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Snow Paintings
Subjects
- Arts & Humanities
--Visual Arts
Grade
- Pre K
- K-2
- 3-5
Brief Description
Fun winter activity: students use a water/food coloring mixture to paint on snow.
Objectives
Students
- consider many possible subjects for their snow paintings.
- work successfully and creatively with a new medium (water-and-food-coloring "paints").
- learn about how new colors form when primary colors are mixed (optional).
Keywords
painting, art, snow, winter, color
Materials Needed[shopmaterials]
- snow
- water bottles with squirt nozzles/sprayers
- food coloring (variety of colors)
- water
Lesson Plan
Snow is a prerequisite for this simple activity, so it can only be done in a cold climate or as part of a warm-climate "snow fair" in which snow is made or trucked in.
The activity is simple: Prepare the "paint" (food coloring in water -- see Materials Needed above) in squirt bottles and provide a canvas (a patch of snow) for each student and let them use the squirt colors to paint their pictures.
You might:
- allow students to paint free-form (anything they wish) or you might have them create a simple design or picture on paper before "painting" it on the snow canvas. If you have students design their snow paintings in advance, let them know the color choices they will have so their designs match the food-coloring "paints" that are available. You might even limit students' designs/paintings to three or four colors.
- connect the students' snow paintings to the curriculum. If you are studying community helpers, ask them make a snow painting of one of their community's helpers. If students are studying dinosaurs, let them "snow paint" their favorite dino
- take the opportunity to teach students about how they can mix colors to make other colors. For example, red and yellow food coloring mixed together make orange; blue and yellow food coloring together make green. (You can learn more about the principle of Additive Color.)
Assessment
Did students enjoy the activity?Lesson Plan Source
EducationWorld.com
Submitted By
Gary Hopkins
National Standards
FINE ARTS: Visual Arts
GRADES K - 4
NA-VA.K-4.1 Understanding and Applying Media, Techniques, and Processes
NA-VA.K-4.3 Choosing and Evaluating A Range of Subject Matter, Symbols, and Ideas
GRADES 5 - 8
NA-VA.5-8.1 Understanding and Applying Media, Techniques, and Processes
NA-VA.5-8.3 Choosing and Evaluating A Range of Subject Matter, Symbols, and Ideas
See more Lesson Plans of the Day in our Lesson Plan of the Day Archive. (There you can search for lessons by subject too.) For additional lessons in the arts, see these Education World resources:
Education World®
Copyright© 2010 Education World
Originally published 01/10/2006
Last updated 12/10/2010
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Web Research Helps Students Choose Classroom Pets
Dr. Matthew Lynch
During word study instruction, students engage in challenging and motivational activities instead of simply memorizing a set of words. In order to become literate, students need hands-on practice with dissecting and rearranging word elements in a manner that permits them to generalize learning from remote, individual examples to entire clusters of words that are spelled the same way. In itself, word study is not a panacea, as there are exceptions to every rule. Students can, however, learn invaluable strategies that teach them how to read, write and spell words.
Word study also teaches students how to examine words so they can construct a deep understanding of how written words function.
Even though many educators and parents are totally against abandoning weekly spelling tests, it is my professional opinion that alternative methods of spelling instruction, such as word study, are more viable. If you are an educator who is still giving traditional spelling tests, I strongly urge you to give word study a try -- not because I said so, but because it will provide your students with balanced literacy instruction and exponentially increase their ability to read, write and spell.
About Dr. Lynch
Dr. Matthew Lynch is a Chair and Associate Professor of Education at Langston University and a blogger for the Huffington Post. Dr. Lynch also is the author of the newly released book It’s Time for a Change: School Reform for the Next Decade and A Guide to Effective School Leadership Theories. Please visit his Web site for more information.
If you have a question for “Ask Dr. Lynch,” submit it here. Topics can be anything education-related, from classroom management to differentiated instruction.
Screenshot of artwork by Ryan Vogler
Alex Murphy sits behind a desk, fondly remembering his crime-busting heyday. His infamous helmet, the dark visor that covered his piercing eyes, is nowhere in sight. With street crime extinguished, Murphy has pursued his passion for teaching health, physical fitness and advanced robotics engineering. He sees working with students as his next chance to change the world for the better.
Unfortunately, peer bullying is a big problem at Mr. Murphy’s school. Many kids face violent neighborhoods, unstable home environments, and a lack of role models for positive behavior. This leads them to act out by bullying other students.
As a crime-fighting cyborg, RoboCop’s “Prime Directives” were to: (1) serve the public trust, (2) protect the innocent and (3) uphold the law. In his new life as an educator, the ingenious Mr. Murphy has applied these directives to school-wide bullying prevention. The Prime School-Wide Directives, as they relate to bullying, have significantly improved student behavior. They include:
1. Serve the public trust
In RoboCop, citizens of crime-ridden 1980s Detroit came to feel as though law enforcement “had their back,” and Mr. Murphy recognizes that it’s equally important for students to believe that adults will protect them at school. He has ensured that all staff take seriously student reports of bullying. In addition, he has convinced school administrators that when a bullying situation arises, a concrete safety plan needs to be put in place for the targeted student. Since his state’s laws also require that parents of the targeted student be invited to school for a meeting, Mr. Murphy makes sure to sit in on these meetings and gather parent input on how to best ensure the physical and emotional safety of the student. And he never forgets to carefully document all safety measures implemented.
2. Protect the innocent
“Excuse me, I have to go. Somewhere there is a crime happening.”
As in his RoboCop days, Mr. Murphy continues to have a “sixth sense” about student bullying behavior. He knows that protecting the innocent starts with opening one’s eyes to peer cruelty. He has made sure that school staff monitor bullying “hot spots” and recognize all forms of student-to-student mistreatment when they occur—including not just physical assault, but also homophobic and racial slurs, disability-based teasing, social exclusion, and taunting based on weight or other physical characteristics. And since he knows much of the behavior occurs when adults aren’t watching, he also has trained students to be the school’s “eyes and ears” for observing and reporting bullying. To supplement these efforts, Mr. Murphy has encouraged staff to post supportive posters affirming everyone’s right to feel safe in the building.
3. Uphold the law
Just as he brought order to the streets with his no-nonsense RoboCop style, Mr. Murphy has helped institute a set of clear school-wide rules prohibiting bullying. He works with school leadership to ensure that these are consistently enforced. At the same time, he realizes that compared to a city under law-enforcement lockdown, a school should have a more caring climate.
He encourages staff to avoid simplistic, zero-tolerance bullying policies where bullying students receive harsh automatic punishments that do little to change behavior over the long term. Now, staff focus on re-educating the bullying student and providing constructive outlets for mastery/control and social status. Although targets of bullying often request harsh, robotic-gunfire-style punishment for the bullying student, Mr. Murphy makes it clear that he’s working hard to prevent the target’s future victimization. This is ultimately more satisfying for students who have been bullied.
Related resources
Bullying Prevention: What Your School May Be Missing
When is Bullying a Hate Crime?
The Best Bullying Prevention Schools Aren’t Doing
Stan Davis: Ask Bullied Kids What Helps Them
Lesson Plan Booster: How Can Students Help a Bullied Peer?
EducationWorld Bullying Prevention Page
EducationWorld School Climate Page
Article by Jason Cunningham, EducationWorld Social Media EditorEducation World®
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