Gigapan Project: Beautiful Stuff: Self Portraits
R. Severino, Beverly Elementary School, Beverly, West Virginia, USA
Description
Objective
Grade Level
Generative Topic or
Essential Question:
What topic(s) are
important for your
students to understand?
By using the book, Beautiful Stuff by Cathy Weisman Topal and Lella
Gandini, children will have the opportunity to bring in found objects from
home. Then they will decide how to sort and categorize the materials and
then create art with materials. http://education.gigapan.org/project/252
Students explore how they value things, and the many purposes of any
given thing. Students learn about themselves through the exploration of
found objects.
Pre-School/Elementary
What does it mean to children when they have sought out, discovered
and collected materials themselves? Does this affect the way they use
and care for those materials? Are they more thoughtful, focused, and
pleased with their efforts when they have been engaged in the process
right form the start?
What is the process of artistic expression? What is the purpose of
creating art? Displaying art?
Activities
Phase 1: Introductory
Performances
Activities to set the
stage: What do they
know? What else do they
need to know to
begin the project?
Phase 2: Guided Inquiry
• Activities to engage
students in learning
(field trips, visiting
experts, vocabulary sets,
map work, interviews,
research….)
Phase 3: Culminating
Performances
Activities in which
students share
knowledge in culminating
event, as well as reflect
on project and learning.
Introduction to Gigapan
Class Introduction Activity
Collecting and sorting found objects and treasures: In January I sent
home letters asking parents to help their children search their homes for
treasures. We included a list of treasures that would be appropriate for
our collections. We spent the months of January and February sorting
treasures by attributes. The children also used the treasures, especially
the old watches, electronics and badges, to create intricate "spy" games
and scenarios.
Creating temporary art; then permanent art: In February I gave them
cardboard circles and asked them to create faces from the treasures. We
did not glue these faces, just experimented with what we could do with
different things and how if we changed one object, we could change the
whole face. We created visual representations of our temporary
creations.
In March we glued our self-portraits and then created a visual
representation of that piece. We also created our puppets and wrote
stories about who they are and what they like to do.
Curating art: In April we learned about gigapans and famous artists. We
used the Gigapan site to learn about museums and discussed how we
would set up our classroom to look like a museum. We looked at the
rabbit site and the idea to use mini self-portraits in our Gigapan was born.
Our final step was to take our own Gigapan of our museum. In May we
began to take snapshots of our famous artists and write about them with
our third grade partners.
Planning
Understanding Goals:
What do you want
students to understand
about those topics? What
should they be able to
do?
(Standards)
Interdisciplinary:
How does this unit fit
with other topics? What,
if any, cross-cultural links
can be made?
Art
NAS 1. Understanding and applying media, techniques, and processes
NAS 2. Using knowledge of *structures and functions
NAS 3. Choosing and evaluating a range of subject matter, symbols, and
ideas
NAS 4. Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and cultures
Ongoing Assessment:
What would be
acceptable evidence of
their understandings?
Participation in class dialogues.
Expressed reflections on the found objects they have chosen for the
project.
Completed masks (puppets and stories).
Materials and
Resources: List the
physical and digital
resources required to
teach the unit.
Internet access
Projector and screen
Gigapan Kit
Cardboard circles, glue
http://www.froebelusa.com/books/beautiful-stuff-by-cathy-weismantopal/
http://www.amazon.com/Material-World-Global-FamilyPortrait/dp/0871564300
Technology
3a. Use technology tools to enhance learning, increase productivity, and
promote creativity.
3b. Use productivity tools to collaborate in constructing technologyenhanced models, preparing publications, and producing other creative
works.
Social Studies
NCSS 1. Culture
NCSS 3. People, Places and Environment
NCSS 4. Individual Development and Identity