Teacher: Tara Amelia
Title: Colored Ant Colony
Conditions: Kindergarten, 21 students, 35minutes
Subjects: Color theory, primary, secondary, color mixing
Activity: One-day assignment where students will learn about ants, different types of lines, and color mixing. Students will read the Ants go Marching by Pamela Conn Beall, Susan Hagen Nipp. Students will make an ant tunnel using construction paper and mixing red, blue, and yellow tempera paint to create brown for their tunnel. Once they have created brown they will create a tunnel for the ants. Students will be asked to paint a minimum of 4 ants using the three primary colors only.
Objectives
a) Conceptual Objectives: Students will demonstrate an understanding that primary colors can be mixed to form new colors and that lines have certain qualities that mimic that of everyday things such as a tunnel burrowed by an ant.
b) Standard Objectives: This lesson will address the following state standards.
1. Students will be able to identify various types and weights of lines
(Standard 1.4.2A.2; Knowledge: Define the basic concepts of color, line, shape, form, texture, space, and rhythm.).
2. Students will be able to respond to Roni Horn’s Ant Farm after a description and photo shown
(Standard 1.1.2b. Aesthetics: 2. Provide an initial response when exposed to an unknown artwork.).
3. Students will be able understand that artwork could be about an everyday object or creature such as an ant colony.
(Standard 1.2.2.d Creation and performance: 4. Recognize how art is part of everyday life.).
4. Students will be able recognize the primary colors and be introduced to secondary colors. They will also learn about types of lines and we will discuss them in their artwork
(Standard 1.4.2.a.2; Critique: 2. Define the basic concepts of color, line, shape, form, texture, space, and rhythm.).
c) Academic terminology (introduced and reinforced): line quality, primary colors, secondary colors, blue, yellow, red, orange, purple, green, brown, thick, thin, straight, zigzag, angled, curved,
d) Practical Objectives:
1. Students will practice how to setup and clean up.
2. Students will learn proper care for tools and materials.
3. Students will learn how to bring artwork to the drying rack.
e) Correlated Objectives: Science: Students will learn about ants and their role in their community and impact on our world. Students who finish early will practice how to use a microscope to view an ant as well as other objects.
f) Differentiation of instruction: All students will be asked to make a tunnel for their ants by learning how to mix brown using the primary colors. Students will then further be challenged to create a minimum of 4 different colored ants. Students who would like to be challenged further can create 6 different colored ants on their tunnel paintings. Students who finish the assignment early will be able to do a free choice activity either free draw or looking at ant in a microscope.
Materials: red paint, blue paint, yellow paint, construction paper, brushes, water containers, sponges, newspapers, plates for mixing colors.
Procedure:
1. Dialogue about Ants. Students read ants go marching (5mins)
2. Motivational Dialogue (see below) (5mins)
3. Demonstration (2min)
4. Students gather materials (1mins)
5. Students create work (20mins)
6. Teacher continues to motivate students by walking around the room talking to students about their work and processes.
7. Draw attention to some more creative uses of the materials
8. Students will clean up and put work on the drying rack (5mins)
Motivational Dialogue:
(a) Motivational theme: Today we have a one-day science and art lesson. Guess what we might be talking about today? (ant farm, books, and plastic ant with be at the demonstration tray) Answer: ANTS, Does anyone know any facts about ants? (Read ant story)
(b) Association Dialogue (Theoretical):
Our lesson today is about making a tunnel for a colony of different colored ants. What color would an ant tunnel be? (Brown)
Boys and girls I have a problem I do not have brown paint I only have primary colors could anybody tell me what the primary colors are?
(Blue, Yellow, and Red) (put visual aid on the board)
Primary colors are very special colors because with them you can make any color that you need!
For my ant tunnel I need to make brown and I only have these primary colors does anyone think they might know how I could make brown. (You could mix them)
Ok let try! What do I mix?
(you could mix blue and red)
Ok, that makes purple What else could we try ? (yellow and red)
Ok, that makes orange! What else could we try? (blue and yellow)
Ok, that makes green. Oh no we tried mixing every combination of two together and still have not gotten brown, Could we do anything else?
(We could mix all three colors together) We could lets try!
WOW, that’s brown!!!!!
(c) Visualization Dialogue (Theoretical):
Now that you have brown I would line you to experiment with different lines and come up with a tunnel for your ants to crawl through.
What different types of line could we make? (thick, thin, curvey, zig zag)
Great, I would like you to make a lot of tunnels or one big tunnel for our ants to crawl through.
Once you are finished and if there is time I would like you to make 4 different colored ants crawling in the tunnel
Demonstration: Small teacher demonstration on how to get started done by teacher
Class Critique: Informal in class critique while students are just about wrapping up. In groups of four students will discuss different types of lines used in their projects.
Historical Connection: Roni Horn Ant Farm
The earliest sculpture in the exhibition, Ant Farm in Horn's last semester at the Rhode Island School of Art and Design. It was originally presented in her studio as a silent performance which included the artist observing the ant farm. An active environment of live ants is sandwiched between two sheets of glass held in a simple wood frame.
1974/2007. Oak, glass, earth, and ants 47X 70X 4in Whitney Museum
Follow up lesson: Secondary colored mice. Using information obtained in this lesson about primary colors students will make secondary color mice by using only primary colors to reinforce concepts and idea of color theory and color mixing.
