Arts Integration Project Inspired by Day of the Dead and much more at Don Bosco Technical Academy

Recently Patty Kaminski, art teacher at Don Bosco technical Academy, and Triada Samaras WP Art PIR created an arts integration lesson based on CRT/Culturally Responsive Teaching, SEL/Social and Emotional Learning, social studies and art. They chose the book, Gustavo the Shy Ghost by Flavia Z. Drago and the Mexican Day of the Dead celebration as their starting points. 

Gustavo the Ghost can also be purchased in Spanish HERE.

Ms. Kaminski asked her students to listen to WP Art-Professor-in-Residence Triada Samaras read this book on the LAH blog.  A discussion about students' shyness in the classroom, especially in the on-line Zoom classrooms emerged.

Next Ms. Kaminski introduced the cultural aspects of this lesson to her students: "The Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de Muertos) is a Mexican holiday celebrated in Mexico and elsewhere. The multi-day holiday involves family and friends gathering to pray for and to remember friends and family members who have died. It is commonly portrayed as a day of celebration rather than mourning." LINK

Día de Muertos altar commemorating a deceased man LINK

Ms. Kaminski's students also learned about one well-known artist, Jose Guadalupe Posada (1852 – 1913), who heavily influenced the way  death is depicted for this holiday. An illustrator and political satirist, Posada’s prints of skulls and skeletons left their mark on Mexican popular culture and have become a fixture of Day of the Dead imagery that appears every year around Nov. 1. LINK

The Calavera Maderista, in the Museo Nacional de Arte, Mexico City by Jose Guadalupe Posada

The final part of the lesson was artmaking. Ms. Kaminksi worked with grades 6 - 8. Students watched two videos first. Ms Kaminski instructed:

"Click the link to the first video to learn about a young Mexican Folk artist. He describes the turmoil going on in his country and how he uses art as an escape from the violence in his community." LINK Click the link to the second video to learn about about the history of Dia de los Muertos. LINK They researched images of the Day of the Dead and Mexican Folk Art. Lastly, she instructed the students in the use of the art materials and art methods used for each class. The lesson plans were divided for the different grades:

6th grade Mexican Folk Art Sun/ Moon Drawings

7th grade Mexican Folk Art Animal Drawings

8th grade Mexican Folk Art Day of the Dead Drawings

Below are some of the results of their work:  

In addition, Ms. Kaminski and Professor Samaras have started a new padlet for this project.  They hope this technology will increase class participation and self-confidence as well as provide new thecnology skills for the students.

The Dot (El Punto) in English and Spanish at School 21

Recently Ms. Raquel Ford, art teacher at School 21, and Triada Samaras WP Art PIR have been creating an art lesson based on literacy skills and development. They chose the book, The Dot by author Peter H. Reynolds in English and Spanish as a starting point.

This arts integration lesson was further informed by the artwork of Alma Thomas, a world-reknowned artist and former public school teacher in Washington D.C. using this video: Alma Thomas. 

Above:  Alma Thomas in her studio c. 1968

The artworks of Thomas are often inspired by the use dots or other small repeating shapes. Below are two paintings by Alma Thomas that Ms. Ford showed to her School 21 students.

For the art lesson, Ms. Ford explains, "I usually use this as a 2 day introduction to paint. For Day 1, I introduce routines and procedures - setting up the canvas and painting the whole thing blue. On day 2, students create a radial design with dots."

For further instruction she gives her students questions from Bloom's Taxonomy such as:

"What will your dot art look like?"

"What color?" "What size?"

"Just one? Many?"

"With a crayon? Marker? Paint? Digital?"

"You are the artist, make your mark and see it where it takes you."

Such questions lead the student to higher level thinking skills.

Above: Student artwork (tempera on paper) creating with dots.

 (For the digital version of this art lesson, students are given a demonstration on how to use Google Drawings. Ms Ford, states, "I modeled how to open a drawing, how to use the shape tool, and how to change colors." 

Above: Student digital artwork creating with dots

For more books on Alma Thomas to supplement with this art lesson see:

The "Dot" can be heard read out loud In Spanish by Ms. Ford, School 21 Art teacher to Paterson students and their families on the Learning Art at Home Blog.

Hieroglyphs at Don Bosco Technical Academy

Recently, at Don Bosco Technical Academy art teacher Patty Kaminski and her 6th grade art students studied hieroglyphs and created handmade cartouches at home. (See images below.)

This hieroglyphs lesson integrated art with social studies, language arts and math to create a wholistic, arts integration project.  Students engaged with the academic content using technology including Google Classroom to both research the topic of hieroglyphs and create cartouches from home which they later submitted back to their on-line classroom. Students learned to create a personal cartouche using their names and hieroglyphs as inspiration.

WP Art PIR Triada Samaras collaborated with Ms. Kaminski on this lesson to integrate it with the other content areas.  In addition, Professor Samaras read the book Hieroglyphs by Kremena Spengler for the students and their families at home.  

Above:  Professor Samaras reads Hieroglyphs by 

Kremena Spengler to students and their families at home.

This link can be found on the Learning Art at Home blog at this LINK.  The Learning Art at Home blog was created earilier this year in response to the COVID 19 crisis. Professor Samaras will develop a second hands-on project for home which will be soon featured.

Stay tuned!

For more information on Hieroglyphs see: www.facthound.com 

Use the ID 1429619171

Or go to: 

Hieroglyphs 

http://www.greatscott.com/hiero/

Hieroglyphs: Say What? 

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pyramid/hierogly...