Pixel Heller

 LESSON PLAN

by Pixel Heller  

 

Lesson Title: Ready for Any Adventure: Environments and Shoes 

Grade Level: Grade 1-3 students  

Subject/Strand: The focus of the lesson will be on visual arts. 

Topic: New activities / new shoes. New materials and new activities encouraged  
manufacturers to offer a vast range of specialty shoes. 

Length of Lesson: 1 hour

Materials Needed: Paper, colored pencils, markers, poster with a list of elements of design. 

Lesson Plan Description: From the lesson, the learners will need to think critically about what are the different purposes for distinctive style shoes. The students will be creating their own shoes based on a specific mission.  

Curriculum Connections 

Ontario Curriculum Overall Expectations: The Ontario curriculum for first-grade students features an overall expectation in creating, presenting, reflecting, responding, analyzing, and exploring. The lesson plan will incorporate these expectations. There will also be a strong focus on fundamental concepts of elements of design.  

Learning Goals Discuss with learners: Before going to the Bata Shoe Museum, set expectations, and let the students know what to expect going to the museum.  The Bata Shoe Museum sets forth over 4,500 years worth of shoes varying in cultures that help to demonstrate the vast history in footwear. Over time, the museum has amassed over 13,000 shoes and footwear-related objects. Although the museum is well-versed in articulating current and yesteryear’s cultures and ways of life, the history of footwear and shoemaking of people from around the world is best understood through the physical display baring evidence of its rich narrative. 

We are learning about several types of shoes and what they may have been used for. After our tour, we will connect what we have learned with a visual arts response.  

 

Three-Part Lesson Plan 

Arriving at the Bata Shoe Museum: Students will get a 30-minute tour of the museum. During the tour spend more time at the New Activities / New Shoes exhibition. Talk about the three shoes in greater lenths. Here are some examples of what to talk about for each shoe.

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• Sneakers: Sneakers were created with the rise in popularity of the competitive sport, tennis. The tennis court is made with a different material than a soccer field or golf course thus making it expensive in comparison. When sneakers were first invented, they were expensive to make, but nowadays, the footwear is made cheaper. 

• Bicycle boots: Ask the kids if they have bikes? Do they have bicycle boots? When bicycles became immensely popular, women liked to ride bikes but found it challenging to pedal whilst sporting a dress. This challenge led to the invention of a boot that worked to protect women's legs as they biked in their dresses. 

• Spectators: Did you know they created a shoe for watching sports? Spend more time here asking the students to name some shoes that were created for a physical activity. Some examples may be; ice skates for skating or cleats for football/soccer. 

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Beginning of lesson (5 minutes): Once the tour is over, the students may feel slightly tired. It is important to be engaged and get them motivated. To get them motivated to learn and create, get to know the students' interests. Ask them what activities they enjoy partaking. Before doing so, make the students take off their shoes. If they want to share their favorite activity, make them raise their shoe in their hand. Make it clear that in order to say your example you must raise your shoe to ensure no one is talking over each other. Some examples the students may give are playing soccer, swimming, drawing, reading etc... 

Activity 1 (5 minutes): Next, have the students look at their own shoes and describe the things they can do in them and why. Question the students as to why they can do certain activities in various kinds of shoes. Before letting the students share their answers, set the expectations, and share what you can do in your shoes. Make this fun and be creative. An example; if you are wearing runners, say something like “with my shoes, I can run away from dinosaurs because they are light, and I can move fast in them.” Have the students raise their shoes once again to share their answers.  

Activity 2 (20 minutes): Before starting the activity make sure each table has enough paper, coloured pencils and markers. Also make sure that there is a list of the elements of design. Now that the students have begun to think about the utilities and purpose of their shoes, students will then be handed an activity mission where they must now create a shoe perfect for the given mission. Each mission will be handed to the student on a piece of paper, and they will individually need to create an art piece.  

Missions  

• You are in Antarctic to warn the penguins that a big polar bear is coming to get them, but there is an impending blizzard on the horizon! What kind of shoes should you wear? 
• You are in the desert looking for water, but you must watch out for rattlesnakes! What kind of shoes should you wear? 
• You are on a secret spy mission where you cannot make any noise. You must walk as quietly as possible to successfully complete your spy mission. What kind of shoes should you wear? 
• You are trying to get to a secret village in the jungle, but you start sinking in quicksand. What kind of shoes should you wear? 
• You found an underwater castle for your family to live in. What shoes are you wearing in the castle underwater? 

Before letting the students create their art pieces, put an emphasis on the poster with the elements of design. Go over the list and give examples for each element. Tell the students that they must incorporate each element into their drawing. Show the students the example below and point out the elements of design used to create the art piece. Give the students time warnings for how much time they have left to work on their art pieces. 

Here is an example. Tell the students they can be as creative as they want to be and not to hold back. The mission example is myself climbing a big mountain in 5 minutes with jetpack shoes. While the students draw, ask probing questions to develop critical and creative thinking. Ask them; 

• Question Example: What do you wear when it rains? Answer Example: Rainboots. Proceed to ask the students why rainboots are the best type of footwear for rain. 
• Question Example: What do you wear when playing dodgeball? Answer Example: Runners. Ask the students why runners are the best for playing dodgeball. 
• Question Example: What does do you wear to move around on ice? Answer Example: Ice Skates. Ask the students what kinds of ice skates exist and what type of activities they can be used for. 

Activity 3 (10 minutes): Once the timer is up, make sure students put all materials back where they found them. Let the students know that we will now be presenting our art pieces to the class. Have all the students line up in a single file line and tell them to imagine what it would be like to walk in the shoes that they created. Would it be hard to walk in the shoe? Does the shoe make you fast or slow? Have the students individually simulate what it would be like to walk in their imaginary shoes while holding their art piece for the class to see. Once everyone has done their walk, it would officially conclude the lesson.