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Art and Life in Africa Project

Lesson Plan Databank

Plan Number: 047

Title/Lesson/Theme: African Patterns and Symbols

Designed by: M. Mihalopoulos

Grade level/Discipline: Primary Grades/Art

Estimated Time: 3-50 minute periods

Objectives (what will be assessed?):

Description/Background:

A slide show made from Art and Life in Africa will introduce the students to many artifacts found in Africa past and present. Students will be encouraged to discuss what the object is and its use in society. Hopefully repeat patterns, (you could have some recorders taking notes of this) will sometimes be used with similar significance. At the end of the show, have a regrouping of like pieces and briefly restate the pattern and idea.

The students will then design their own drawing on paper. (Life-size would be outstanding and so I suggest brown craft paper). Proceed to decorate with patterns and color. You could have three or four students working on each piece so that you would have about eight large projects per class.

Let the groups do the research to find the objects and the scale. When these projects are done, it would be a good follow up to visit the museum and view the African art section so that the students can actively use their knowledge discovering more art.

Step by Step Procedure:

1. Break into groups and continue to look up the size of your project.
2. Convert to inches when needed.
3. Get brown craft paper to draw on. For instance if you are making a Bwa mask that is 6 feet wide, you will need at least 7 feet of paper. If the article is symmetrical then you would perhaps fold in half and draw half, cut out, and then color with tempera. The students will need the skills of research, recording accurately.

Assignment in CD (essays, chapters):

Studio Materials Needed:

brown craft paper, tempera paints

Vocabulary:

Evaluation/Assessment tool (how will objectives be assessed?:

Bibliography/Alternative resources:

Websites:

Submitted 7/28/98