assessment. Watch carefully as the students create their books to make sure they are properly identifying the specific shape focused on in the book. You may want to have the students share with the class to reinforce the names of the shapes, as well as show a variety of places shapes can be found in the environment. A class tally of the different types of items (doors, wheels, windows, etc.) could be kept in order to point out diversity of the items. Encourage students to find unusual items, but remind them to make sure the shape identified is correct.
Author:
Utah LessonPlans