We have a lovely and fast-to-prep art project for spring to share with you today. It perfectly accompanies a reading of The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle. Have you read it? We think your little ones will love it as much as we do.
Teaching points for this literature based art lesson:
- read this before you introduce the art project
- tell the students the title and ask if they know the author/illustrator and some other titles he has written
- tell them that Eric Carle uses collage to create his illustrations, that he cuts different pieces of paper into different shapes and creates a picture out of it
- tell them to look carefully at the illustrations as you read the text
- suggest that good readers ask questions before and as they read and to note that Eric commences the story with 2 main questions
- Will it be able to keep up with the others?
- And where are they all going?
- ask your students to consider these questions as the story progresses and to monitor how the answers are revealed
- point to the little seed illustration on each page
- encourage students to make a connection to the little seed - have you ever felt like you can't keep up?
- as the story progresses ask students to recall and retell the reasons why some larger seeds have left the group to monitor their comprehension (good readers pause and check for understanding, monitor and ask themselves questions)
- perhaps you will find that the page with the bird is a pivotal place in the story where students may begin to sense that being a small seed is actually a fortunate stroke of luck
- as the autumn winds reappear and the new seeds are released, help students recognize that the plant life cycle is starting once more
- ask students to briefly retell how the story unfolded
- ask if your students noticed that Eric Carle revealed page by page, the fortuity of each seed - ask them to recall some of the elements or plot twists that revealed these
- ask students to suggest some themes that emerge through the text - seasons, nature, life, cycles, growth, being last, small-but-mighty, feeling insignificant, chance
Spring Flower art lesson
- Introduce the students to the idea of creating their own artwork to reflect their reading of the story.
- Recall characteristics of the illustrations in the text - imperfect, energetic, expressive and colorful.
- Discuss the techniques used by the illustrator - cutting and tearing paper, layering and arranging shapes. Point these out with example on pages throughout the text.
- Show the students some examples that you have pre-made and talk about unique ideas and expression. Point out and define each element you have included - soil, stems, leaves, petals, sun, clouds, seeds on the wind
- Let students tear paper scraps to create their spring flower art project.
- provide tubs of roughly torn paper scraps - keep these in sorted containers permanently in your store room or resource collection for future projects
- teach students to return all scraps to the tubs for others to use and to conserve supplies
teach students to tear paper shapes
- demonstrate poor tearing (ripping - what not to do) - fingers wide apart and far away from one another on the page - no control of the shape being torn
- demonstrate controlled tearing - pointer finger and thumb together, 2 hands close to the area that needs to be torn
- demonstrate how to turn the paper slowly and make small tears to create a shape
- reveal the 'pinch and pull' tear to make tiny shapes like seeds
- be aware that some students may find tearing daunting and assist them where necessary
If time permits, encourage students to talk and share their work with the class. Students may like to appraise each others artworks with short verbal notes of appreciation - e.g. I like how you have contrasted the orange and blue on this flower
We love this book and how it has the potential to encourage students who may be feeling small and insignificant at times. As well as gorgeous art projects to decorate your learning space, you may also like to print and display an encouraging classroom poster - From a small seed a mighty trunk may grow.
This printable from our Cute Classroom Posters collection is free for you today and over in our TPT store
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