I started this lesson by showing students a powerpoint of tons of artistic chairs. We discussed how art can be both funtional and decorative. Then I gave students a handout (that I will soon post!) with an empty chair (front view, side views, and back view) along with a list of things like: favorite hobbies, favorite food, favorite season, etc. etc. They had to complete the list to brainstorm ideas for their chair and then sketch a rough draft of their chair design. Next class I gave them a template (printed on thicker cardstock) to cut out. (Will try to post that too!). They had to assemble their chair and then add their decorative elements. Finally, they wrote a sensory poem about their theme...I really tried pushing students to think creatively with their poem, but it was a challenge for a few of them. Some of the details on these chairs blew me away!
I love this idea. Did you post your chair? I'm looking for a template.
ReplyDeleteHi - I know you wrote this about 3 years ago, so I hope you see this and are still willing to share your documents because I am very close to doing a chair inspired lesson with a group of challenging 5th graders. I like your twist of personalizaton and giving them the template because while I would like it to be an engineering challenge, I am not sure they are honestly up to it. I wanted to also tie into the Baroque period. thank in advance if you are able to share more docs!
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