Students will be able to:
- construct a cereal box 'TV';
- identify and illustrate rural, suburban and urban communities;
- use line and colour to create contrast;
- measure accurately;
- demonstrate technical accomplishment and creativity.
COMMUNITIES – Urban, Suburban, Rural, Contrast
Steps
Step One
- Unfasten the ends of the cereal box and flatten it.
- Draw lines the width of a ruler along each edge of the front of the box.
Step Two
- Place the end of a paper towel roll on top of a small piece of Bristol board.
- Draw a square that touches the edges of the circle on the Bristol board.
- Cut out the Bristol board square to use as a tracer.
Step Three
- Place the tracer on the long side of the box close to the end.
- Trace around the square to mark where the paper towel roll will go.
- Repeat this process on each end of both long sides of the box.
- You should trace 4 squares altogether.
Step Four
- Carefully cut out all 4 squares and the large rectangle.
Step Five
- Glue the box back together.
Step Six
- Make several thumbnail sketches of scenes for rural, suburban and urban communities.
- Choose the ones you like best.
Step Seven
- Measure the width of the rectangle in your box.
- Add 3 cm to this measurement.
- This will be the width of the paper you use for your drawings.
- Cut 3 pieces of paper the width x 30.5 cm.
- Draw lines 2.5 cm in from each end of one piece of the paper parallel to the short ends of the paper.
- This is where you will put the glue to attach the other 2 scenes.
- Use this paper for the (middle) suburban scene.
- Do not colour in these end spaces.
Step Eight
- Draw 3 separate scenes – rural, suburban, and urban.
- Add details to your drawing to make sure the scenes flow smoothly from one to the other.
- Outline them with a black fine line marker.
- Colour them with Crayola Twistables crayons.
Step Nine
- Apply glue to the spaces at each end of the suburban scene.
- Glue the rural scene on one end, and the urban scene on the other end of the suburban scene.
Step Ten
- Glue one end of the long drawing to one of the paper towel rolls.
- Leave spaces of about 8 cm long at the top and bottom of the roll.
- Glue the other end of the drawing to the other paper towel roll.
- Gently turn one paper towel roll to wrap the drawing around it.
Step Eleven
- Slip the rolled drawing into the box.
- Feed the paper towel rolls through the holes and line everything up.
- Make sure the paper towel rolls fit snuggly in the holes.
- If the holes are too big, glue small pieces of Bristol board to the sides of the box so they touch the rolls.
- Glue strips of construction paper onto the front and sides of the box.
Step Twelve
- Poke 2 holes through the paper towel roll opposite each other and close to the edge of the box.
- Insert a craft stick through the holes as shown.
- Repeat for each end of both paper towel rolls.
- The craft sticks will keep the rolls from slipping up and down.
Step Thirteen
- Hold the box in your left hand and slowly turn the paper roll on the right clockwise to view all the scenes.
- Switch hands to wind it in the opposite direction.
Learning Goals
Extensions
Have students:
- create an original story that uses the 'TV' images as a backdrop;
- work with a peer to combine their ideas to create a new story;
- perform and video their stories using the 'TV' images as a backdrop;
- share their videos with the class.
Prepare
- Prior to this lesson teach students about the charateristics of rural, suburban and urban communities.
- Gather and make available, books about communities, for example, Farming, by Ann Love and Jane Drake; Town Mouse Country Mouse, by Jan Brett; Going To The Fair, by Sheryl McFarlane; The City Kid & the Suburb Kid, by Deb Pilutti; and The Little House 70th Anniversary Edition, by Virginia Lee Burton.
- Have each student bring in 2 paper towel rolls and 1 cereal box, or begin collecting these materials well ahead of time.
- Download and display the Line, Colour and Contrast posters available on this website.
- Prior to this lesson review or introduce the elements of line and colour, and the principle of contrast.
- Make a sample, unfinished, cereal box 'TV'.
Introduction
- Conduct a read-aloud with a book such as The Little House, by Virginia Lee Burton.
- Compare and contrast the characteristics of urban, suburban and rural communities.
- Urban communities are very big cities, with lots of people and lots of tall buildings.
- Suburban communities are smaller cities or towns, close to a big city, with lots of houses that are close together, and parks and malls.
- Rural communities are in the country, with lots of open space, trees, and houses and farms that are far apart. - Show students your sample cereal box 'TV' and demonstrate the construction process.
- Discuss how they might illustrate scenes for each community type.
- use line and colour to create contrast so the images stand out
- add details to highlight the key characteristics of each community type
- blend 2 colours of crayon together by colouring one colour over another one
- repeat shapes and colours to create patterns - Introduce the challenge.
Activities
The Challenge
- Construct a cereal box 'TV'.
- Identify and illustrate rural, suburban and urban communities.
- Use line and colour to create contrast.
- Measure accurately.
- Demonstrate technical accomplishment and creativity.
The Process
- Make sure everyone understands the challenge.
- Establish success criteria with your students, for example,
I know I am successful when I have:
- accurately illustrated a rural community
- accurately illustrated a suburban community
- accurately illustrated an urban community
- created details that connect one scene to the next one
- created pictures on paper rolls that turn smoothly in both directions
- used line and colour to create contrast in the drawings
- measured the paper accurately
- created a cereal box TV that is in good condition - Guide students through the steps outlined in this lesson plan.
- Observe students as they work.
- Provide individual assistance and encouragement.
Sharing
- Place students into small groups.
- Ask them to share their work and discuss:
- things that are especially effective and why;
- what they found satisfying about doing this project;
- what was difficult about doing this project and how they solved the problem;
- how they might use what they learned in a different way. - Share ideas with the whole class.
Assessment
- Observe students as they work – thoughtful focus, discriminating, seeking more information, elaborating, experimenting.
- Observe students as they discuss their creations – speaks with a clear voice, looks at audience while speaking, points to areas in the pictures, provides accurate information, answers questions from the audience effectively.
- Observe students as they listen – looks at presenter, asks effective questions, supports ideas with evidence found in the artwork.
- Use a checklist to track progress. (Downloads – Communities_tracking.pdf)
- Have students use the self-assessment form to evaluate their work. (Downloads – Communities_self-assessment.pdf)
