I began this lesson (another borrowed from my mom!) by discussing what trees really and truly look like. I drew a "lollipop tree" on the white board along with the "lollipop flower" most kids (and adults) are acquainted with. Yes, one can see and recognize these as trees and flowers, but is this what they really look like? The kids could see the difference right away, especially as I held up a long, slender branch for them to observe.
"See how God made the branches grow up toward the sun? They grow out of a main branch." They do not, however, grow into right angles or geometric shapes. It is important for the kids to understand that the trees reach up toward the sun. To demonstrate this point, I had the students stand up and stretch out their arms. I had a volunteer come up and I showed how trees have armpits too!
We began using black crayon on 12 x 18" colorful construction paper. I demonstrated how to draw lightly creating either one trunk (with paper vertical) or two (paper horizontal). Students created branches reaching up and roots like fingers reaching down into the soil where water and nutrients are. I demonstrated this using my fingers spread out reaching down.
After sketching these out and checking each student's work for following directions, I had them color in each trunk and branch. I had to be sure the kids colored in darkly and fully for a nice finish.
For the second day of this lesson, I brought out the white tempera. We began with a horizon line behind the trees. Carefully painting around the bottom of the trees, each student mounded the "snow" in drifts around the trunk and in the "armpits" of each tree. We had to discuss how snow might mound on the "arms" of each tree, again using a volunteer for example.
For a final touch, we used q-tips to dot snowflakes into gentle flurries or heavy blizzard, according to each child's preference.
0 comments:
Post a Comment