Shape Castle Project #13 (peer lesson)

Description:

     In this lesson, we made a castle using shapes and crayons. She showed us a PowerPoint about German artist Paul Klee to introduce her lesson. He is famous for using shapes and bright colors that complement each other. This makes them stand out in his paintings. We based our project off of his painting "Castle and Sun." First, she had us cut a 2-in strip off the top. We then cut shapes out of the 2-in strip. I cut a square, rectangle, triangle, and trapezoid. We were then instructed to design our castle and use the shapes we cut out to build the castle. Since we based our drawing off of Klee's painting we had to have a sun or moon at the top of our paper. Once we built/drew our castle in pencil we traced it in black sharpie. To finish our castle we used crayons to make a colorful castle. It was important we either colored the castle light or dark and then the background had to be the opposite to make the castle stand out. This lesson was designed for Kindergarten.

Extension Activity:

     One activity that I would do that is based on this project is to have students cut out all of the different shapes we have been learning about in Math class. This would be a project students would complete after they have learned all their shapes. Students would have to have at least one square, circle, triangle, rectangle, and hexagon in their drawing. I would also change that they could make any building they want to, but they would still have the sun or moon in the sky. To finish their building they would color the different shapes making a colorful and bright building. They would then pick a background color that would make the building stand out. 

Clay Footprint Project #12 (peer lesson)

Description:

     In this project, we used clay to make a clay slab about ourselves. We added words or pictures to the slab of clay that represented us. She first presented a slideshow about fossils and talked a little bit about how fossils are made and showed a few examples of fossils. After the presentation, she showed us what we are going to make with the example that she had made. Then she explained the process of getting the bubbles out of the clay and getting it ready for the project. Once the clay was ready we made a circle and cut out the circle. We then had to pick one additive (adding a piece of clay to our slab) and one subtractive (subtracting some of the clay from our slab). I chose to add a big M and then I carved Ms. and the letters A, B, and C into the clay. The A, B, and C represent me being a future teacher. After we carved and added clay to the top we painted our slab. Her requirements were that we had one additive, one subtractive, and two different paint colors. We had to let the clay dry overnight and then we are going to use a marker to fill in the subtractive pieces. 

Extension Activity:

     One activity that I could do that is based on this lesson is to show the presentation slideshow of fossils and explain the science behind how fossils are created. After that, I would teach students how to use clay and all of the steps that go along with prepping the clay. I would then integrate math into science by having students come up with a list in their notebooks of all the different math symbols they can think of. Once they have a list of math symbols I will have them add the symbols to their slab of clay. I will require them to have one additive piece and one subtractive piece. Once they are done with that they can paint it any color they want. We will display these slabs around the room to help students remember the different math symbols.