LESSONS | gregchaffee

LESSON PLAN 1

Teacher: Jennifer Lake and Greg Chaffee

Assistant to the Teacher: Kayla Tompkins

Documenter & Interested Adult: Alison Coombs and Chris Schulte

Unit Title: Building Our World

Lesson Title: The Blueprint

Grade Level: Preschool

Number of Students: 25

Lesson #: 1 of 8 projected lessons.

BIG IDEA (UNIT):

The big idea of the curriculum unit is “Building Our World”

BIG IDEA (LESSON):

In this lesson of our unit, we will be focusing on the Blueprint of our world.

ART / ARTIST(S) OF RELEVANCE: Andrea Zittel & Erik Laffer

Andrea Zittel:

Andrea Zittel was born in Escondido, California in 1965. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting and sculpture from San Diego State University in 1988, and an MFA in sculpture from Rhode Island School of Design in 1990. Inspired to make art in response to her environment and daily rituals she began creating functional objects that fulfilled her human needs of having shelter, food, clothing, and furniture. Zittel created her first “Living Unit” a structure reducing all the necessities in her life to a simple system - facilitating her basic needs into a 200 square-foot apartment. This early “Living Unit” influenced an extensive exploration of living systems that are compact and efficient enough to sustain a person in all of their living needs. Zittel created “Pocket Property,” a 44-ton floating island anchored in Denmark where she lived in this fantasy space for a month, exploring isolation. She continued to pursue her interests in autonomy, self-sufficiency, and personal liberation, moving to the California desert where she persisted to develop pod-style homes that are adaptable and transportable, changing with a persons needs to be solitary and to be on the move.

Erik Laffer:

Erik Laffer was born in Smithtown, New York in 1982 and was the seventh of eight children. When he was 3 his family moved to upstate New York where he would live until 14. As a teenager, he and his family moved to Albany, New York where he grew until he was old enough to live on his own. Laffer attributes his background of moving as being a natural part of expression in his art. He says his nomadic life has led him to consider his identity in maps. His artwork has evolved since he was a young man, where he initially investigated his identity through landscapes and figurative work inspired by rural environments and a feeling of isolation experienced as a youth with a learning disability. Laffer most recently creates representational abstracts that are a more logical and experimental exploration of where he’s been, where he is now, and here he he hopes to be tomorrow. His goal with his current artwork is to redescribe the world through languages of mapmaking, exercising symbology through lines, color, shape, and texture to better understand his environment and experiences.

PREREQUISITES:

Students should be able to:

Work collaboratively alongside peers
listen respectfully to others and share their ideas in a group
brainstorm and sketch collaboratively
listen patiently to a story
provide creative thoughts/responses to questions and prompts
pay attention to demonstrations
use materials in a caring manner
follow simple instructions

SAFETY HAZARDS:

Use caution when working with sharp materials, such as pencils, pens, and pointed tools
when working with clay, be cautious to keep the material out of eyes, nose, and mouth, as it may cause irritation.

INTERDISCIPLINARY CONNECTIONS:

Language Arts: Students will sit in a circle having a dynamic discussion on “What Makes a World?” Curiously listening to others ideas and offering their own opinions, students will provide a respectful space for dialogue and inquiry. Within storytime, students will listen patiently, contributing when energized to share their ideas and quiet and engaged while others are speaking.

Reading/Writing: Students will listen to storytime “What if Kids Ruled the World?” to inspire their creative process in contemplating their own potential in this world. Enacting this inspiration from the reading, students will approach their work with the underlying idea of what their world might look like.

Social Studies: In a discussion on “What Makes a World,” students will recall on prior knowledge and draw connections with their life experiences to posit responses to “what makes a world” and the questions that ensue. Students will consider geographical forms while brainstorming collaboratively on the blueprint piece.

Sciences: Students will recall their experiences with the natural world to brainstorm a world and the biological needs the world has. Students will handle seeds, planting them in soil to grow flowers for the length of the semester. They will hypothesize the growth of these seeds, considering how they might grow, what they might look like, the needs these seeds have so they can grow, and how big they might become.

I-B. UNIT OVERVIEW (RATIONALE)

What if we invented places with different guidelines than our own? Creating imaginary worlds requires us to go on a journey of inquiry. Through our exploration of questions, ideas, and materials, we can create incredible fantasy situations. What if a place differed in everything from physical appearance to personal values, and from languages to landscapes? What would your world look like? Thoughtfully evaluating what is important in our world can drive one's curiosity and creativity to new heights. What roles can themes such as nature, wildlife, community, building, transportation, food, and mapping play in our world? Students will understand and be able to justify what is important to them in a world by uniting their ideas and concepts through art making practice.

I-A. LESSON OVERVIEW (RATIONALE)

The “Blueprint” is twofold, it introduces students to the world along with assessing students perception of their world. The Blueprint lays the framework for student and teacher, a day devoted to dialogue, inquiry, research, and investigation. An opening dialogue with dynamic questioning, inquiry, and documentation will set the scene for the remainder of the semester. Accompanying this, students will work in collaborative design-like groups to get their ideas on large sheets of paper. Making a pot and planting a seed will serve as an important focal point for students, conveying stewardship and responsibility - a theme that will drive this semester, where students are responsible for the change they put forth in their world.

II. LEARNER OUTCOMES

their own potential in the world
how to listen and contribute to group dialogue
all of their actions affect a larger world (making marks collaboratively calls to question others space and own space and how people can work effectively in a community)
how to make decisions in a group space
how clay can be rolled down to snake-like shapes and rolled over top to make coil pots
how to plant seeds to grow flowers
their responsibility and agency in growing and taking care for things in this world

III-A. NATIONAL ART STANDARDS

VA:Cr1.2.PKa - Engage in self-directed play with materials.

VA:Cr2.2.PKa - Share materials with others.

VA:Pr5.1.PKa - Identify places where art may be displayed or saved.

VA:Re.7.1.Pka - Recognize art in one’s environment

VA:Cn11.1.Pka - Recognize that people make art.

III-B. PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION STANDARDS

9.1.V PK.B Combine a variety of materials to create a work of art.

9.1.V PK.E Use imagination and creativity to express self through visual arts.

9.1.V PK.J Use a variety of technologies for producing works of art.

9.3 PK.G Formulate and share an opinion about others’ art products.

IV. MATERIALS NEEDED FOR LESSON

markers, crayons, pencils and other drawing utensils
sketchbooks
large sheets of white drawing paper
styrofoam plates
clay for coil pots
clay tools
drying racks
potting soil
plastic containers
sunflower seeds
paper