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Essential to Autumn: Line, Shape, Color, Texture, Pattern, Rhythm, Emphasis, Movement, Balance, and Unity

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Keywords: pattern, form, texture, color, shape, Art Elements & principles of Design: line, rhythmn, movement, unity, emphasis
Subject(s): Spelling, Photography, Information Skills, Writing, Technology, Social Skills, Video, Health and PE, Art, Grammar, Science, Drama, Math, Speech and Language
Grades 3 through 5
School: Eladio Martinez Learning Ctr, Dallas, TX
Planned By: Mary Jo Gardere
Original Author: Mary Jo Gardere, Dallas
Perception: The students develop and organize ideas from the environment. The student is expected to:

*Identify sensory knowledge and life experiences as sources for ideas about visual symbols, self, and life events.
*Identify art elements such as line, shape, color, and texture, and the art principles such as emphasis, pattern, rhythm, balance, proportion, and unity in their natural environment, as well as their artworks.

Expression: The students express ideas through original artworks, using a variety of media with appropriate skill. The student is expected to:

*Create artworks based on personal observations and experiences.
*Produce an original work of art that integrates information from a variety of natural sources and demonstrate self-directed investigations of natural and organic objects from their environment.
*Develop a mixed-media artwork using a variety of art materials appropriately.
*Demonstrate technical skills effectively, using a variety of art media and materials to produce photographic imagery, filmmaking, and electronic media-generated art.

Historical: The student demonstrates an understanding of art history and culture as records of human achievement. The student is expected to:

*Compare specific artworks from a variety of cultures.
*Compare/Contrast selected artworks from a variety of artists, and identify how the natural environment influenced their art styles.
*Make observations on how artists use technology such as cameras, video, and internet to gather ideas for their artworks.

Evaluation: The students make informed judgements about personal artworks and the artworks of others. The students is expected to:

*Express ideas about personal artworks.
*Define reasons for preferences in personal artworks.
*Analyze and compare relationships, such as function and meaning in personal artworks.
*Interpret ideas and moods in original artworks by peers and others.

Lesson Plan:

If possible, take students on a walk outdoors to observe the natural environment. Have them discuss in detail how the colors, textures, and patterns of natural objects such as leaves, flowers, grasses, and even the bark on some trees change when the season autumn arrives. You could have them complete a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the changes they observe, or make a graph/chart to document how many different objects they discovered: Size and shape of leaves; how many different colors of leaves; how many acorns, and/or pinecones, etc.
This would be a good time to talk about how autumn is dominated by warm colors rather than cool colors.

Provide each student with a plastic bag or baggie to collect any natural objects they may find they like the: color; texture; patterns; rhythm; movement; and emphasis on color, texture, and patterns.

Students may also use a camera to take photos of the natural environment, as well as use a video camera to capture students demonstrating how to jump in a pile of autumn leaves and see how the leaves move and flutter.
They could also video the movement and sound of autumn in the leaves, trees, and even insects and other animals such as squirrels and birds. How do they react to the seasons' changing? Have students create dialogue to accompany their video. They could imagine they are the objects, insects, or animals, or they may want to write a narrative to accompany their video.

Students will use a wide variety of art materials and art media to create a mixed-media collage representing the season of Autumn. Have the students tear large squares and rectangles out of construction paper, arrange on a larger sheet of tagboard or heavy paper (18 x 24) in a quilt-like pattern, making sure to overlap, overlay, and even allow for hang-off on the edges. They may, tear, rip, fringe, weave, and add texture with: oil pastels, crayons, colored pencils, water color pencils, and even charcoal to create a variety of colors and textures they recognized in the natural objects they collected. They may do leaf rubbings, utilizing a variety of oil pastels or crayons to layer color so they get the true effect of autumn colors. Students could also utilize cloth scraps, ripped and torn doillies, tissue paper, metallic papers and foils, raffia, yarn, beads, and buttons to create a huge variety of autumn colors (warm colors), texture, patterns, rhythmn, balance, and unity.

Students can also utilize the photos they created in their mixed-media artworks to add a montage, or they may want to make an Autumn's Texture Book to share with the Pre-K and Kindergarten students. The students would also produce the written dialogue for their texture books.

Have students write metaphors or similes that describe their mixed-media collage. You could have them add their metaphors or similes directly to their mixed-media artworks by juxtoposing them using letters cut from recycled magazines and newspapers.

ART Materials Needed:
*Variety of papers in autumn colors (warm colors) such as: construction, tissue, brown wrapping paper, doillies, tagboard
*foils in copper or brass
*Scissors that cut the different decorative edges
*oil pastels, crayons
*water color pencils, colored pencils
*vine charcoal
*raffia, embroidery threads, yarn, string, and wire
*beads and buttons
*old magazines and newspaper for juxtoposing letters to create words

Technology Needed:
*Flip video cameras and/or mobile lab
*25 digital cameras and camera bags
*Photo paper

Evaluation: Did the students successfully represent and emphasize a variety of lines, shapes, warm colors, textures, patterns, rhythmn, movement, and unity in their mixed-media artworks?
Did the students use a variety of art materials and art media in creating their artworks?
Did students successfully create an accompanying metaphor or simile?

This lesson plan could be adjusted to incorporate any of the four seasons.
Cross-Curriculum Ideas
Students will write metaphors and similes to accompany their mixed-media artworks.
Students will create a descriptive or narrative video about their outdoor adventure while searching for natural objects and elements to use in their artworks.
Students can do internet research about how the changing seasons effect certain animals. What animals prepare to hibernate in the autumn? How do their react to the changes?
Students can do leaf rubbings and measure the sizes and shapes of a variety of leaves. They can create charts, graphs, and other diagrams to document their findings.
Have students create and act out movements they see in the natural environment; How does a leaf move when the wind blows it off of a tree? If the leaf could talk, what would it be saying as it is falling off of the tree?
Students can share their Autumn Texture Books with Pre-K and Kindergarten classes. Have them read aloud to the students. They may also present their video creations with other students and maybe even present it at the next PTA meeting.
Materials: Integrating Technology, Tripods, Mobile Labs
Other Items: 1 Portable Projector
25 Batteries
25 Tripods
25 Point and Shoot Digital Cameras
Flip Video Mobile Lab
1 Software: Integrating Technology