Circle Books: Poetry and Abstract Paper Cutting

Today is a two-fer! Here's another lesson plan I worked on this week in class :) Circle Books!

Circle Books

Activity: 

Brainstorm ideas and words focused around "forces of nature" on the blackboard. Theme: Forces of Nature and Identity.

Students choose a term off the list on the board and use it to write an 8 line poem. The poem should be reflective of the student's personality and form a sort of self portrait.

Rhyme and structure are not important so long as the poem is 8 lines long!

Here's mine! Being from Illinois in Chicago we have a ridiculous weather phenomenon called Thunder Snow. Yes, this is a thing, and yes I chose it for my personality word. THUNDER SNOW IS REAL and mostly hilarious

Thunder Snow:

Thunder Snow

Booming, Crashing,

lightly Resting.

Blanketing, Destroying.

Warming, feeling heavy...

but also light.

Made of Light and Movement.

Finding Common Ground.

I chose a word that would describe both aspects of my personality - comforting and warm (Snow) vs. destructive and impulsive (Thunder/lightning). 

To Create Book:

Watch this video! There are lots of variation on the process and final product. I only did the simple version of the circle book but there could be many layers and 3D effects incorporated.

What To Teach...
In my own circle book I used symbolism (lightning bolts and snowflakes), symmetry, color scheme, accent colors, and repetition. Looking back on the complexity of my teacher sample I think I would narrow down the principles I wanted to cover depending on age group and how engaged the students were. The books could be used as an early finisher, review tool, or a way to explore different media techniques. Some of my classmates had ideas like using a different watercolor resist on each page. Another chose to focus on having students "pick one element of art to demonstrate one principle of art". All valid ideas! And I wish I had snapped some pictures of my classmates' work.. maybe next time.

I will definitely be incorporating this lesson into my teaching. I really enjoyed working on it and I'm sure students would come up with some interesting ways to incorporate text, image, abstraction, and color into such a small space.

Ms. K