Learning Unit

Overview | Content Knowledge | Essential Questions | Connection To Standards | Initiating Activity | Learning Experiences | Culminating Performance | Pre-Requisite Skills | Modifications | Schedule/Time Plan | Technology Use

 Snow has been depicted in art and literature in many ways. Using a variety of Caldecott Award and Honor books depicting snow and images photographed by Wilson Bentley, students will examine snow from the viewpoint of art, geometry, and literary expression. This unit takes fourteen forty minute art periods to complete. To facilitate time, enlisting the help of the classroom teacher is required. Activities that may be completed in the classroom are:

1). Borax Science experiment

2). Reading the various books on snow

A discussion of the aesthetic qualities, etc. would be done in the art room.

CONTENT KNOWLEDGE

1. How are snowflakes different?
2. How are snowflakes alike?
3. How does snow affect people's feelings?
4. How does an artist depiction of a scene affect people's feelings? What do you feel when you look at a picture of the Sahara Desert and how does that compare and contrast what you feel when you look at a picture of an Arctic Glacier?

CONNECTIONS TO NYS LEARNING STANDARDS
List Standard # and Key Idea #: Write out related Performance Indicator(s) or Benchmark(s)

Creating, Performing, and Participating in the Arts Students will actively engage in the processes that constitute creation and performance in the arts (dance, music, theatre, and visual arts) and participate in various roles in the arts.

Key Idea #1:

Students will make works of art that explore different kinds of subject matter, topics, themes and metaphors. Students will understand and use sensory elements, organizational principles, and expressive images to communicate their own ideas in works of art. Students will use a variety of art materials, processes, mediums, and techniques, and use appropriate technologies for creating and exhibiting visual art works.

• Know and use a variety of sources for developing and conveying ideas, images, themes, symbols, and events in their creation of art.

Knowing and Using Arts Materials and Resources Students will be knowledgeable about and make use of the materials and resources available for participation in the arts in various roles.

Key Idea #2:

Students will know and use a variety of visual arts, materials, techniques, and processes.

• Students will understand the characteristics of various mediums (two-dimensional, three-dimensional, electronic images) in order to select those that are appropriate for their purposes and intent.
• Students will develop skills with electronic media as a means of expressing visual ideas.

Language for Literacy Response and Expression Students will read and listen to oral, written, and electronically produced texts and performances from American and world literature; relate texts and performances to their own lives; and develop an understanding of the diverse social, historical, and cultural dimensions the texts and performances represent. As speakers and writers, students will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language for self-expression and artistic creation.

1. Listening and reading for literary response involves comprehending, interpreting, and critiquing imaginative texts in every medium, drawing on personal experiences and knowledge to understand the text, and recognizing the social, historical and cultural features of the text.

• Students read a variety of literature of different genres: picture books; poems; articles and stories from children's magazines; fables, myths and legends; songs, plays and media productions; and works of fiction and nonfiction intended for young readers

Speaking and writing for literary response involves presenting interpretations, analyses, and reaction to the content and language of a text. Speaking and writing for literary expression involves producing imaginative texts that use language and text structures that are inventive and often multilayered.

• present personal responses to literature that make reference to the plot, characters, ideas, vocabulary, and text structure

Let's make snow! It is not the middle of winter; there is not a blanket of white on the ground; we are not going to the ski slopes and we are going to need hot water! We can do this with just a few materials. All you need is string, a wide mouth jar, pipe cleaners BOILING WATER, a pencil, and some borax! Can you figure it out?

LEARNING EXPERIENCES
In chronological order including acquisition experiences and extending/refining

Declarative: Concept: Snow

Using KWL graphic organizer, brainstorm with a partner "what you know and "what you want to know" about snow. Information that may be derived:

• Snow is white and cold
• Snow crystals have six sides
• Snowflakes are symmetrical
• No two snowflakes are alike
• Temperature must be freezing for snow to form

Complete last portion of KWL with "what you have learned about snow".

Declarative - Initiating Activity: Making a crystal snowflake from borax and boiling water.

Concept: Snowflakes are made when water cools and the molecules move closer together to form a six-sided snow crystal. The borax crystal is formed in the same way. As the boiling water cools the water molecules move closer together to form the borax crystal.

Procedural - Students will each create a six-sided snowflake from borax and boiling water. (*** Since Borax is a corrosive material, proper precautions should be taken to protect students, i.e rubber gloves, goggles, etc.) With a little kitchen science we can create snowflakes that have the exact shape as a real snowflake - a six-sided crystal. Cut a white pipe cleaner into 3 equal sections. Twist the sections together in the center so that you have a "six-sided" star shape. If your points are not even, trim the pipe-cleaner sections to the same length. Now attach string along the outer edges to form a snowflake pattern. Attach a piece of string to the top of one of the pipe cleaners and tie the other end to a pencil (this is to hang it from). Fill a widemouth jar with boiling water. Mix borax into the water one tablespoon at a time. Use 3 tablespoons of borax per cup of water. Stir until dissolved, (don't worry if there is powder settling on the bottom of the jar). If you want you can add a little blue food coloring now to give the snowflake a bluish hue. Insert your pipe cleaner snowflake into the jar so that the pencil is resting on the lip of the jar and the snowflake is freely suspended in the borax solution. Wait overnight and by morning the snowflake will be covered with shiny crystals.

Borax crystals will be displayed in library windows.

Declarative: Concept: Students will learn about the life and work of Wilson Bentley, one of the first people to photograph snowflakes.

• when and where he was born
• how he became interested in snow
• his experiments with photographing snow

The Caldecott Award book Snowflake Bentley by Jacquelyn Briggs Martin is read to the students. Students will also view the illustrations. They will be asked to observe how the illustrator depicts snow and what feelings they get from the book.

Declarative: Students will view the Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley digital archives CD ROM on the LCD projector featuring a ten minute video on his life and examples of over 150 images of his snowflake photographs.

Procedural: Students will visually compare Bentley’s snowflake images to modern day photographs of snowflakes.

Procedural: Concept: Create a cut paper snowflake with six sides.

This activity reinforces the idea that no two snowflakes are the same in nature. The cut snowflakes are displayed in the Library and a brief discussion will ensue about how they are all different but similar.

Declarative: Concept: Snow is depicted by artists in various ways to convey a variety of feelings. During this unit, the library media specialist will read a number of Caldecott Award and Honor books that have snow as a theme. After reading these books, the students will see that snow can be portrayed differently in different media and can evoke many feelings. During discussion in the class the students will expand on book, feelings, anticipation, art materials and techniques used by illustrator. The students will have a sheet on which they will record this information.

The Big Snow by Berta Hader is read to the students

Procedural: Students will create a computer-generated snowflake using a drawing program.

Declarative: Concept: Expand on book, feelings, anticipation, art materials etc. The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats and White Snow, Bright Snow by Alvin Tresselt are read to the students.

Procedural: Students will display their computer generated snowflake design and discuss their characteristics.

Declarative: Owl Moon by Jane Yolen is read to the students.

Procedural: Students will work in pairs and complete a graphic organizer like the one which has been used in class discussion of the previous books for one of the following books: The Snowy Day, White Snow, Bright Snow, or Owl Moon. Questions to be answered are:

• "What do you see?"
• "How do you feel?"
• "How is it done?"

Students will be asked to consider descriptions, materials, color, mood, and techniques, all of which have been modeled previously. The ticket out the door is each pair’s graphic organizer. The teachers will collate the responses and produce a large visual from the organizers.

Declarative: Concept: Discussion on the results of the graphic organizers completed the previous day. The book Snow by Uri Shulevitz will be read to the class to set the stage for the next activity.

The poem, "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost is read. Students will have a copy of the stanzas.

Procedural: Students are placed in groups. Each group is given one stanza of the Frost poem. Each group will report on how they would illustrate the stanza. (Symbolism, art materials, feeling they would like to create).

Procedural: Each student will create an artwork based on a stanza of "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening". A specific stanza will be assigned to each student. Choice of art materials will be up to the student. Choices may be: Tempora paint, watercolor paint, markers and water, charcoal, and pencil

A planning sheet (Attachment A) will be provided to each student. This sheet will be completed prior to starting the art project. It will be used to select art materials, list shapes/objects to be included in the art work, and plan different techniques. The students will also write a short paragraph on how they plan to use art materials to illustrate verse. Students may include a pencil sketch of their plan. This planning sheet will be used by the teacher to assess the planning phase of the rubric.

Procedural: Students will merge their computer snowflakes created on Day 2 with an electronic image of their painting into a HyperStudio presentation of the poem. They will combine the snowflakes, illustration, music and voice into the interpretation of yet another way to "Make it Snow."

Procedural: "Make it Snow "– Public presentation of the culminating experiences.

CULMINATING PERFORMANCE
Include rubric(s)

Students will combine their computer snowflakes created on Day 2 with an electronic image of the painting illustrating the stanza of the poem into a HyperStudio presentation of the poem "Stopping by Woods." They will combine the snowflakes, illustration, music and voice into the interpretation of yet another way to "Make it Snow."

Students will have basic computer skills including cut, paste, copy, and insert. Students will know how to use HyperStudio. According to the district computer curriculum this is taught in third grade and reinforced in fourth and fifth grades.

Modifications will be made for those students who are physically unable to complete either the artwork or the Hyperstudio presentation. In these cases, the student may work with an assistant to help in the completion of the project. Extra time may be needed to bring the project to fruition.

Technology use is interspersed through out the unit. Both teachers and students will complete projects using various programs. The graphic organizers will be created by using the program Inspiration. Students use a paint program to produce the snowflakes. HyperStudio is the program for the culminating experience. In addition, the use of an LCD projector and scanner are required for the unit.

Frost, Robert. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Day. New York: Dutton, 1978.

Hader, Berta. The Big Snow. New York: Viking Press, 1948.

Jericho Historical Society, . Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley Digital Archives [CD-ROM]. Vol. I. Jericho,

VT: Jericho Historical Society, 1999.

Keats, Ezra Jack. The Snowy Day. New York: Viking Press, 1962.

Lucas, Jeff. "Creating Cybersnowflakes with Appleworks." AppleWorks Journal Dec. 1999: 5-8.

Martin, Jacqueline Briggs. Snowflake Bentley. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998.

Marzano, Robert J., and Debra J. Pickering. Dimensions of Learning: Teacher's Manual. 2nd ed.

Aurora, CO: Mid-continent Regional Educational Laboratory, 1997.

Schulevitz, Uri. Snow. New York: Farrar, Strauss, Giroux, 1998.

The Teel Family, . Best Ever Six Sided Snowflake. 18 Feb. 2000 <http://www.teelfamily.com/activities/snow/art.html>.

The Teel Family, . Borax Crystal Snowflake. 18 Feb. 2000

<http://www.teelfamily.com/activities/snow/boraxsnowflake.html>.

Tresselt, Alvin. White Snow, Bright Snow. New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1947.

Yolen, Jane. Owl Moon. New York: Philomel Books, 1987.

STANZA - "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost

1.____

2.____

3.____

4.____

Please check which art materials you will use.

Tempura Paint ________

Watercolor Paint ______

Markers and Water _______

Charcoal/Pencil ______

Please list items to be included in your artwork.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In your own words describe how you will use the art materials to illustrate and express the mood of the stanza. You may also use the back of this sheet to complete a small sketch of your ideas.

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