BOOK OF DAYS – Days of the Week, Colour, Shape

Students create a Book of Days in this 3-part lesson. First they use a cereal box to make the covers for a simple book and decorate them using paint and construction paper. Then they create 7 decorated papers for inside the book using crayon resist and printmaking techniques, and finally they assemble the book and use the papers to record events over the course of a week.

Required Time

180 Minutes

Grade Level

Kindergarten to Grade 3

Subject

Language Arts
Mathematics
Science
Visual Arts

Vocabulary

Materials

Crayola Markers Crayola Crayons - Regular NOT Washable Crayola Marker & Watercolour Paper - 22.9 cm x 30.5 cm (9" x 12") Crayola Glitter Paint Crayola Paint Brushes Crayola Washable School Glue Crayola Construction Paper - variety of colours Water Containers Paper Towels Crayola Scissors Masking Tape Plastic File Folders - Cut Into Rectangles - 1 piece per student Large Cereal Boxes - 1 per student Small Tree Branch about .5 cm (.5") diameter x 27.9 cm (11") long Elastic Bands - Medium Length - 1 per student Small Pieces of Sponge - about 3 cm x 3 cm (1.25" x 1.25") - 1 per student

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Steps

BOOK OF DAYS – Days of the Week, Colour, Shape - Step One

Step One

  1. Cut 2 pieces of cardboard from a large cereal box to a size that matches the size of your writing paper, for example, 22.9 cm x 30.9 cm. 
    - cut the box so the fold at the side of the box is part of the front cover.
    - let the fold part be about 6.5 cm wide
  2. Punch holes in each end of the fold part about 6 cm from each end and about 2 cm from the outside edge.
  3. Paint the cover with glitter or project paint.
  4. Set it aside to dry.
BOOK OF DAYS – Days of the Week, Colour, Shape - Step Two

Step Two

  1. Glue pieces of construction paper onto the cover.
  2. Write the title of your book on the construction paper.
  3. Add other details to make your cover look special.
  4. Set the cover aside while you make some decorated papers for inside the book.
BOOK OF DAYS – Days of the Week, Colour, Shape - Step Three

Step Three

Prepare the Paper

  1. Gather 7 pieces of paper the same size as the cover of your book.
  2. Place the cover on top of each piece of paper.
  3. Mark where the holes are on all the papers.
  4. Punch holes that match the cover holes in each piece of paper.

Attach the Plastic 

  1. Roll a piece of masking tape with the sticky side facing out to make a loop. 
  2. Use 4 loops to fasten a piece of plastic file folder about 11 cm x 21 cm to one piece of paper.
  3. Make sure the tape is under the plastic shape.

Decorate Your Paper

  1. Use crayons to colour a scene or design, including a day of the week, on the outside edges of the paper.
  2. Press hard with the crayon.
  3. Leave some paper white.
  4. Over the next few days repeat the process to decorate a paper for each day of the week.
BOOK OF DAYS – Days of the Week, Colour, Shape - Step Four

Step Four

  1. Colour some marker ink on the plastic shape.
  2. Make sure the ink stays on the plastic shape and does not go on the paper.
BOOK OF DAYS – Days of the Week, Colour, Shape - Step Five

Step Five

  1. Dip a small piece of sponge into water.
  2. Squeeze most of the water out of the sponge.
BOOK OF DAYS – Days of the Week, Colour, Shape - Step Six

Step Six

  1. Drag the wet sponge over the marker ink and onto the crayon design.
  2. Continue in this way until the outer frame is complete.
  3. You have made a stencil print.
  4. Gently remove the plastic shape from the paper.
BOOK OF DAYS – Days of the Week, Colour, Shape - Step Seven

Step Seven

Organize the Papers

  1. Gather your 7 decorated papers.
  2. Stack the papers together in order from Monday to Sunday.
  3. Place the papers between the front and back covers.
  4. Make sure the holes line up.
  5. Paper clip everything together.

Make the Book

  1. Poke an elastic band from the back to the front of one of the holes.
  2. Make sure it goes through all of the papers and both covers.
  3. Place the stick through the loop of the elastic band at the front.
  4. Repeat for the other hole to fasten the book together. 
BOOK OF DAYS – Days of the Week, Colour, Shape - Step Eight

Step Eight

  1. Each day write about something that you did that day.
  2. At the end of the week go back and read each page to remember what you did all week long.
  3. Think about how you felt doing each of those things.

Learning Goals

Students will be able to:

  • create a simple book;
  • create 7 stencil prints;
  • create 7 different designs - one for each day of the week;
  • write about how they feel or what they have done on each day of a week;
  • illustrate their written work;
  • demonstrate technical accomplishment and creativity;
  • support their ideas with evidence found in the artworks.

Extensions

Have students:

  • explore other ways to record their feelings and experiences, for example with the Memory Clock lesson available on this website;
  • work with a variety of materials to build a sculpture that represents their feelings during a day of the week;
  • share their creations with others comparing how their creations are similar and how they are different.

Prepare

  1. Download and display the Colour and Shape  posters available on this website.
  2. Prepare materials to use for a demonstration.
  3. Have students bring in large cereal boxes and begin to cut them to size.
  4. Cut plastic file folders into rectangles.
  5. Gather, and make available books about the passage of time and days of the week, e.g., Monday is One Day, by Arthur A. Levine; The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle; Today Is Monday, by Eric Carle; Today Is Monday In Louisiana, by Johnette Downing, and Deborah Ousley Kadair; and Cookie's Week, by Cindy Ward, and Tomie dePaola.
  6. Review or teach the days of the wee, e.g.,
    - each day look at the calendar and point out today, yesterday and tomorrow
    - repeat the day before and the day after 
    - make days of the week cards 
    - have students put them in order
    - place the names of the week in different parts of the room
    - have students move to the correct location when you call out the words
    - sing days of the week songs
  7. Have students practice printing the names of the days of the week. (Downloads - DaysOfWeek.pdf)

     

Introduction

  1. Conduct a read-aloud with a book such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle focus on:
    - the order of the days of the week;
    - the different things the caterpillar does on each day;
    - the day it is today;
    - the things students have done today.
  2. Show students your sample and ask them how they think it was made.
  3. Demonstrate the process for making a stencil print by first drawing with crayon on the outer edge of the paper, and then dragging marker ink over the transparency with a damp sponge and onto the paper. 
  4. Discuss what happens when water mixes with the ink, and when it is painted over wax crayon, focus on:
    - water and wax are different forms of matter;
    - matter is made up of tiny molecules that are attracted to each other;
    - water beads up when it is on wax - the water molecules stick together but not to the wax;
    - water and wax do not mix - artists use this understanding of chemistry to make art using a technique called crayon resist.
  5. Discuss the use of shape to define a space for the written work.
  6. Explain that students will be making a different page for each day of the week. 
  7. Introduce the challenge

 

Activities

The Challenge

  1. Create a simple book.
  2. Create 7 stencil print designs - one for each day of the week.
  3. Make a picture about how you feel or what you have done on each of the days.
  4. Write about how you feel or what you have done on each of the days.
  5. Demonstrate technical accomplishment and creativity.
  6. Share your work with others.

The Process

  1. Ensure that everyone understands the challenge.
  2. Establish success criteria with your students, for example,
    I know I am successful when I have:
    - created 7 crisp stencil prints
    - created different designs that include the name of each weekday 
    - pressed hard with crayon so it shows through the marker ink
    - wrote about what I did or how I felt on each day
    - made a picture about what I did or how I felt on each day
    - created a simple book
    - decorated the cover of my book to make it special
    - created paper that is in good condition
  3. Demonstrate the technique as you guide students through the steps outlined in this lesson plan.
  4. Observe students as they work.
  5. Provide individual assistance and encouragement.

Sharing

  1. Place students into partners.
  2. Ask them to share: 
    - their books and take turns discussing the things that are especially effective and why
    - how they made their decorated papers
    - their favourite page and why they like it
  3. Share ideas with the whole class. 
  4. Ask students to tell how they felt about doing this project.

Assessment

  1. Observe students as they work – thoughtful focus, discriminating, seeking more information, elaborating, experimenting.
  2. Observe students as they discuss the pages in their books – speaks with a clear voice, looks at audience while speaking, points to areas in the picture, provides accurate information, answers questions from the audience effectively.
  3. Observe students as they listen – looks at presenter, asks effective questions, supports ideas with evidence found in the artwork.
  4. Use a checklist to track progress. (Download - BookOfDays_tracking.pdf)
  5. Have students use the self-assessment form to evaluate their work. (Downloads - BookOfDays_self-assessment.pdf)

Downloads

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