Name: Amy Welin, Madeline Hicks, Brianna Heese, Ethan Buck, and

Shirley Boudreaux
Title of Lesson- Perception Upcycle the Sea
Grade Level: 3rd-6th grades
Rationale & Goals for this Lesson:
This lesson is important to teach because we hope to expand the
students ideas about art and ways to make art. We want to challenge
them to use nontraditional, used materials to make art meaningful. We
also hope the students will learn about their own ability to create art
from unusual or recyclable materials, and in doing so brainstorm the
many ways they can conserve in their daily lives.
Enduring Big Idea: Perception;
The students will experiment with incorporating their own perceptions
into their artwork. We want to challenge their perception of objects and
used materials and find ways to incorporate these into their artwork
through thought processes encourage creativity. We will provide the
students with a variety of images, including specific artists who have
used Upcycle materials to create sea creatures. We will also provide
them with images of sea creatures to help them visualize and
brainstorm ideas of their own animals to make. In addition, we will
provide them with paper to allow them to sketch out their ideas.
Essential Questions:
-How can you appropriate used materials into your artwork?
-Why did you choose the materials you chose? What impact did this
make? -How does up cycled materials and found objects affect a work
of art? What kind of meaning does it create? We will give them a wide
variety of materials and an open-ended assignment that allows them
to make value judgments about which materials will best fit their
purpose and foster creative production.
Knowledge Base & Key Concepts:
Students will know that art can be created from all kinds of objects and
materials, and there is beauty in taking old things and using them to
make something new.
From the discussion, students will learn a lot about environmental
awareness, the beauty of nature and the need to protect it. They will
be challenged to expand their schemas of traditional art critiques
and analysis to look at real life photographs that they may not have
viewed as art previously.
Objectives:
The student will examine ideas images of pollution and discuss ways to
protect the environment in their daily lives. The student will choose

from a wide variety of Upcycle materials to invent a brand new sea

creature that has never existed before.
Lesson Vignette:
Each Tiger Team Leader will introduce them selves briefly (2 minutes)
Introduce a few images from Flotsam relevant to our
assignment/theme; introduce our big idea of perception and relate it to
the images, ask a few questions about what they see happening in the
pictures (3-4 pages)
8 minutes max (Shirley)
(Connect) VTS (Madeline) Collection of Images (Upcycle materials to
comment on environmental awareness, another for repurposed
materials that challenged perception; material has meaning)
10-15 minutes
(Connect) Peer discussion large group circle discussion> pick one
object to pass around to the students and do Scamper activity with
them, ask following questions: what does it do? What is it used for?
What does it mean? What ELSE can it do? If you made it giant, what
could it be used for? If you made it miniature what could it be used for?
Foster Large Group discussion (Amy)
We will start with a water bottle; provide alternatives; Paper clip;
Rubber band;
10 minutes
Introduce the art assignment (Ethan): Each individual student will
create a new sea creature using found objects/recycled materials
Show power point of potential outcomes of this assignment; what other
artists have done, give them ideas to get them brainstorming; We will
have images printed out for them to look at in addition to the power
point;
10 minutes total;
Set all materials on one table where students can go and investigate
the potential materials to be used;
1 hour to Create/Produce
Clean up time: 10 minutes
(Present) Invite the students to look at each others work, explain the
benefits of looking at one anothers creations and the endless
possibilities that can come from this assignment (Brianna) 5 minutes;
Socratic Seminar Wrap-Up Discussion led by Brianna: 10 minutes; ask
them to share the material they most enjoyed, or found most unique or
unexpected and how this contributed to the final product. We also plan
to ask them what they believe using up cycled materials means for the

artwork.
Assessments/Rubrics:
The formative assessments come from the VTS lesson, partner and
large group discussions, and actual creative process. The summative
assessment will be measured in the wrap-up discussion about what
students have learned overall.
Adaptations for Special Needs & Student Engagement:
The open-ended nature of the assignment serves a diverse population
with a wide variety of both interests and abilities. We will challenge the
highly talented students to push their artwork even further and add
increased details to their creature. We can also push them to
brainstorm what the parents or ancestors of this creature will look like,
or make a family instead of just one creature.
Materials, Teaching Resources/References:
Flotsam, PowerPoint/collection of images, up cycled materials; What we
still need to buy: Hot glue sticks (mini)
Regular Glue Sticks (not White Staples kind)
Super Tacky Glue
Heating gun (if in price range)
Sharpies (variety pack with multiple colors)
Tempur Paint (primary colors, white & black)
Upcycle Materials
Teacher Reflection:
How will you know that this lesson is successful and meaningful? List
indicators.
The final products The student response in the final discussion will also
be essential to judging whether or not they grasped the lesson of using
non-traditional materials in their creation. Throughout the creative
process, we will help guide student thinking to ask them why they are
choosing the materials they choose and why they chose a material
over something else. This will prompt them to make value judgments
in their process. In the end discussion, we will ask them to share the
material they most enjoyed, or found most unique or unexpected and
how this contributed to the final product. We also plan to ask them
what they believe using up cycled materials means for the artwork.