6 posts tagged “lesson”
Specifically: "how technology helps people, how food gets from a farm to stores, how builders get wood to make [a] house, [and] ways to communicate."
So I'm going to go in there and show off my laptop. I'm going to (show &) tell kids about all the cool things that can be done with computers when you use them as communication tools. I'll probably even show them a video or two I'll make just for them, because I can.
It's going to be like a conference presentation, but with an audience of 1st graders instead of teachers. (Ok, the classroom teacher will be there as well. I'm sure she'll be listening in.)
But I need an art component to this art lesson, don't I? That's the part that makes me unsure.
I'd like to have my students "build" their own laptops. Sure, it'll be construction paper, glue, and a preprinted keyboard (I am NOT having 1st graders draw qwerty keyboards when there are free, printable versions available), but it's what's on the screen for their fictional video chat that will be important.
If you could use computers to talk to any (living) person in the world, no mater how far away, who would it be?
I anticipate a lot of "I don't know" answers here, but I hope to get them thinking.
And drawing.
And that, in an oversimplified nutshell, is my job.
Those of you who know my program know that I'm supposed to teach art lessons that reinforce the lessons my kids are learning in their other subjects.
My first graders right now are learning about "how technology helps people."
As a tech geek I think this is awesome, but now I have the difficult job of picking which technology to showcase. There's so much cool stuff!
Every now and then you need a quick and easy lesson on dinosaurs. Like this one from the Creativity Portal, for instance. Cut it out and add a couple pipe cleaner legs like they show you to get a simple sculpture, or leave it on the paper & add a cool background. It's up to you!
I have a better idea for my background though. A while ago when I was cleaning my office (don't die of shock - sometimes I actually do that) I found a box chock full of styrofoam trays. They're just like the ones kids use for lunch in my schools, except they don't smell like ketchup.
With the use of a pencil, some tempera paint, and a brayer, you can turn a chunk of styrofoam into a great printing plate. It's basically just a larger version of this video lesson.
Montgomery County Schools has created a nice combination of lessons that use what seem to be real data and images in order to teach lessons on all kinds of science topics - some of them with data from NASA!
I'm giving them longer than 45 minutes.
