Owl Art

Lesson Plan #: AELP-PRO0202

An Educator's Reference Desk Lesson Plan

Submitted by: Hannah Pendergrast
Email: penderh@cc.wwu.edu
School/University/Affiliation: Western Washington University

Date: February 6, 2003

Grade Level: Kindergarten, 1

Subject(s):

Arts/Process Skills
Science/Animals

Duration: Two 30-minute sessions, or one 60-minute session

Description: In this lesson, students work together to create a large, paper owl. This activity reinforces the concept of collaboration.

Goals: Washington State Essential Academic Learning Requirements (EALRs): Arts Standards

1.2 Develops arts skills and techniques.
4.5 Follows directions when prompted on assigned tasks.

The WA guidelines also state the following:

Construct knowledge: Students should construct deep understanding of the social world rather than simply reproducing information. Social studies learning must be authentic to the students' life experiences and have application to the world in which they live.
Meeting the needs of all learners: Active learning is essential for culturally diverse classrooms and students with varying academic skills. Moreover, building meaningful social relationships and skills for civic discourse and cooperative learning enable students from diverse backgrounds to work together in meaningful relationships.

Objectives:

Students will be able to work cooperatively to create a paper owl.
Students will continue to develop hand-eye-brain coordination used in art.

Materials:

large corrugated cardboard cut-outs of owl parts that can be duct-taped together later: body, right wing, left wing, head, feet
light cardboard (such as cereal boxes)
cut-outs of eyes and beak
duct-tape
templates of wing feathers and body feathers for students to cut out; on a regular piece of copy paper draw six or seven wing feathers and make about 10 copies; for body feathers, draw about fifteen "U" shapes to be layered onto the body after the brown background paper has already been glued on
large sheets of brown (or white, depending on what kind of owl you are making) paper (construction or butcher)
one sheet of yellow or orange paper for the eyes, beak, and feet
scissors
glue
markers or crayons

Procedure:
Begin by talking about owls in general, writing the word owl on the board and spelling/sounding out the letters. Find out what students already know about owls and what they look like. Discuss the class project, emphasizing that everyone will have a specific job that may not take very long, but in the end there will be an entire owl. Discuss groupwork. (This may be a very short discussion as most students have not had a chance to work in groups before Kindergarten/first grade.) Talk about the different body parts; assign the parts (jobs) to students. If not everyone knows how to trace, have a demonstration about tracing. At this point, either start on another project and pull students away in groups to work on their owl parts (if you have volunteer adults in your class), or have students do their parts all at the same time.

For the body, wings, and head, students trace the cardboard shape onto their paper, cut it out, and glue it to the cardboard. For the beak, eyes, and feet, have students do the same but with yellow paper. For the feathers, have students cut out the feathers and glue them to the body and wings. After everything is assembled, the teacher should duct-tape the back of the pieces to complete the owl. Gather the students and decide on a name! (Hint: Do NOT let the students choose a name of a person in the class or of someone they know.)

Assessment: Discuss the groupwork experience. Continue to reinforce for the rest of the year that people working collaboratively can often accomplish more.

Useful Internet Resource:
* Essential Academic Learning Requirements (EALRs) for Art
http://www.k12.wa.us/curriculumInstruct/arts/EALRs/default.asp

Other Reference: Owl Babies , by Martin Waddel
(This book was a HUGE hit with the kindergarteners. They love to repeat Bill the Owl's phrase, "I want my Mommy!" and even named our class owl "Bill.")

Special Comments: As a lesson extension, students could write one or two facts that they learned about owls onto a piece of paper shaped like a cartoon speech bubble and hang the bubbles around the owl's head.