Rainsticks at School 9

At School 9 WP Art Professor-in-Residence Simone Sandler worked with first grade students and their teacher Ms. Doud to create a class using in Google Classroom in art/science lesson exploring Native American rain sticks and their significance. Rainsticks are also common in South America.

After learning about rainsticks in class, they used simple materials from home: recycled cardboard tubes, pencils, paint and rice/beans inside the tubes to create a beautiful rain sound.

Parents uploaded the photos of the finished lesson in attractive digital frames. Some examples are shown below.

For more information see:

Rain Stick Lesson Plan for Early Grades LINK

How to Play the Raintick Youtube

Chilean Cactus Rainstick LINK

Make a Rainstick LINK

An Interactive and Digital Arts History/Science Lesson at School 9

At School 9 WP Art Professor-in-Residence Simone Sandler worked with second grade students and their teacher to create an interactive and digital art history/science lesson using in Google Classroom and exploring the Mona Lisa and the protective masks of the COVID 19 pandemic. 

First they read about Leonardo DaVinci. Next, students had to create a portrait of themselves with a mask.  Examples of Mona Lisa with a mask were shown to the students.  While creating their masks the students had to design an original mask indicating their uniqueness.

To do this lesson, students used markers at home on plain white paper. Photographs of the students and their art works were taken during the live Google Classroom session.

Here are some examples below:

For more information:

Teaching Kids about Mona Lisa LINK

Making Masked Self Portraits LINK

A Digital Insect/Art Lesson at School 9 using Google Classroom

At School 9, WP Art Professor-in-Residence Simone Sandler worked with elementary students and their teachers to create an art/science lesson delivered digitally exploring insects. First, a Power Point was presented to the first graders using in Google Classroom to examine the parts of various insects. Students had to create an insect that had three parts and six legs and antennas. 

Next, students were instructed to use their imagination and creative ideas to do their drawings in marker or crayon. They used simple colored supplies found at home.  Here are some examples of their completed works below:

For more information:

Grade 1 Insect Making Ideas LINK

Rain Forest Insects LINK

An Interactive and Digital Science/Art Lesson at School 9

At School 9, WP Art Professor-in-Residence Simone Sandler worked with

first grade students and teachers to create an art/science lesson using Google Classroom to explore leaves and fall. 

Students were able to watch various leaf rubbing activities on You Tube.

Students gathered leaves from outside and created these leaf rubbings with peeled crayons. Students in first grade at School 9 uploaded their leaf rubbings to the computer.  

 Here are some examples below:

 

For More Information:

Leaf Rubbings on Youtube LINK

Why do Leaves Have Such Different Shapes? LINK

A Leaf Chart:

Padlet as an Interactive Bulletin Board and Arts Integration Tool

Last Friday, 11/13/2020, WP Art Professor-in-Residence Triada Samaras presented a  workshop on Padlet and Screen Castify using Padlet in the William Paterson University 11th Annual Educational Technology Conference held digitally for public school teachers and others across New Jersey. This conference was organized and presented by Dr. Heejung An, Dodge Arts Integration Grant Director for the Paterson Public Schools together with Dr. Pei-Lin Weng from WP. 

Padlet is an online tool with many interactive features that can be used in a wide variety of ways in any classroom. A Padlet is a blank canvas. "We give you an empty page and you can put whatever you like on it. Drag in a video, record an interview, snap a selfie, write text posts or upload some documents, and voilà!" (Padlet.com)

Professor Samaras explained in her presentation on Padlet use in the classroom:

• Teachers and Students can add/edit/respond to own: Visual Images, Text, Audio, Video, Screencasts and more (Interdisciplinary Education)

• Teachers and Students can interact with the classroom community on Padlet (NJ SEL)

• Teachers and Students can experience an interdisciplinary educational platform (Multiple Intelligences as per Howard Gardner)

• Teachers and Students can engage with Career Readiness Practices (NJ CRPS)

• Increases Student Participation, Engagement, Comfort Level with Art (NJ SEL)

• Increases Opportunities for CRT Culturally Responsive Teaching

Teachers who attended Professor Samaras' workshop included the art teachers from two Dodge Arts Integration Grant schools in Paterson: Patty Kaminski, Don Bosco Technical Academy, and Raquel Ford, School 21.  They were both inspired to make Padlets of their own featuring the art projects done by their students from their on-line classrooms.  

These students now have the opportunity to see their works on-line, and the works of their classmates, and to now be able to create comments about these works using text, audio, screencastify using Padlet, visual drawings, and video.  This new range of possibilities means students have much more ability to create responses using any tool that feels most comfortable for them in their "classroom" at home. I

In the coming months Professor Samaras will be working with Ms. Ford and Ms. Kaminski to create specific lesson plans for Padlet that will enhance both students' technology skills and social and emotional learning skills.  

Stay tuned!

For More Resources See:

How to teach remotely with Padlet

Arts Integration User Guide for NJ