Elementary: Molly Amos

4th Grade (50 minute periods every four days)

Introduction to Comic Strips and

Choices

 In the beginning of class I will ask the class to write down the definition of

choice in their journals.

Some guestions I will ask them to write down in their journals will be:
What choices have you made in your life and what have been the outcome of

these choices?
I will then ask how these outcomes could have affected the world around them.

The Students will then be asked to share a choice they made with another
classmate and the outcome it produced.
The students will then come to the carpet (or a designated area) and as a
class we will list major and minor choices that we make everyday.

 We will now talk about choices artists make when it comes to how and why

they make their art.

I will then ask them about choices that they have made in their own art and

what has been the outcome it has produced.

We will talk about illustrations and comics and how these artists have made

choices when it came to the comics and illustrations they choose.

 We will now focus on comic strips and I will show them two comic strips and

we will talk about the choices that were made in the comic strips.

Some guestions I might ask would include:

What are the characters doing?

What choices are being made between the characters?

What designs did the artist use in the comic strip?
What choices do you think the artist used in the comic strip when creating them?
I will probably have these on the board so the students will be able to look at them while

looking at the board.

 The students will now VTS a piece from a comic book by Jim Steranko.
The goal for this VTS is for the students to look at the illustrations of the

comics without seeing any captions or descprition on the comic. We talked

about the writing on day one and I wanted day two to focus more on just the
picture and art of the comic.

Questions I will ask them include:

What is going on in this picture?
What are the figures doing in this picture?
What is the setting of this comic?

 The students will then be given comic strips with blank thought bubbles and

will be asked to analyze what the characters are doing.

In the thought bubbles they will be able to write down what they think the

characters are thinking and saying.

 I will then ask them about the different settings that we see in comic strips

and we will again look at the comic strips they have already seen in class for
a refresher.

I will then introduce the definition and a brief explanation of biomes. I will

then list the six that they will pick from for their comic strips.
Rainforest
Tundra
Taiga
Desert

Temperate
Grasslands

 The students will then have about half

the class to look at www.MBGnet.net

which will allow them to look at
different biomes.

While they are looking at the

different biomes they will be

instructed to sketch different
plants and things in their journals
from that specific biome they have
chosen.

At the end of class they will write

down this sentence in their

journals to think about for the
next class we have together: How
can minor and major choices
humans make affect the biomes
that they live in?

Storyboards and Outlines

 I will start the class with focusing on the question I ended the last class with:

How can major and minor choices that humans make affect the biomes
that they live in?

If the students cannot think of any examples or do not understand the

question I will show them examples from each biome. This will hopefully get
conversation going.

 We will then talk about the positive choices that we can make about the

biomes that we live in. (Ex. Recycle, being eductated about the choices we
make and how they effect the environmentetc)

I will also make sure to emphasize that even though we do not live in those

other biomes.

This will allow the students to realize that even though we are not directly

connected to that biome our choices can still affect it.

This will also lead the students to realize that the choices that they make may

be affecting someone half way around the world that they do not even know
and vice versa.

 I will then introduce to them what storyboards are and how they can

affectively use them in the creation of their comics.

The students will then create the basis of their story board and design their

setting by just using a pencil. This will be a time where they only focus on
their setting and not the characters or what is going to happen.

I will also give them the definition of outlines and and make sure to

emphasize that they are only doing outlines right now and not doing any
detail.

 The students will first be able to finish their outlines of their settings.

If they need more time to finish we can take up the entire class time but if

they are done I hope to introduce different comics so they get a feel for ideas
and know that not all comics are the same.

Dav Pilkey: Captain Underpants

Bil and Jeff Keane: Family Circus

Estevo Riberio:
Hector and Alfonse

Charles Schultz:
Peanuts

 After I show them the examples I will need to make sure to emphasize that it

is their choice in whatever character/characters they choose and they are

free to do whatever they choose.

I will then ask them to brainstorm ideas about their characters in their

journals. If they need the website we used before, they can use that and also
use the drawings they joted down before.

 While they are working I will have these questions on the board to keep their

thoughts moving:

Does your character/characters have a name?

What do they look like?
Do they have any special feature that might be different to another character?
Why do they live in the biome they live in?
Do they have a specific purpose in that biome?
What choice will they make?

 Today will be a day where they can work on their characters and a time

where I can go around to each student and ask about the characters they are
making.

 Hopeing that all their characters will be done we will now focus on the story

of our comic strips.

They will first need to brainstorm their story idea in their journals before they

put the story on their storyboards.

I will provide questions to help their thinking process:

What choices are the characters facing in this comic?
Does this choice affect anyone other than themselves?
What are the characters doing?
Walking, running, playing, exploring, sitting or are they just having a conversation?
Does this choice they are making relate to the biome in which they live in any way?

DAY FIVE: Work Day

A day to finish all of the work they have done in their journals. If they have

their characters and story finished I will ask them to create one box of their
storyboard in their journals.

DAY SIX: Work Day

Today is the day to collaborate all their ideas and put them on their

storyboards. They will decide where to put their characters and how the
characters will be placed in the comic.

DAY SEVEN: Work Day

If they need more time to work on their story boards this will be the day to do

so and I will show them how they are going to outline their storyboard in
black pen or sharpie.

DAY EIGHT: Work Day

The students will be able to finish if they need to and if not I will use this day

to start the new lesson.

Tints, Shades and All the Other

Things

 We will have a review of color and take a quick look at the color wheel.
I will then lead a discussion about tints and shades and how they will be

used in their comic strips.

They will then be shown what a value scale is and will make one with pencil

before they can make their backgrounds of their comics.

After they finish the pencil value scale they will then be introduced to

tempera paint and make a value scale with the tempera paint.

They will choose 3 colors for their value scales and one of the colors has to be

a color they will use in their comic.

 This will be a day for the students to work on their value scales.

 If the students still need to finish their value scales this will be the time to do

so.

When finished they will be able to paint their images in the background of

their comics.

They will be coloring their characters with markers so the paint will only be

used in the background.

If I need to I can show them different brush techniques and how they can be

used in their backgrounds.

This will be a good assessment of scaffolding to see if they know how to use

and hold a brush properly.

DAY FIVE: Work Day

This will be a day for the students to finish their backgrounds of their comics.

DAY SIX: Work Day

The students will now be able to use markers to color in their characters. The

thought bubbles will probably left white (depending on the student).

This is one of the reasons they outlined their characters in the 2nd lesson so

they new where to start and stop when it came to painting and coloring.

 These two days will be used to finish their comic characters and any needed

touch ups.

DAY NINE:
When they are finished they will have a reflection and peer share with their

classmates (I am not sure if I want to do this in small groups or with the

entire class. It will probably depend on how the individual classes work in big
or small groups.)

They will turn in their comic strips with the questions I gave them with their

rubric.

What did you like most about this project?

What did you dislike about this project?

DAY TEN:
FINAL DAY! We will discuss the questions that were in their rubrics and have a final
discussion about choices. I will then introduce the next lesson.