Landscapes... another Visible Thinking Strategy! (Also an update on 4th Grade)

So we're talking about Shapes now! And we're using Shapes to do all sorts of things from cutting them out to drawing people with them. The second grade class is going to draw a landscape using shapes. But first I wanted to see how much they remembered from 1st grade about landscapes. So we talked briefly about what remembered about landscapes and what a landscape included. In every class someone brought up foreground, middle ground, and background! Success!! They must have learned well last year. We talked about that a little more in depth. Then to get everyone really focused we did a Visible Thinking Strategy called See, Think, Wonder.

Students did this in table groups with one writer per table but everyone sharing ideas. They looked at a piece by Thomas Cole called The Oxbow and wrote down what they saw, what they thought about, and what they wondered about as they viewed this piece. Here are some of the results:



Also an update on 4th grade perspective relief sculptures, they turned out so well! Here are a few of the finished product.

Visible Thinking

At our elementary school, we use a Visible Thinking Initiative. This is a framework that we use to focus on the individual student as well as the collective thinking and collaboration of the entire class. It really shows students and teachers a tangible view of students’ thinking. and it helps to uncover misconceptions, prior knowledge, reasoning ability, and degrees of understanding. To read more about Visible Thinking Strategies click HERE



In the art room, we used a strategy called Chalk Talk to learn about shapes with the kindergarten and 1st grade students. Each table in the room had a laminated sheet of paper on it, with a certain shape drawn at the top. Students spent the one entire class period rotating around the room and adding a drawing to each paper. The catch? They could only draw using the shape at the top of the paper. The could only add to what was already present, not erase anything that anyone else had drawn, even if the paper got a little full. This was a great way for everyone to participate and work together and to introduce shapes. But also it really served as a tool for me to observe my students drawing a basic element of art and have the time to take note of which students will need assistance in learning to better draw their shapes. Killing two birds with one stone and what's more the kids really liked doing it and seeing the results!