LEARNING: In this project, student artists are introduced to constellations and their stories from Greek, Native American, and Inca cultures; they compare how these cultures interpreted the same groups of stars in the sky and learn about how they incorporated the changing sky into their mythology.
CREATING: Student artists brainstorm their own, original, constellations, create an origin myth, redraw their brainstorms into a thought out composition of the night sky, and finish using liquid watercolor and oil pastels.
CONNECTING: This project is part of our ‘Art & Literacy Curriculum’. You are welcome to use it independently, and it is easily adaptable to use across multiple grades. However, it was designed to support the topic ‘sun/moon/stars’, which is often found in 1st grade ELA curricula. Text sets and vocab are pulled for 1st grade students.
Specifically, this project addresses the general theme of the sky; how the stars inspired storytellers and artists throughout different cultures, and also addresses how the changing sky influenced these stories.
Scope & Sequence:
Lesson 1: SW learn that nearly every culture found ‘pictures’ amongst the stars in the sky, and these pictures would describe characters from myths, earthbound creatures, or sometimes objects. They then get copies of constellation dots and they connect the dots to make their own ‘constellations’.
Lesson 2: SW learn about Greek constellation ‘origin stories’. Using a self-paced work-packet as a guide, they choose 1 (or more) of their brainstormed constellations from lesson 1 and use a story map to roughly write or illustrate an origin story.
Lesson 3: SW learn learn about a Native American constellation myth, and how the characters often enacted a narrative in the sky. Students use their origin story to design a composition, and begin work on a final drawing.
Lesson 4: SW learn about the Inca People, and how they saw constellations in the absence of stars. They then have two days to paint their drawings.
Lesson 5: SW have a fifth day entirely for finishing and refining work.
Lesson 6: Optional: a final day for finishing.
(you can preview the first lesson in a project without enrolling by clicking on ‘lesson 1’ above).
Art Elements:
line, color, value
Art Principles:
balance, unity
CCS:
RI.1.9, W.1.2, W.1.2, SL.1.1a, SL.1.1b, SL.1.2, SL.1.1c, SL.1.3, SL.1.5
NCAS:
VA:Cr2.1.1a, VA:Cr3.1.2a, VA:Cn11.1.1a, VA:Cn11.1.2a
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