Grade level: K - Grade 1.
Provincial curriculum links: Ontario.
Subject: Language and The Arts.
Keywords: Observation.
Create a class big book using the "I Spy" game format and adding 3 clues to help readers guess the areas of our naturalization project.
Topic: Language
Strand: Reading
Specific Lesson Goals:
Share reading of our big book.
Topic: The Arts
Strand: Visual Arts
Specific Lesson Goals:
Identify a variety of art tools, materials and techniques, and demonstrate understanding of their proper and safe use.
1 hour - Outdoors
1 hour (approx.) - Indoors. Cut and paste for illustrations.
2 hours - Followup for teacher to write it up as a big book and laminate it.
The book, I Spy by David Drew (Irwin Publishing, 1994)
scissors
pencils
construction paper (a variety of colours)
pencil crayons and crayons
Choose which 4 or 5 areas of your project that you wish to look at with your children.
Take the class outdoors, walk to the first area (eg. sandbox) and have children sit together facing you in the sandbox. Ask the children to complete the sentence "I spy with my little eye something that is _______ (colour)". Teacher records.
Have kids create 3 more clues referring to the sandbox. e.g., I am made of grains. I am a place to dig and I am a place to build. Teacher records the kid's ideas. Note - you may want to have more than 3 but choose the best 3 for the book.
Follow steps 2 and 3 for several more areas in naturalized areas of your school yard e.g., logs, rocks, field.
Return to class and decide with the children which clues best describe your area and each one will end with "What am I"?
Divide children into groups so that each child helps to make a portion of a single illustration reflecting an area of the naturalized school yard(eg. for the sandbo, one child cuts paper strips for the outside of the sandbox, another draws and colours the sand and cuts out people, another does sand pails and someone glues all the pieces in place.
The teacher writes text in big print around the shape of a human eye. Do this for the page about the colour clue and also for the page about the extra clue ending in "What am I"? This provides a peek though to the answer or illustration.
Students can be rated on group participation and co-operation.
This is an excellent activity in which to demonstrate the spirit of helping.
This exercise is adapted from: Drew, David. I Spy Irwin Publishing. 1994.
Submitted by: Irene Van Woudenberg, Teacher, Broadacres Junior School