Life Doesn’t Frighten Me

Third grade

Middlesex Elementary School, Baltimore, MD

Big Idea: Fear

Objective: Students will construct a puppet from paste paper that represents a fear and write and perform a skit in order to discover strategies for overcoming that fear.

Materials: Paste Paper, Collage

Rationale: Third grade students are just starting to be able to connect some abstract ideas to concrete images, like emotion to brushstroke. Basquiat’s work appeals to these new explorations. Fear is something we all have. Connecting our fears to puppets and acting out solutions practices abstract to concrete connections while heightening a student’s self awareness. These students are at a range of developmental levels but can all connect with Fear.