DESCRIPTION
ANALYSIS
INTERPRETATION
EVALUATION
Building Blocks
Kindergarten
Lesson 4
Shape
Objectives: At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
1) Differentiate between organic and geometric shapes.
2) Describe how artists use shape in their works of art.
3) Describe shapes in their everyday environment.
Key Questions:
What different kinds of shapes can you name in the classroom?
How are geometric shapes and organic shapes alike and different?
What shapes did the artist use?
How are shapes important in an artwork?
Lesson Cycle
Focus: (3 min.) Point out and name shapes in the classroom (squares, circles,
triangles, rectangles, ovals, diamonds, and organic shapes).
kinds of shapes can you name in the classroom?
What different
Guide the Group: (7 min.) Explain the difference between geometric and organic
shapes using icon cards (see Lesson Resources).
shapes and organic shapes alike and different?
How are geometric
Have students look at works of art that show various shapes (see Lesson
Resources). Have students point out and name the shapes they see in the
artworks. What shapes did the artist use?
Independent Practice: (8 min.) Give each student a selection of precut shapes.
Have them lay a pipe cleaner around the edges of the shape to reinforce how
the edges connect to make different shapes. Have the students sort the shapes
by geometric and organic. Name the shapes as they make them with the pipe
cleaner.
Also, have students choose one art reproduction and identify geometric and
organic shapes in that one artwork. Students may use string if necessary to
help.
Art Activity: (7 min.) Have students create a collage of organic and geometric
shapes. Encourage students to overlap shapes as they create their collage.
Provide an assortment of pre-cut shapes, both geometric and organic, and ask
students to be sure to include at least three geometric shapes and at least
three organic shapes.
Closure: (5 min.) Display the works and discuss each collage according to its shapes.
Let students use string to determine whether shapes are geometric or organic in
another student’s collage. Look at the collages with the students and ask them as a
group to call out the shapes used in each work. Ask students EVALUATION
question: How are shapes important in an artwork?
Evaluation Question sample answers: How are shapes important in an artwork?
Artists use shapes to tell their stories. Strong rigid shapes tell one kind of story; soft,
wavy shapes tell another kind. When artists combine many kinds of shapes it
makes our eyes interested and we pay more attention to what we see because of
the variety of shapes the artist used.
Kindergarten
Lesson 4, page 2
Creative Curriculum Connections:
Select artworks that reflect family.
Ask students to group shapes as families.
Ask students to think about shapes in their homes. What kinds of
shapes are in their bedrooms, etc.?
Kindergarten
Lesson 4, page 3
Lesson Resources
Vocabulary words with icons might look like this:
Geometric
Organic
Overlapping
Possible Artworks:
Paul Klee, Rich Harbor (1938)
Milton Avery, The Baby,(1944)
Henri Matisse, The Snail,(1953)
Alexander Calder, The Crab (1962)
Kindergarten
Lesson 4, page 4