Primary+Division

=**Primary Division Studio Activity **=

Papier collé: Safe and Caring Hands
This is a variation of the lesson suggested by Teresa Holt at The Incredible Art Department web site.

This activity for the primary division is based on the picture book Hands Are Not For Hitting by Martine Agassi. Other good picture book choices are Hands Can by Cheryl Willis Hudson, or I Call My Hand Gentle by Amanda Haan. These books can be used in the classroom to support language, health, character development, and visual arts expectations. This allows the generalist teacher to include some integrated planning across disciplines (Clark p. 26-27), and helps primary children link the known (picture books, common social situations) with the unknown (creating an original art work, responding to conflict in different ways). As Clark writes, "Motivation may be increased by linking art to activities that children have already experienced" (p. 7).

The Ontario Arts curriculum encourages cross-curricular learning and the development of multiple literacies: "By linking expectations from different subject areas, teachers can provide students with multiple opportunities to reinforce and demonstrate their knowledge and skills in a range of settings. The arts can be used to provide other ways of learning and making connections. Through integrated learning, exploration of topics, issues, experiences, or themes can provide students with a stimulus both for engaging in artistic creation and for developing understanding in another subject area." (p. 43). "The arts disciplines promote literacies that contribute to students' ability to explore, negotiate, communicate, interpret, and make sense of the changing realities of contemporary culture, technology, and society." (p.55)

The picture book //Hands Are Not For Hitting// helps young children understand that "there are so many good things hands can do, and so many ways to handle strong feelings without hitting." At this stage in child development, with "[i]ncreased contacts with adults, other children and new surroundings" (Clark p. 7), there is also an increased need to teach and reinforce appropriate conflict resolution strategies. After sharing and discussing the picture book, children reflect on ways they have used, or could use, their hands to perform positive, loving actions. Children trace hands and create a collage of hands perfoming these actions.

Safe and effective cutting should be demonstrated. Children can be encouraged to turn the paper as they cut around the hands, rather than turn the scissors. Once they have arranged their cut shapes, a dot of glue from a glue stick can act as a place holder on the background while the shapes are lifted and glue applied. Some glue stick brands are quite dry; look for a glue stick small enough for little hands, with a smooth texture.

Children trace their hands on different kinds of paper (construction, scrapbook, wrapping paper) and experiment with arranging them on a background (the example uses a piece of scrapbook paper with an floral theme). Figuring out the composition can be an interesting exercise, as the emotion or message of the hands' gestures will change depending on how they are arranged. Children can be encouraged to experiment with the placement of hands and collage elements, with the teacher engaging in conversation: 'What are these hands saying in the way you have placed them? What feeling or idea are the hands telling us?'.

This assignment would work well for either an individual or co-operative setting. Lots of different traced hands could be cut out and shared by a group of students, or even the whole class. All could contribute to a large work that could be displayed as a mural to promote safe and caring behaviour.

Selected expectations: Grade 2

D1.1 create two- and three-dimensional works of art that express feelings and ideas inspired by activities in their community or observations of nature D1.3 use elements of design in art works to communicate ideas, messages, and understandings D1.4 use a variety of materials, tools, and techniques to respond to design challenges --- D2.1 express their feelings and ideas about works of art D2.2 explain how elements and principles of design are used to communicate meaning or understanding in their own and others' art work D2.3 demonstrate an awareness of signs and symbols encountered in their daily lives and in works of art

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