Mixed Up Chameleon Lesson Plans – Rationale/Purpose: This will be an art integration lesson that will connect art and literacy. Students will read Eric Carle’s The Mixed-Up Chameleon, and after this introductory activity, the children will have the opportunity to create an art project that allows them to make a visual and meaningful connection to what they read. . Students will practice transferring colors in watercolor and will have the opportunity to do improvisational work where they will see the effects of mixing primary colors to create secondary colors. This event is important because it will give students the opportunity to be creative and express themselves. The activities will be connected to the daily life of the children. Each chameleon that is created will be unique; no two are exactly alike. We will argue that it represents our people; we are different but we are unique. The lesson is also important in the world of art because it will provide students with various artistic skills (painting, using art materials, water colors, etc.) that will help them develop the ability to create artistically.
Standard 1: Creating Visual Works: Students will demonstrate skills in using concepts, tools, techniques and processes to create visual works.
Mixed Up Chameleon Lesson Plans
Students can create a chameleon image using tissue paper, water and brushes to demonstrate their skills in the artistic technique of color transfer.
Guided Reading Lesson Plans
Standard 3: Examine Content: Students will examine the content of art and use elements from it to create their own artwork.
VAK-3.2 Choose and use appropriate themes, symbols and ideas to convey your ideas through a work of art.
After looking at pictures in The Mixed-Up Chameleon, students can apply the art skills used in the book (ie watercolor) to create a picture of a chameleon.
Formally: Students will create a picture of a chameleon using the same paint and color transfer techniques used in children’s books.
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The teacher will facilitate a discussion of the art techniques used in the book. (This will be said immediately after reading the story.)
Standard 6: Students will make connections between the visual arts and other artistic disciplines, other content areas, and the real world.
Students will be able to focus on reading The Chameleon Mixed-Up to understand how a chameleon changes.
The teacher will ask comprehension and application questions while reading the book, and the students will raise their hands OR shout out their answers (depending on the age of the students) to answer correctly.
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The teacher will check to make sure that the students are facing the teacher during the story time. The eyes of the students should be focused on the teacher.
Students can apply knowledge about individual differences (i.e. the color of a chameleon) and discuss how individuals are different.
Students and teachers will discuss the process of color change in chameleons. It will go on to talk about the difference between each person.
Students will work in pairs and share with each other. Each student will tell their partner something that makes them different.
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Skills: watercolor, color transfer, sensory kit, mixing primary colors to create secondary colors, using brushes, using spray bottles, fine motor skills.
In three years of working in the field, this is probably one of my favorite experiences so far. On November 9th, Caroline Templeton, Curtis-Lynne Edens, Allie Linnerud and I had the privilege of teaching art lessons at the Upstate Children’s Museum in Greenville, South Carolina. We use creativity with our pedagogy to design and deliver lessons for young children at the museum. It was a very difficult challenge for me. I was encouraged to create open lessons that clearly link art and other areas such as content knowledge and social-emotional development. Our group chose to teach a lesson
By Eric Carle. After reading the story, the children did an activity where they used water and painting paper to paint a picture of a chameleon. The lesson was certainly a learning experience for those involved; Through reflection and constructive criticism, I have gained knowledge and faced challenges that will equip me to be an effective early childhood educator.
It was very difficult to design the actual lesson. From the beginning, our group knew that we wanted to teach lessons that connected literacy and art. Choosing the story and the action is relatively easy. However, writing a lesson plan is a bit difficult. It was very difficult to find suitable rules for children at such a young age. It was also difficult to define the social and emotional standards we wanted to apply. Finally, we chose a standard related to positive self-expression. This is a great way to tie in the uniqueness and individuality of a story about a chameleon who is happy after being himself. It was easier to develop the lesson as a group than to develop it individually. We were able to encourage and support each other to create the best lessons. For example, when I couldn’t come up with good vocabulary goals, Curtis-Lynne walked me through and helped me develop goals that were specific and appropriate for the students involved. Overall, designing the lessons was a great experience.
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It was very satisfying to apply the actual lesson. After working on the lesson plan for months, our group was able to see our ideas come to life. I think we applied the lesson well. We have divided it into four different elements so that everyone can participate. Curtis-Lynne read the story, I led a small discussion about the uniqueness, Caroline explained the craft instructions, and Allie explained the instructions for the take-home activity. However, applying the lessons is very difficult. We expected that there would be students between three and five years old, but only two students were 13 and 18 months old. This meant that we had to reach out to students with different learning needs. These kids don’t have the communication skills, imagination, or creativity of the kids that the lessons were meant for, so we had to revise some aspects of our lessons at the last minute. These children needed lessons that used words they could understand, as well as art work that suited their fine motor skills. To meet these needs, we gave individual directions during the activity and limited the discussion that took place, instead of focusing more on the book and its pictures. This allowed us to participate with students who are not yet at the expected level of development.
Despite this small change in the plan, the lesson went well. We were happy and tried to contact the two girls present. We did this by asking questions about the book, focusing on the child who was staring and trying to get the attention of the very distracted child. A new man appeared at the end of the lesson; we tried to get him involved but he didn’t show much interest in the event. While reading the story, Curtis-Lynne used a warm and engaging voice that captured the children’s attention and encouraged them to participate using hand gestures. When we realized that the children were younger than we expected, we were able to apply the flexibility of designing lessons that are suitable for the students. I limited the discussion of uniqueness, but chose to explain that everyone is unique, like a chameleon with many colors. The art movement is also very good. Tearing up the paper in advance was very useful as the children did not have the skills of their own. It also helped that we had several people sitting at the table who could help the kids with their crafts. Mom was the main help, but we could have used some clear instructions and directions to help the craft go smoothly.
Although the lesson went well, there are definitely things I would change to improve future lessons. I will include more accommodations in the lesson plans that include additional activities for older children and simpler activities for younger children, especially if the exact age is not known. This will create developmentally appropriate activities in which all children can participate. I also limited the number of pieces of paper for each child. I also wait to hand out materials until all students are sitting quietly and have a clear understanding of the task instructions. I also thought about what to do during the story to get the kids involved. Children are very busy, so questions, hand gestures or sounds can be helpful. Limit the number of toys
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