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Thursday, March 26, 2015

The Underground Lives of Ants by 2nd grade

This blogging community is full of super cool people with amazing ideas and lesson plans. Often times, I'll find an idea that is interesting and change it or add to it to suit my student population. It is beyond rare that I find a lesson that I duplicate outright. I've done just that with this project. 

I take absolutely no credit for this lesson. All the props go to Mrs. Knight at Mrs. Knight's Smartest Artists. This post popped up in my Pinterest feed and I immediately repined it to use this year.  

The project is all about the secret underground lives of ants. What goes on in their maze of subterranean tunnels? What if ants were more like us? My students immediately latched on to this project. We initially got all up in the science and talked about ant body parts and habitats. Next, we discussed personification in the illustrations of Beatrix Potter and others. Next, we got to the art. 

My students and I had a blast brainstorming about all of the incredible things that could be happening underground. In the end, my second graders produced some highly creative artwork that we were all proud of. 

Download my version of the lesson plan!













2 comments:

Hope Hunter Knight said...

Such a great job they did, and I really like the effect of the paint too! Thanks so much for linking my post - I think I have even another link in there to a similar idea from someplace else! It is my favorite thing to see how we all learn and grow by sharing our work. Here's to more of that....

Zach Stoller said...

Hope- I'm just psyched that there are other cool art teachers out there willing to share what they are doing. I'm going to have my second graders do a variation of your Auguste Herbin project soon as well!