Mattie Art Integration Lesson Plan 1

Art Integration Lesson Plan

LTC 4240: Art for Children
Kaylen Mattie

Lesson Title & Big Idea*: Native Americans Communication - Native Americans had their own
Grade Level*: 2
developed system for communicating and used art to do so in various forms.
Lesson Overview/Summary*:
Class Periods Required:
This lesson will be spread out into two days.
(please circle)
The first part of this lesson will start with a VTS of pictographs. We will discuss the meaning
of the symbols and how they convey meaning and make stories. Students will then choose
1
2
3
their own symbols to create a written narrative. After, students will share their stories and
reflect in small groups.
The second part of this lesson involves creating a teepee structure out of brown paper bags
and designing them with individualized pictograph symbols to convey a story. Students will
again share their teepees and reflect in different small groups.
Key Concepts (3-4): What you want the students to know.*
Essential Questions (3-4)*:
1. Visual Art: Artists use lines and geometric shapes to create
1. How has written communication changed over time in
America?
symbols that convey meaning.
2.
How has art as a form of communication changed over
2. Literacy: Writers create narrative stories that have a
time?
beginning, middle, and end.
3. Why is it important to express meaning in our daily
3. Social Studies: Native Americans use art as a form of
lives through various forms?
communication in their daily lives. I
4. How was art important in native Americans daily lives?
Lesson Objectives: (Excellent resource at http://www.teachervision.fen.com/curriculum-planning/new-teacher/48345.html?for_printing=1&detoured=1): What you
want the students to do. *
1. Visual Art: The students will be able to create symbols that convey meaning using zigzags, dots, and wavy lines in a
narrative writing piece and on the teepee art creation.
2. Visual Art: The students will be able to create symbols that convey meaning using geometric shapes in a narrative
writing piece and on the teepee art creation.
3. Literacy: The students will be able to choose picture symbols that have meaning and create a narrative with a
beginning, middle, and end.
4. Social Studies: The students will be able to compare and contrast art in the daily lives of native Americans through
writing a narrative and creating the teepee art creation.
Grade Level Expectations (GLEs) (3-4)
Identify & define common vocabulary that connect the art
(http://dese.mo.gov/divimprove/curriculum/GLE/)
form with the other identified content areas:
1.Visual Art: II: 1.A. Line. Identify and use zig ag, dotted, and
Geometric shapes

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wavy lines
2. Visual Art: II: 2.B. Shapes. Identify and use geometric
shapes
3. Literacy: Write fiction or nonfiction narratives and poems
that (b) follow a logical sequence of events using complete
sentence to create a beginning, middle, and end.
4. Social Studies: 3a.G. Compare and contrast the habitats,
resources, art and daily lives of native American peoples,
Woodland and Plains Indians

o
o
o
o
o

Square four equal sides

Rectangle four sides, 2 sets of parallel lines
Triangle three sides and three angles
Circle round, connected shape with no ending
point and equidistant points
Oval rounded and elongated shape with no
definitive end point

Lines
o Zigzag a line with alternate left and right turns
and points
o Wavy Line a line with curves but no points
o Straight Line continuous line with no angles
o Dotted Line sequence of short straight lines
separated by a small space
Teepee homes made out of animal hide, lived in by
native Americans
Pictographs a pictorial symbol for a word or
definitions
Symbols a thing that stands for something else

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Content Areas Integrated*:
1. Visual Art (Inspiration Artist: Henry Matisse)
2. Literacy
3. Social Studies

Lesson Activities & Procedure(s) (please be very specific):

Day 1:
1. Introduce the concept of native American
communication and discuss how native Americans
used pictographs to communicate through writing.
2. Large group VTS of native American symbols from
http://nativeamericans.mrdonn.org/stories/symbols.ht
ml
3. Ask students What do you see in these pictures?
What do you think they mean? How do you see
these pictures? What story do you think these
symbols are telling?
4. Wait for feedback from students. Have students turn
and talk to each other about what they see and think.
5. Have students turn and talk to each other about
what they see and think.
6. Share with class what each of the picture symbols
from the native American picture dictionary (attached)
actually mean.
7. Ask students what shapes they see in the various
picture symbols.
8. Ask what kinds of lines and dots they see in the
picture symbols.
9. Discuss and define the different shapes, lines, and
dots.
10. Have students draw each shape, line, and dot as
we discuss each one. (I will also model on the board as
they draw)
11. Introduce narrative writing activity.
12. Students will choose five native American symbols
from the ones given and create a story that has a
beginning, middle, and end and makes sense.
13. Show students my example that I created.

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14. Students will draw the symbols in the writing in
place of the actual English words.
15. After, students will share in small groups the
symbols they chose and the story they created.
Day 2:
1. Revisit the native American picture dictionary and
discuss the different symbols again.
2. Revisit the narrative stories and discuss how
pictures represented words and meaning.
3. Ask students to share what kind of stories they
created.
4. Make chart of the different symbols people used in
their stories and chart if they all had the same
meaning; list if there were various meanings for each.
5. Review the structures of teepees and look at
paintings of native American teepees (Anderson R
Moores paintings) and VTS them. Ask students What
do you see in these pictures? What do you think they
mean? How do you see these pictures? What story
do you think these symbols are telling?
6. Discuss how each teepee valued individual
expression emotional response to nature. Also
discuss how each piece of the pictorial space had
elements that played a specific role in the art (Inspired
by Henry Matisse and fauvism).
7. Introduce teepee creation activity Teepees made
out of brown paper bags and popsicle sticks.
8. Explain how we can use symbols to convey meaning
on our teepee creations.
9. Model how I would create this teepee by first
choosing the symbols I want to use on my teepee.
Create my teepee by explaining every step of the
process.

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10. Have students turn and talk to a partner about
some symbols they might use and stories they may
tell.
11. Anchor chart some brainstorming ideas of
pictograph symbols and stories students might use.
12. Break off and have students work around the room
on their teepees by designing them, then creating the
structure itself.
13. At the end, come back together and have students
share with each other their teepees and stories
created on the teepees in small groups.

Anticipatory Set (Gaining Attention)*:

VTS of the pictograph symbols.
VTS of the teepees.

Closure (Reflecting Anticipatory Set):

Revisit the pictograph dictionary.
Ask students if and how their ideas of the symbols
changed after knowing what they learned about them.
Revisit the teepee pictures.
Ask students how their initial ideas and thinking of
teepees changed after VTS.
Ask students how their own stories compared and
contrasted to the stories told on the teepees viewed.

Formative Assessment strategy:

Anecdotal notetaking
Individual conferences
Listen in and take notes during small group share time

Summative Assessment strategy*:

Narrative writing piece
Teepee art creation and explanation (in small group)

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Listen in and take notes during turn and talk times

What student prior knowledge will this lesson require/draw upon?

Previous to this lesson, students will have learned about the Great Plains native Americans and their daily life.
They will have learned about the structures they lived in, things they ate, various activities and roles of family members,
and how they dressed.
Students will have the understanding that the native Americans lived in the past and the ways of life are different than
now.
Students will have knowledge of geometric shapes and lines.
Students will have had experiences and lessons about writing narratives.
Students will have prior experiences with using Visual Thinking Strategies in the classroom.
How will you engage students in imagining, exploring, and/or experimenting in this lesson?
I will engage students in imagining through VTS. Students will have the opportunity to imagine what they think the
pictures mean and represent.
I will engage students in exploring by having them explore different symbols and creating their own stories with them
in various ways.
I will engage students in experimenting during whole class brainstorming and turn and talks. Students will have the
opportunity to experiment by discussing with partners and the whole class possible symbols and stories to represent in
their work before sitting down to do it.
How will this lesson allow for/encourage students to solve problems in divergent ways?
Students will allow for/encourage students to solve problems in divergent ways because they will have various
opportunities to translate their thoughts and words into pictures and creations. They will have to problem solve which
symbols work and do not work in specific situations. Students will also have to problem solve by limiting their
pictograph symbols chosen for both the narrative and the teepee.
How will you engage students in routinely reflecting on their learning?
After each major activity, the students have the opportunity to routinely reflect in small groups and large group. They
will discuss what they thought was easy, difficult, and surprising. They will also reflect on how their previous ideas
changed after each activity.
After the VTS sessions, students will have the opportunity to reflect on how their thoughts changed from before VTS to
after we discuss the pictures.
How will you adapt the various aspects of the lesson to differently-abeled students?
This lesson as a whole addresses various learning styles, such as visual (VTS pictures), kinesthetic (creating the symbols
on the teepees and making the teepees), written (narrative piece), and auditory (describing the symbols verbally as I

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What

draw them, describing the teepee verbally as I make it). There are various opportunities for students of each learning
style to express themselves and gain the understanding of this lessons big idea.
Students who may have language or delays would benefit from this writing narrative because there is an opportunity to
write using picture symbols rather than words.
Students who may have a physical disability will have the opportunity to complete their activities anywhere in the room.
Students have the opportunity to choose from a large variety of options to represent their learning with choice.
opportunities/activities will students be given to revise and improve their understandings and their work?
Students will be given the opportunity to revise and improve their understandings and their work after each small group
share/reflection session. This collaboration and reflection will lead to a deeper understanding of the big ideas and their
work.

What opportunities/activities will you provide for students to share their learning in this lesson?
Students will have the opportunity to share their learning during VTS, brainstorming and turn and talks, and during
small group share/reflection sessions at the end of each activity.
Lesson Resources/References (please be very specific by providing links, authors, titles, etc.):
Donn, L. (n.d.). Native AmericanSymbol Stories. Retrieved December 02, 2016, from
http://nativeamericans.mrdonn.org/stories/symbols.html
Fauvism Movement, Artists and Major Works. (2016). Retrieved December 02, 2016, from
http://www.theartstory.org/movement-fauvism.htm
Native American Tipi Paintings for Sale. (2016). Retrieved December 02, 2016, from
http://fineartamerica.com/art/paintings/nativeamericantipi

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