The Connections Addendum in Walled Lake specifies that third-grade art students should be learning about the Medieval time period. The anticipatory set I chose for this lesson was a clip from none other than MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL! This scene is riddled with third-grade humor:
Powerpoint created for the project:
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In the second to last slide, I used the smartboard marker to draw an example royal person who adhered to all of the parameters set up for the project. The final slide portrays the rich and ORNATE-looking clothing worn by royalty. |
I placed a face card (face-down) on each chair - this would determine which person the students would draw. Two lucky winners even received "joker" cards (who we discussed were certainly not royalty). We had a discussion about how we wouldn't complain if we received a card we didn't want; "YOU GET WHAT YOU GET AND YOU DON'T THROW A FIT!" :)
After students completed their initial sketches, they were allowed to move on to watercolor paper. Many students struggled transposing the size proportions from the 8.5"x11" computer paper to the 11"x17" watercolor paper. After completion of the painting portion, students created a speech bubble, which answered the following question: "What would your royal people (from 500 years ago) say if they suddenly woke up in the 21st century?"
This sparked a great conversation about what we have now that wasn't present at that time: cell phones, sprinklers, cars, most pieces of technology, pop, etc.
This sparked a great conversation about what we have now that wasn't present at that time: cell phones, sprinklers, cars, most pieces of technology, pop, etc.