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Lesson Plan Image

What Can it Be?

Is it a kite? Is it a baseball diamond? Students will explore the many shapes found in real life and illustrate some of the possibilities.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

Gather all the supplies needed to bring your craft ideas to life! From paints and markers to glue and scissors, our crafts section has everything to spark creativity and make every project truly special.

Steps

  • Step 1

    Read a book such as "What on Earth Can It Be?" by Roger McGough and Lydia Monks or "Windblown" by Édouard Manceau. Have students identify some of the shapes and what they represent.

  • Step 2

    Start with one basic shape that every student cuts out of the same color construction paper. Ask each student to create their own illustrations that incorporate that shape. For example, a yellow wedge shape could be a wedge of cheese, a bird's beak, or a sandy baseball field. Have them draw the scene and glue the original cut-out shape on the page that they will add more images and a short written description to.

  • Step 3

    Have students present their art to the class and discuss the variety of ways classmates used the basic shape in different scenes or scenarios.

Standards

MATH: Look for and create constructed or natural structures and patterns.

MATH: Analyze, compare, create, and compose math ideas using written, oral, and drawn lines, shapes, forms, and patterns.

Adaptations

Extend the lesson to finding letters in everyday objects. You might read the Caldecott-honored book "Alphabet City" by Stephen T. Johnson which contains beautiful and realistic pastels and watercolors. Then have students create their own pictures of the alphabet as seen in everyday life.

Have students create shape collages. they start by drawing various shapes in several sizes on construction paper, then cut them out. Place all the shapes in a box or basket and have everyone pick a few. Then ask them to create a collage using the various shapes as a basis for an image.