Title: Whose Tail Is This?

Grade Level: Second Grade (7/8 yrs.)

Materials: Oil pastels, 11 x 14 white paper, and irregular pre-cut material (fabric, plastic, felt, corrugated
cardboard) tails, Eric Carle Animals Animals- How many animals with tails can you find?
Objective: Through drawing an animal using oil pastels, 11"x14" white paper, and a chosen material tail,
students will learn that they can visualize an animal from memory and classify its essential body parts
beginning with a commonly omitted attribute- the tail.
Developmental Rationale: 7/8year olds will continue their interests in creating artworks of familiar subjects
such as, family, animals, and their personal experiences. During the simple images (Nancy Smith) phase of
early representational paintings, children will frequently refer to shapes as a way to match perceptual and
graphic concepts of circularity and linearity to represent different parts of a person or object (Nancy Smith,
1993). Henceforth, when depicting an animal, children will use symbols for basic class features, while
attributes such as ears and tails irregularly appear in artworks.
National Visual Arts Standards: VA:Cr1.2.2a Make art or design with various materials and tools to
explore personal interests, questions, and curiosity, VA:Cr2.1.2a Experiment with various materials and
tools to explore personal interests in a work or design.
Spark: This morning when I arrived, I noticed a few animals had left their tails around the art room. I
collected a few and placed them right here on this white sheet of paper. There are a lot of animals that have
tails. Each animal uses its tail for different purposes, and for that reason some tails are wide, narrow,
different colors or one solid color, short or long, smooth or rough.
Visualization: Based on the tails you see displayed, who can pick a tail and tell the class what animal
might you imagine this tail belongs to? Where will you place your tail on the paper? What other body parts
of your animal will you draw?
Todays special challenge is to choose one tail, paste it onto a sheet of paper and draw the rest of the
animals entire body. Before you begin, think about what colors you will use for the animals body? Consider
how large the animals body will need to be in relation to the size of its tail. Will you choose to draw on the
paper the tall or long way?
Transition: Before you begin, choose one tail from the tray. Decide where on your paper will it go?
Re-motivation: What clues will you include to suggest the type of environment your animal lives in?
Assessment: Assessment of the artwork- did students choose a tail? Drawn the additional body parts for
their animal? Included the animals habitat?

Note: Why do animals have tails? What does your animal do with its tail?; informal group conversation