This lesson was inspired and modified from my lesson at the Indigenous Cultures Institute camp. As one of my first lessons at this placement,  I wanted the students to start thinking about their identity, their culture and their surroundings since my unit was going to focus on these. I introduced the four elements , water , earth, air and fire and we had an open discussion on where we saw these in our everyday lives and the importance of our elements. We talked about how these elements were all different and had different functions but how they all worked together to make up our world.

Without one of the elements our world would not be the way it is today. Through this we also talked about how we as a class are also made up of different backgrounds and skills that make up who we are and who we are as a class. Without one of us , our class would also not be the same. Moving forward, we talked about relevant movies where we find the elements. Moana being the most popular, we discussed how she had a special connection to the element water. It made up her identity. We talked through the meaning of identity and personality. What element do you identify with the most? Students had to pick one element the identify with the MOST.

After talking about symbols , ancestry and indigenous practices, the students created their own element tapestry illustrating the element they identify with the most. Since it was a small class , I made the students sit all on the same table, referencing the idea of community art making. The students also requested Moana soundtrack music to listen to while they worked. It was a very successful first lesson with the students because they were engaged, were making individualized choices and their voices were heard. 

Materials: 

- paper 

-colored paper strips 

- watercolor 

- crayons and oil pastels 

- glue 

- yarn

1ST GRADE - 

Students learned about artist Yayoi Kusama and her pumpkin paintings. We compared and contrasted her paintings to Jim Dine's heart paintings that we previously learned about. They both paint things that are important to them or that they have a connection to. Both of these artists show patterns and contrast in their work- however Kusama shows organized pattern though polka dots on her pumpkins and line patterns in their background. We talked about fruits that we may have a connection to or are our favorite. Students created their own Kusama inspired fruit paintings of a fruit of their choice and they chose colors that represented their feelings toward the fruit. 

- acrylic and tempera paint 

- q-tips for polka-dot patterns 

- watercolors and oil pastels for background patterns 

- scissors to cut out our fruits 

- glue to paste our fruit to our background

For the elementary school's field day, we wanted to include an art portion that also included some physical activity. For this activity, we discussed artist Jackson Pollock and his ACTION paintings. The students experimented with different tools that they could use to splatter like toothbrushes, straws, large paintbrushes, yarn and squirt bottles. The students from each grade level colaborated to make a canvas piece for their class. These canvas were later auctioned at the district's art auction to raise funds for their fieldtrips!

It was a lot of fun and the students were open to creating a more process oriented approach to art!

PK - 1ST GRADE 

Students learned about artist Jim Dine and his heart paintings and sculptures. 

We discussed that artists can make art about something that is important to them or their favoirte thing. Artists also use color and pattern to express and represent emotions. As artists, we created our own heart paintings keeping in mind our intent with color choices and pattern making. 

We developed our vocabulary : contrast, pattern, symbolic color , emotions 

We practiced a watercolor technique that involves using oil pastels, the waxy components of the oil pastels do not mix with the watercolor - creating a beautiful effect.