Lesson Notes By Weeks and Term v5 - Grade 3

Lesson Video

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Performance objectives

• This lesson introduces Grade 3 learners to the exciting world of collage, a form of visual art where different materials are assembled and glued onto a surface to create a picture. We will focus on using both natural materials found in our environment (like leaves, twigs, and seeds) and recycled materials from our homes (like bottle caps, fabric scraps, and old magazines).
• In South Africa, creativity and resourcefulness are part of our heritage. From the beautiful beadwork of the Zulu and Xhosa people to the colourful patterns on Ndebele houses, art is made with the materials available. This lesson teaches learners that they don't need expensive paints or crayons to be an artist. They can create amazing art from the world around them, which helps them appreciate their environment, understand the importance of recycling, and express their unique ideas.
• By the end of this lesson, learners will be able to:
• Identify and sort materials into 'natural' and 'recycled' categories.
• Describe the texture of different materials using words like 'smooth', 'rough', 'bumpy', and 'soft'.

Lesson summary

This lesson introduces Grade 3 learners to the exciting world of collage, a form of visual art where different materials are assembled and glued onto a surface to create a picture. We will focus on using both natural materials found in our environment (like leaves, twigs, and seeds) and recycled materials from our homes (like bottle caps, fabric scraps, and old magazines). In South Africa, creativity and resourcefulness are part of our heritage. From the beautiful beadwork of the Zulu and Xhosa people to the colourful patterns on Ndebele houses, art is made with the materials available. This lesson teaches learners that they don't need expensive paints or crayons to be an artist.

Lesson notes

What is a Collage? A collage is a piece of art made by sticking different materials such as photographs, paper, fabric, and other objects onto a backing. The word 'collage' comes from the French word coller, which means 'to glue'. Think of it like making a puzzle, but you get to choose all the pieces and decide where they go to make a new picture! Exploring Our Materials For our collages, we will become treasure hunters!

We will look for two types of materials: Natural Materials: These are things that come from nature. They haven't been made by people in a factory.

Examples: Fallen leaves (different shapes and colours), small twigs, sand, seeds, small pebbles, dry grass, flower petals found on the ground.

Why we use them: They have wonderful colours and textures that make our art interesting. A bumpy twig can be a tree trunk, and a soft leaf can be a bird's wing.

Important Rule: We only collect materials that have already fallen to the ground. We must respect nature and not pull leaves or flowers off living plants.

Recycled Materials (Found Materials): These are man-made items that we would normally throw away, but we can give them a new life in our art.

Examples: Old magazine or newspaper pages, plastic bottle caps, scraps of fabric or wool, old buttons, sweet wrappers, cardboard from boxes.

Why we use them: Using recycled materials helps our environment by reducing waste. This is called upcycling! It also gives us bright colours and interesting shapes to work with. Understanding Texture Texture is how something feels when you touch it. In art, we can create different feelings in our picture by using different textures.

Smooth: A plastic bottle cap or a glossy magazine page.

Rough: Sand, a piece of bark, or a rough stone.

Bumpy: A collection of glued-down seeds or a wrinkled piece of paper.

Soft: A piece of fabric, wool, or a fluffy feather.

Example: Making a Collage of the South African Flag Imagine we want to make our beautiful flag as a collage. What could we use?

Plan: First, we draw the shape of the flag lightly with a pencil on a piece of cardboard.

Gather Materials: Black: We could use small pieces of black fabric from an old t-shirt.

Yellow: We could use yellow bottle caps or torn yellow paper from a magazine.

Green: We could use green leaves or green fabric scraps.

White: We could use cotton wool or white paper.

Red: We could use red sweet wrappers.

Blue: We could use bits of blue plastic bags (with a grown-up's help) or blue paper.

Create: We carefully glue the materials into the correct sections of the flag. We can overlap small pieces of paper to fill the space completely. By using different materials, our flag won't just have colour, it will have interesting textures too! Guided Practice (With Solutions)

Question 1: Sorting Treasure Here is a list of materials: a plastic bottle cap, a dry leaf, a piece of newspaper, a small stone, a scrap of wool, a twig.

Sort these items into two groups: 'Natural Materials' and 'Recycled Materials'.

Solution 1: Natural Materials: a dry leaf, a small stone, a twig.

Recycled Materials: a plastic bottle cap, a piece of newspaper, a scrap of wool.

Commentary: This exercise helps learners understand the difference between materials that come from nature and man-made materials that can be reused. It is the first step in planning their artwork.

Question 2: Describing Texture Look at a smooth, round pebble from a river and a piece of old, corrugated cardboard from a box. Describe the texture of each one using at least two feeling words for each.

Solution 2: Pebble: The texture is smooth and hard. It might also feel cool to the touch.

Corrugated Cardboard: The texture is bumpy, rough, and wavy where the ridges are. It is not as hard as the stone.

Commentary: This activity encourages learners to use descriptive language (adjectives) and to think about how different textures can be used in their collage to make it more interesting to look at and touch.

Question 3: Planning a Picture You want to make a collage of a chicken, like the ones you might see in a village or on a farm. What steps would you follow, and what materials could you use for its body, beak, and legs?

Solution 3: Step 1 (Plan): I would draw a simple outline of a chicken on my paper.

Step 2 (Gather Materials): I would look for materials to use.

Step 3 (Create): For the body: I could use soft white or brown feathers if I can find them, or I could use fluffy cotton wool to show a soft texture.

For the beak: I could cut a small triangle from a yellow magazine page or a yellow plastic lid to show its hard, sharp beak.

For the legs: I could use small, thin twigs because they are the right shape and texture for chicken legs.

Commentary: This guided question helps learners think through the entire creative process from planning to execution. It connects the choice of material to the object being represented (e.g., twigs for legs, feathers for the body).