Symmetrical Dragon Drawing & Storytelling – a lesson plan integrating the Language Arts and Visual Arts curriculum, as students draw their own dragons and then write a story to accompany it. It is inspired by the Dragon Master series, which is published by Scholastic, and incorporates elements of diversity, equity, and inclusion to appeal to a broad range of young readers.
Musical Drawing Activity A Primary level drawing activity in response to classical music, followed by reflection
Casting a Shade This lesson is aimed at students in Grades 2-7, and is an introduction to 5 different shading techniques to encourage students to expand their ability to show the effects of light and texture in their drawings.
Proud to be Me This is a drawing unit for Grade 2+ that acknowledges different family structures and ethnicities. Medium: pencil, black Sharpie, and watercolour paint.
Symmetrical Bugs and Butterflies A Primary lesson plan in which students create works of art inspired by nature, and learn how to create symmetrical mixed media images of bugs and butterflies.
City Skyline A mixed media lesson plan for Grade 2+, using watercolour, Sharpie, and oil pastels
Beyond there, be Dragons! A Grade 2 lesson share of a dragon-inspired mixed media gallery display using acrylic paint, newspaper, oil pastel, tag board, watercolour crayons, and strategic placement of glitter
B.C. Binning’s Atomic Fountain This Primary lesson plan is aimed at giving younger students an understanding of abstract art, colour field, and atomic art, in an imaginative way.
Macro Views of Haida Art This lesson teaches the principles of Halda design by selecting and copying macro vlew details from Haida designs using a small viewfinder and then transcribing the small details to a banner.
Salmon Watercolour This Primary lesson uses watercolour resist with simplified complimentary collage shapes. It can be applied any animal, looking at its life cycle, physical properties, and other important concepts of the animal.
Purposeful Play with Colour and Shape This Primary lesson plan involves painting and stamping with various found objects, such as geometric and free-form shapes made from sponges, vegetables, small jar lids, paper clips, etc.
Picasso’s Blue Period This lesson plan involves Intermediate students buddying up with Primary students to create a large mural inspired by Picasso’s Blue Period, particularly “The Old Guitarist”.
Painting an Architectural Still Life Image Students examine paintings depicting architecture in different lighting conditions. They then collaboratively arrange a still life of a city using painted white boxes of different sizes and shapes, and create paintings depicting this still life with consideration for lighting and mood.
Intermediate Lesson Plans
Casting a Shade This lesson is aimed at students in Grades 2-7, and is an introduction to 5 different shading techniques to encourage students to expand their ability to show the effects of light and texture in their drawings.
Proud to be Me (lesson plan that acknowledges different family structures and ethnicities)
Forensic Sketch Artist An engaging Intermediate lesson in which students are divided into 2 groups, with the “sketch artists” creating “forensic sketches” based on descriptions provided by the “witnesses”.
Canada’s Flag Project A collaborative big buddy/little buddy art unit between Primary and Intermediate students inspired by lines from “We are cultures strung together then woven into a tapestry.” (Shayne Koyczan, “We are More”)
InsideOut Self-Portraits Students make connections between personal appearance and the part of the identity we cannot see. They explore ways of revealing or celebrating their identity in a mixed media, self-portrait project. References Gr. 7-8 curriculum, although the examples are from Gr. 3-4.
Street Art A short Grade 8 lesson, where students learn about graffiti and other forms of street art, and then create and design their own tags. The lesson is intended to address misconceptions about graffiti, and to deepen their understanding of it as an art form.
The Art of Geometry with Triangles An integrated Grade 6/7 Mathematics and Visual Arts lesson that looks at the work of M.C. Escher and quilting artisans to see how geometry can be used in art and design.
Colour in St’at’imc This unit combines colour theory with the language of the St’at’imc Nation. It can easily be used with the Indigenous language of the territory in which your own school is located.
Landscapes In this Grade 4 unit, students create a cohesive series of landscapes that focus on different Elements of Art, using different media for each one. The unit also presents “The Group of Seven” and “The Indian Group of Seven”, and includes a tree sculpture component. Easily adaptable to upper and lower grades.
Graduation Lesson Plans
Put Yourself in the Picture This drawing and painting project asks students to communicate a concept by representing one or more of their body parts into their image, using materials and technologies that best suit their theme. Involves Choice and Voice.
Through an Opening In this drawing/painting unit, students examine how framing influences storytelling, and how they can direct their audience’s gaze. Involves Choice and Voice.
Object Drawing Inspired by Joe Rudko In this project, students are asked to take inspiration from the work of Joe Rudko, who created the cover art for Death Cab For Cutie’s album Kintsugi, in a style he calls Object Drawings, which uses found imagery.
Sometimes I Feel Like a Fox This lesson plan encourages students to explore their identity in relation to an animal with whom they have an affinity. It was inspired by “Sometimes I Feel Like a Fox”, the award-winning children’s book by Métis author, Danielle Daniel.
The Alma Stripe painting project (Graduation lesson plan inspired by the work of African American artist, Alma Thomas; easily adaptable to Intermediate grades)
Affirmations in Art – Words that Uplift (This unit engages students in expressing identity and emotional awareness through affirmations; can be adapted for Primary and Intermediate)
Creating Contrast For this assignment, students will reference an image of a photo they have taken and make a black and white rendition of it. The main objective is to use contrast to create a more dynamic piece. A secondary goal is to practise drawing skills, including measuring for proportions.
Architecture and Watercolour For this assignment, students create compositions based on a creative architecture photograph they’ve taken, giving consideration to angles and perspective. Includes provisions for Choice and Voice.
Identity Portraits This Graduation lesson plan leads students through exploration of who they are, who they want to be, and how they want the world to see them. This project enables students to look for the deeper meaning in portraits and especially to think about what an artist can do to provide insight into themselves as they create self-portraits.
Textured Painting Students create a textured landscape inspired by the work of artist Laura Harris, as they explore the ideas of stylization and minimalism, where details come from the texture and colours.
Animals with Style In this unit, students draw an animal of their choice and add a creative spin to it, such as through spot colour, merging two different animals to create a hybrid, dressing their animal, drawing it on a found surface (newspaper, maps, etc.).
Jackson Pollock and Abstract Expressionism Students engage in a liberating experience of painting with the outcome left to a degree of chance, creating a mood through colour choice, as well as the degree of energy and movement they choose when applying the paint.
Animal Portraits Students research famous artists and how they created animal portraits, and then come up with a plan for their own. Inspired by the story of Bella & Don.
Christmas Parody With this project, senior students become familiar with a famous painting from art history, researching the artist, their chosen work, and its social/political background. They then create a parody. The Christmas theme can be altered easily to a more inclusive one.
Abstract Acrylic Painting rom magazines to find an abstracted compostion that still has a clear focal point, repetition, contrast, etc., but contains nothing easily recognizable. (Graduation level)
9 Panel Drawing Image Development Strategies Students create representations of a small object using 9 different image development strategies. In this lesson, they will use a variety of media, and expand their design repertoire.
