4th and 5th Grade Topic and Rationale

Unit Topic and Rationale Introduction

In the development of our unit plan, our main objective was to have students reflect on
their own identities and incorporate those elements into their own artwork. Students
looked at a variety of cultures, and artist to see how people incorporate purpose and
identity through their art work. Having our students be able to reflect and discuss their
works of art was of vital importance. Students dove into history of masks across a
variety of continents and cultures. Along with looking at the history of masks, students
inferred how a variety of artist incorporated identity within their sculptures, and how they
could distinguish identity from these characteristics.

Lesson Descriptions
Lesson One: This unit will be exploring identity in a variety of different lessons. In
lesson one students will be able to create a 3D image on a two dimensional surface
using chalk. The prompt for the chalk drawing will revolve around combining some of
their favorite interests to make a creature or architecture.
The following steps into identity was to explore Ceramic Self Exploration. We are going
to take the exploration of lesson one and transfer it to 3d using clay. This lesson will
explore material and process. Then, students will use expressive features and
characteristics of art to create meaning in their clay figures. We will go over methods of
coil and slab building. As well the students will need to think of where they want this
work of to live once it is fired. Following the bisque firing students will paint their pieces
to create lifelike texture and colors.
Students will then need to explore where their piece might live, how can they show this
environment using a variety of both two dimensional and three dimensional objects.
Students will translate their art from lesson into clay material. We will introduce coil and
slab building to build on techniques for building, as well as collage and assemblage for
environments. Artists to research Auguste Rodin, Edmund de Waal, Jess Riva Cooper,
Debra Broz
Lesson Two: For the following lesson, students will explore mask making and its
intended purpose from cultures around the world. They will create an intended purpose
for their own mask that will have significance for them. Students will work together to
create plaster masks will be made personal to students with paint decoration, and
shape to include purpose within their own mask.
Students will lay a mask mold down and lay plaster gauzes pieces on it to create a
mask. Students will let it dry with a hair dryer and then have the option to paint their
mask to reflect their specific purpose.
 Prepared Graduate Competencies

The PGCs are outlined in this unit how artists use identity to ideate, plan, create, and
reflect on their art. The idea and concept of identity and purpose is described within
creation of a fictional creature, applying this creature from preliminary sketches to a 2 x
2 chalk mural, then transferring these drawing to a 3D clay sculpture and a plaster
mask. Our mission for this unit is for students leave with an understanding of identity,
culture, and purpose are important elements in art making. We hope that our students
will take these tools and creative thinking processes though the rest of their education
career and for the rest of their lives. Our goal is to build creative problem solving skills
and introduce insights which will build character and artistic behavior.

Comprehend: Comprehension skills were an essential part of the learning process for
our Unit. We had students complete written exit interviews following the summation of
our Identity and Mask Purpose lesson. This helped them articulate and record how their
art was a means of expression with questions such as: Why did you make this? Is your
intended message coming through? Students also interpreted a variety of purposes for
masks from other cultures during our plaster mask lesson.
PGCs:
-Recognize, articulate, and debate that the visual arts are a means for expression
-Explain, demonstrate, and interpret a range of purposes of art and design, recognizing
that the making and study of art and design can be approached from a variety of
viewpoints, intelligences, and perspectives
-Students will be able to analyze, interpret, and make meaning of art and design
critically using oral and written discourse.

Reflect: Reflection is an essential part of student learning. The goal for our unit is for
students to discuss their own as well as their classmates work. By doing this, they are
building metacognitive skills that are paramount to early development in art. We used a
exit interview & critique at the summation of our first lesson in which students used
specific questions and criteria to discuss and evaluate their own work and the work of
peers. We have implemented daily checks for understanding through worksheets which
serve as a platform for evidence to engage student reflection and articulation when
analyzing their own work.
PGCs:
-Use specific criteria to discuss and evaluate works of art
-Critique personal work and the work of others with informed criteria
-Recognize, articulate, and implement critical thinking in the visual arts by synthesizing,
evaluating, and analyzing visual information.
-Recognize, demonstrate, and debate philosophic arguments about the nature of art
and beauty (aesthetics)

Create: Throughout our lessons regarding identity and purpose, students were able to
convey their own ideas through multiple media methods. Chalk, plaster and clay were
utilized to create art that had elaborate and sophisticated ideas. Students approached
the plaster mask project from a variety of perspectives because we explore masks and
their purposes from a variety of cultures. Students used research from other cultures to
create their own masks. They also brainstormed sketches for their clay and chalk
creation before the actual making process.
PGCs:
-Create works of art that articulate more sophisticated ideas, feelings, emotions, and
points of view about art and design through an expanded use of media and
technologies.
-Develop and build appropriate mastery in art-making skills using traditional and new
technologies and an understanding of the characteristics and expressive features of art
and design
-Recognize, compare, and affirm that the making and study of art and design can be
approached from a variety of viewpoints, intelligences, and perspectives
-Recognize, interpret, and validate that the creative process builds on the development
of ideas through a process of inquiry, discovery, and research

Transfer: Our unit involves the transfer and understanding of information and
experiences. One of our main goals in art education is building transferrable skills like
group work, critical thinking, planning, and ideation. We have implemented these skills
in our unit to help build created lifelong learners. Our mask lesson identify learning from
other
PGCs:
-Transfer the value of visual arts to lifelong learning and the human experience
-Identify, compare and justify that the visual arts are a way to acknowledge, exhibit and
learn about the diversity of peoples, cultures and ideas