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LESSON PLAN FORMAT LESSON PLAN NAME: BOSS OF THE PLAINS SELF PORTRAITS & HATS

YOUR NAME AND SCHOOL: JOAN BOHNSTEDT, CENTRAL SCHOOL (ESCONDIDO)

GOAL(S) FOR YOUR LESSON PLAN: Students will demonstrate expanded vocabulary while comparing and contrasting the different types and purposes of the hats in the story, Boss of the Plains. Students will also be able to demonstrate an understanding of facial proportions.

CALIFORNIA STATE STANDARDS ADDRESSED IN LESSON PLAN

READING: 2.1 Compare and contrast information

LISTENING & SPEAKING: 1.6 Use traditional structures for conveying information (i.e. similarity & difference)

VISUAL ARTS: 2.5 Use accurate proportions to create an expressive portrait.

DURATION: Language Arts Portion (45 minutes per day for 5 days)

Art Portion (two 45 minute sessions)

MATERIALS/PREPARATION NEEDED: hat realia or photos of hats (i.e. Stetson hat, sombrero, sunbonnet, stovepipe hat, baseball cap, derby, lady’s broad brimmed hat), 9x12 manila drawing paper, multicultural crayons, crayons, pencils, erasers, hat stencils, construction paper, scissors, glue

Before beginning the project, make stencils for each type of hat that will be used. One of each type was sufficient for a class of 32.

BODY OF LESSON PLAN:

Introduction/Activation of Prior Knowledge:

Prior to this lesson I had taught a lesson at Halloween time for Day of the Dead where students made skeletons doing different activities (i.e. running, skiing, skateboarding). Students made an initial skeleton through a directed drawing process where proportion was discussed and they also experimented with their own bodies to see proportion in action. (i.e. radius/ulna in forearm are about same length as foot). After students drew their initial skeleton, they then drew skeletons doing different activities. Students used white crayons on black construction paper to do this activity.

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Teaching the Lesson:

Days 1-4: The story was introduced through a picture walk and discussion of what was seen on each page. Particular attention was drawn to the period hats in the story. New vocabulary was introduced prior to reading the text. The style of the pictures is cut paper, paint & pencils. Then the story was read and listened to 3 times over a period of 4 days. On the first day I also brought in a Stetson hat. Later in the week I brought in the other realia hats and we discussed the purpose for each hat (i.e. sunbonnet was to protect the head from the hot sun especially in the west where they worked outdoors a lot. I also brought in a baseball cap and we discussed what it is used for today and that many of today’s cowboys use baseball hats for work.

Boss of the Plains is the story of John Stetson and how he came to invent the “Boss of the Plains” hat which was one of the most popular hats ever used in the west by cowboys and others.

Day 5: Materials were passed out and prior knowledge was activated with a discussion about the skeletons we had drawn at Halloween time. We talked again about proportion and what it meant. Then the VAPA objective was introduced where students were told they would be doing portraits and then choosing a hat to make and put on their portrait’s head. We reviewed the realia hats that had been brought in earlier.

This was a directed drawing activity.

1) First I drew a large oval on the 9x12 manila drawing paper under the docucam. Students then drew their ovals.

2) Next I drew 2 lines to cut the oval in half vertically and horizontally. Students did the same.

3) Then I had students feel their own head and where their eyes were in proportion to the top of their heads. Then we did the spacing for the eyes on the horizontal line.

4) Afterwards we measured the distance from the top of our noses to the bottom of our noses and then saw that it was the same proportion as from the bottom of our noses to the bottom of our chin. Students marked the bottom of the nose with a light line and then did the bottom of the nose.

5) Next we finished drawing the nose and the nose line that connects with the eyebrows. We added eyebrows, pupils, and eyelashes.

6) After that I modeled and the students drew the lips and ears. And we stopped for the day

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Day 6: I modeled how and students erased the horizontal and vertical lines they had been using to help with proportion during their pencil drawing. I modeled how to add hair, skin color and some shading to the portrait. I showed them how to mix some red in with brown for their lips and how to outline in a darker shade to give definition to the features such as the eyes and lips. I also gave guidelines for sharing the multicultural skin tone crayons and showed them how to match their skin tone by testing different crayons. I also modeled how to choose a hat stencil, trace it, add a design to it, and attach it to the portrait.

Guided Practice:

Students jumped into this part of the project with great enthusiasm. They were excited to turn the portrait into themselves by adding their hair, skin and eye color. I was available to answer questions, give help when needed, and oversee the choosing of a hat stencil and paper to make the hats.

Conclusion:

As students finished the coloring and shading of their portraits, they came to the back table and chose a hat stencil and the color construction paper they wanted. As soon as they traced the stencil, they brought the stencil back so that there was very little waiting for a stencil. Then students made a design on their hat, cut it out, and glued it onto their portraits. Portraits were then hung up on a bulletin board in the room.

Extension Activities:

1) Do another portrait, but this time work on how to do expressions.

2) Now that students have done skeletons and portraits, the next activity could be drawing the whole human figure.

Assessment:

Formal: Houghton Mifflin Comprehension Test, 4 point rubric of the portrait

Informal: use of vocabulary in different context, teacher observation of during drawings

Research Reference:

August, D. and Shanahan, T. (2010). Effective Literacy Instruction for English Learners in Improving Education for English Learners: Research-Based Approaches (pp. 229-230). Sacramento, CA: California Department of Education.

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Goldberg, Merryl. (2005) Integrating the Arts: An Approach to Teaching and Learning in Multicultural & Multilingual Settings. (pp. 1-32) Allyn & Bacon, Inc.

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