Art Classroom
The activity that I observed was kindergarteners making bald eagles out of different shapes of brown paper. The students cut an oval out then cut another oval in half for the wings. The materials that were needed were two brown pieces of paper, scissors, glue, a pencil, a mini paper plate, small yellow squares, and an oval to trace. The teacher was very involved with the students and walked around helping each student. She showed the students a sample project and went through each step for the activity so that the students knew exactly what was expected of them. She showed students the different ways to make the eagle and was thorough about each step. She was easily able to get the students back on task when they became distracted. When the students traced their fingers to make the wings, the teacher went around and helped each student trace their fingers so that they could cut it out. The students were all talking throughout the project as well as helping each other. When the teacher moved onto the next step of the activity, the students began to become very distracted. To get the students back on task, she had them come sit on the carpet because they seemed to listen better sitting there.
Elementary Classroom
During writer's workshop in the classroom, the students draw pictures of what they did the weekend before. The kindergarteners don't know how to write sentences yet, so it is predominantly drawing. Before the students went to go work on their story, the teacher discusses with the students what each of them did and what they are going to draw/write about. The teacher then draws what she did that weekend so that the students can see what is expected of them. They are able to write about anything that they want so there isn't really big idea. Most of the students draw about their friends or their families so relationships could be used for a lot of the drawings. Many of the students made up different stories too. They are encouraged to use at least five different colors on their pictures and lots of detail. The teacher encourages them to draw outfits on their stick figures and to add detail to many of their drawings. For this activity in my classroom, I would make sure that they students are given enough time to draw everything that they want and i would also encourage them to add many details as possible so that you can tell what the drawing is about. I would like to have the students all draw about something they did with someone else that weekend regardless of what it is so that the theme of relationships could be integrated more.