Lesson Ideas on the Theme of Buildings
HC
There are 4 lesson ideas attached below on the theme of buildings (laast 2 I
lifted from a website called schoolart - sorry but I've lost the URL).
Hope you find them of some use and if you do why not return the favour and
post a few of your own
favourites to k12edart !
Hilary
(1) Streetscape - 2nd class up
Each child does a building. Paste them all together when finished - makes a
nice display for classroom wall.
Possibilities for:- research into different tyopes of buildings
- research into local geography (mapping the
village/town, examining the buildings etc.)
- looking at how famous artists painted houses &
buildings (e.g. Paul Klee's cityscape)
Make sure the children have some idea how high each floor should be and how
wide an average door should be(approx) to
keep it in perspective & make it look more realistic. Alternatively, don't
give any guidance in this area to achieve a more
crazy look!
(2) Another 'streetscape' - most suitable for 1st/2nd I think
each child needs a cereal box.
Cut open box.
Lay out flat.
Colour in heavily in crayon covering the entire surface.
Imagine the card is a street of buildings and cut out the various rooftops -
vary them as much as possible as you go along
Paint over crayon in a dark colour - blue/black works v. well
'Scrape' out windows doors etc. with a piece of cardboard when paint is
still wet.
Leave to dry
Display
OR use standing up during class tests etc. to 'protect' work from others
eyes (they love this)
OR use as a folder for sheets
Feelings about the built environment
Intermediate | Introductory |
Keywords
Figg, environment, built environment,
sensory, design, architecture, feelings,
judgments, opinions, observation, sensory
walk, imagination, geography, history,
maps, photography, worksheets
Decide on a particular study area. The
environment you use can be the school
itself, or the immediate area surrounding the
school. It needs to be somewhere you
can conveniently return to regularly. Begin
with a walk, followed by a class
discussion. Alternatively, the introductory
session can be more structured using
either of the following strategies.
Worksheets and clipboards. On one A4 sheet,
ask pupils to make annotated
thumbnail sketches of all the things they see
on the walk. When you come to the
end of the walk, retrace your steps, this
time giving them an A4 sheet divided
vertically. On one side they make thumbnail
sketches or notes about what they can
hear, and on the other what they can smell.
Back in the classroom, encourage them
to share their sensory experiences. Often,
the raw vocabulary gained in this way
makes a good starting point for poetry or
descriptive writing.
Decorative memory maps. Tell pupils that they
are going to make a map of the
route decorated with any significant features
they see, smell or hear along the way.
You also want them to note down their
feelings about the places. The map is to be
made back in the classroom, from memory, so
pupils will need to take down notes
along the route. Back in the classroom, they
can use coloured markers, crayons
and perhaps paints to make the maps. They
should annotate the maps where
appropriate. The aim is to produce a map that
records their sensory responses and
feelings about their environment. Once pupils
have had an opportunity to 'tune in' to
the environment in one of the ways described
above, they can begin to study it in
greater depth and make judgments about it.
Give pupils an A4 sheet divided vertically.
On the left, they draw thumbnail
sketches of things they like or dislike along
the route, and on the right, they write
brief notes giving their reasons. For
instance, they might like a particular doorway
or maybe they think a particular garage is
ugly. Back in the classroom, let them see
each others' worksheets and give them time to
discuss them.
Follow this by asking them to choose the
thing they like most and the thing they like
least. Back out in the study area make very
close observational drawings of
these two features. This time the drawing
should be at least A4 sized, as
opposed to a thumbnail sketch. It may be
annotated to provide maximum
information. They can also take photographs
of their chosen subjects. (One camera
can be passed around the group.)
Make a display of their drawings, annotations
and photographs. Ask them to
prepare brief presentations, justifying their
choices and, in the case of the building
or feature they don't like, to suggest
improvements. They might consider what the
study area needs. For instance, a street may
have some spare space for which
pupils could design something.
Notes
If the school buildings are being
studied, the architect's plan will be an
interesting resource. The architect may
still be alive and interested enough to
talk to pupils. A schoolart unit
'drawing buildings' gives detailed advice about
drawing buildings from observation.
A related approach can be found in
the schoolart unit 'story maps'.
Resources
Clipboards,
A4 paper,
black felt-tip
drawing
pens,
camera,
paints,
paper, maps
and plans of
the area
(from
different
dates),
prepared
worksheets.
Drawing imaginary buildings and architecture
Intermediate |
Keywords
Meager, architecture, building, drawing,
architectural drawing, elevation,
imagination, urban
The library will contain many books that have
illustrations or photographs of
buildings. Ask the children to search for the
best examples. General reference
books, books about periods in history and
geography books are obvious places to
start looking. Story books, illustrated
novels and books for younger children can
also have excellent illustrations of
imaginary buildings. You may want the children to
focus on a particular period in history, or
perhaps a particular part of the world.
Other possibilities include focusing on
places of worship, domestic houses or
imaginary buildings. There are many other
ideas. Children are going to collect
examples of window, door and roof shapes.
"First of all use your sketchbooks to
collect lots of examples of the
different window shapes you have found.
You may need to draw in
some of the smaller shapes that make the
inside pattern of the
window. Then collect some door and
doorway shapes and then some
roof shapes. Remember that the idea is
to collect lots of different
kinds of windows, doors and roofs so
don't spend too long on any
one drawing."
This exercise could be structured so that
different groups research a different
aspect: one group collects window shapes,
another collects door and doorway
shapes and so on. Or perhaps different
children within each group could have the
responsibility for collecting examples from
one or other of the categories. These
categories could be extended or reorganised
to take into account buildings from
different continents or different periods in
history.
The above exercise could be repeated or
extended by using a camera to record
architectural details from buildingslocal to
the school, or perhaps from
interesting and varied examples of
architecture in the town. It is better if the children
themselves can be involved in taking the
photographs.
Further research using books and photographs
could involve collecting examples of
patterns and other details or features. This
would extend this part of the research
project. But it is more important to talk
about different kinds of buildings and
their uses.
"What do we use buildings for? What
different kinds of buildings are
there? How could you tell just by
looking at a building what it is used
for? What kinds of buildings do we live
in? What are some of the
features that make the school building
different from he building you
live in? What are some of the
differences between a factory and a
church?"
It may be useful to make a record of some of
the important points that come out of
this discussion. A list of all the different
categories of buildings will help children
make decisions about the type of building
they would like to design.
Are the children going to be free to design
any kind of building they choose? If the
project is closely connected to a theme you
may wish to prescribe that the designs
are castles, Roman temples or domestic houses
or imaginary buildings for
characters in a story or novel. Whatever the
choice, this is a rich opportunity for
further discussion and sharing ideas.
Looking at an architect's drawing Many local
architects will be all too pleased
to lend or give you some copies of their
drawings and plans. Ask for a good
example of an elevation. You may also want to
discuss with the children the site
plans and maps. There are good links to be
made here with map making and scale
drawing. It is even better if you have more
than one elevation to look at so
comparisons can be made. There might also be
an opportunity to invite an architect
into the classroom to meet the children or
even for a visit to an architect's office.
Architects' models might provide the stimulus
for three dimensional work following
this design project. Talking about an
elevation for a building drawn by a real
architect will help the children understand
how to work on their own drawing. But it
is important that the children have their own
ideas and do not simply copy an adult
approach. It is now time to get started on
the design.
"You have lots of information in your
sketchbooks and you have the
books from the library and the
photographs. We have talked a lot
about different kinds of buildings. You
should have decided what kind
of building you are going to design. You
only need to think about the
front of the building, the elevation,
just like the elevations in the
architects' drawings we looked at
together. You can choose what
shapes of windows to use and what shapes
of doors or entrances
look right for your building. What is
the roof going to be like? How
many windows will there be? How many
doors are sensible? How big
is your building? How big are the
windows and doors? What other
things will you need to include? Think
about what the building is used
for. How do you think the people who use
the building would like it to
look?"
You may wish to focus the children on an
entirely imaginative idea. For
example, after looking at a succession of
Italian villas the children might comment
how magnificent and wonderful these palaces
were.
"Remember what you said about these
buildings. They were
magnificent, splendid, huge, amazing,
stylish, rich, wonderful, awe
inspiring... Now, when you are thinking
about the design of your own
building try to make sure that it looks
magnificent, splendid, huge,
amazing, stylish, rich, wonderful, awe
inspiring..."
At this stage, one approach would be to ask
the children to work in rough in their
sketchbooks to try out a number of ideas
first before committing themselves.
However, sometimes the class may be so full
of ideas that they simply want to get
on with their design right away. Encourage
the children to think about any
ornamentation that will enhance how their
building might look.
The children will be working on large sheets
of paper: A2 is ideal. It will be much
easier for them if they have drawing boards.
Give them HB pencils and tell them
they can use any equipment that will help
them including rulers, set squares,
compasses and even rubbers.
Ask them to work lightly in pencil because
they may need to rub out quite a lot
of their drawing before they get a design
that they are pleased with. They should be
encouraged to stop from time, to time look
calmly at their work and discuss it with
their colleagues around the table. You might
feel it is appropriate to have smaller
teams of children, say three per group,
working together on a larger design.
It is very important that the children can
easily refer to their sketchbooks, the
photographs and any other relevant visual
information. Remind them about all the
possibilities for windows, doors, roofs,
patterns and details. Only when they are
satisfied with the ideas and the drawing is
it time to finish the designs in ink.
"Are you happy with your designs? Have
one last look. Is there
anything you would like to change? If
you have finished you must now
draw over your pencil lines in ink. You
can use the thin fibre-tipped
pens. When you have inked up your
drawing you can rub out all the
pencil marks."
You may need to show pupils how to use a
ruler to ink up the drawings. The
architects' drawings that the children
discussed may have included other details
such as trees or drawings of people that give
a sense of scale. The children could
add these details to their designs. Ask them
to look carefully at the way the
architects drew the extra details and to try
to add them into their drawings in the
same way. If the building is one for an
imaginary character from a story or novel
then of course the extra details could be
imaginatively connected to the relevant
story.
Finish this project with an exhibition and
discussion. Might the children be
able to go on to make these elevations in
card?
Notes
Adapted and expanded from pages 87-91 of
'Teaching Art at Key Stage 2',
Nigel Meager, 1995, NSEAD. Look at the
NSEAD web site for
information about ordering this book.
Try this project with the schoolart unit
'drawing buildings'. Think about other
media in which the imaginative buildings
could be developed. Richly
coloured oil pastel drawings are a more
expressive and 'freer' style of
painting. The ideas could be adapted for
fabric designs. Search schoolart
using the key word 'fabric' for ideas.
Resources
A collection of
visual resources
that show buildings
from around the
world, paper,
drawing boards
and masking tape,
pencils,
sketchbooks, thin
fibre-tipped pens,
rulers, erasers and
other tools for
mathematical
drawing, cameras
and film.