Objective: To easily enhance children’s writing through the use of patterns and pre-cut shapes
Age: 5+ Time: 20-45 minutes (writing varies) Grades: Kindergarten +
Materials:
- Poster board, oak tag or construction paper
- Precut shapes (or use scissors to cut shapes – stencils)
- Glue (or tape)
- Drawing materials:
- Paint
- Chalk
- Crayons
- Colored pencils or markers
- Pastels
Lesson Plan Instructions
This lesson is an easy fix when you want your children to create a quick and easy visual to inspire their writing.
1) Cut a pattern shape from paper of choice, depending upon your theme.
2) Lay your shape on paper, stroking over the edges only, with colored medium of choice ie. (paint, crayons, markers, colored pencils, chalk, pastels).
3) Encourage children to hold the shape in place carefully when shadowing their pattern.
4) Turn the shape in different directions and overlap shapes and colors as desired.
5) Attach the visual to a colored background with glue or tape.
6) Choose writing genre to complement the visual imagery and present as preferred.
Evaluation
Decide the focus of your writing lesson. The point of using visual imagery is to create an inspired motivation for your students to create before their writing occurs. Allow your students to create and orally present their writing. Perhaps you can assess for presentation skills and/or comprehension of subject matter. Create a checklist of various objectives or skills you are looking for and be sure to make the students aware of your expectations.
Other Ways to Use This Lesson:
Note* Children’s vocabulary becomes more descriptive when the teacher introduces new art media, its shape, color, size, and texture. These components mentioned will influence children’s descriptions of their artwork, hence, previous knowledge is combined with new information and vocabulary as one’s oral and written vocabulary develops.
There are always time constraints, so the use of stencils or pre-cut shapes will be beneficial. Whether you use pre-cut shapes, stencils or the child’s shapes, try to save them in a convenient place for future use. If you have an abundance of shapes, allow the children to glue them to colorful paper instead. Another idea would be to shade in the shapes or use glue to shadow the edges and sprinkling sand on the glue to create a textured look.
Try to write inside the shapes, listing descriptive words, or focusing on verbs, adverbs, nouns, plural nouns and adjectives. Your students may want to write riddles or research facts. Have them write questions and answer cards, place in a decorated envelope and attach to the visual, making it more interactive. Write a descriptive or informational paragraph on index cards or lined paper. Try an activity on synonyms and encourage your children to list new vocabulary around the edge of their visual. Have fun!
About the Author:
Kim Waltmire is a state and national award-winning educator. She holds an honorary seat with the 2006 USA Today All-Star Teacher team. Kim is a graduate from CCSU with a Masters in Early Childhood Education. She published a writing & literacy book; Picturesque Writing, now self-published as The Art of Visual Writing for elementary teachers K-5. Kim also published a Read-Along Series for primary grades, coupled with spelling, grammar, science and social studies lessons for k-12 with a home-school company. Her writing and Project Based Learning strategies were recognized and published in the Creative Classroom Teacher’s magazine; May/June 1998 issue. She was recognized for her educational contributions and Project Based Learning by Oprah Winfrey, interviewed on CNN, Fox News, and honored by the CT State Governor several times. Kim has taught elementary school for 28 years and presently an Educational Literacy Consultant. Kim’s passion is teaching writing literacy for all learning styles.
- Twitter: @kwaltmire
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/kimwaltmire/
- Website: www.visualccl.com
