Art: Bringing a Story to Life in a Box

Here is an introduction to lessons at CGK Afterschool.

CGK's two-month-long project works will be based on the main “Driving Question”.

Here are the Driving Questions for this "Art" lesson.

“How can we learn more about a book with a shoe box?”

The lesson theme was “Scene in a box.”

We followed this theme and question with fun lessons each week that drew the student’s interest.

Here are the comments of Mr. Dan and Ms. Kitty, the teachers who were in charge of the lessons.

Week 1

Students were introduced to the idea of important scenes in media and brainstormed ideas regarding ways creators can create emotion, drama, music etc to tell a story. Students also discussed which type of media it was easier to convey these various factors through and decided that it was easier using visual media as apposed to books. The project was then introduced by look at various `scenes in a box` examples and students gave their opinions of the positive and negative aspects of each box focusing on whether the scene told a story or made them feel any emotions. Students also gave there opinions on ways the scene could be improved such as by adding appropriate music and altering the characters and scenes appearance to create more of a feeling of movement and life. Students were then spilt into groups and given an ipad where they were tasked with analyzing a 4 minute scene from a movie and discussing as a group what this scene told them about the story. Students also noted the music used, the camera angels, and various devices used by the director to transmit meaning and emotion through the scene. For presentation students watched each groups scene on the projector and then the group presented their thoughts to the class. The class could then ask questions and give their interpretation of the scene.

Week 2

The class reviewed and discussed the different elements which create a scene, referring to the clips they watched in week 1. As a group we watched The Lion King (Simba returning to Pride Rock) and analyzed the use of music, camera angles, colors used within the shots and how emotions were conveyed through the characters facial expressions/conversation. The students were very confident with identifying when the mood of the scene would change and what they liked or didn`t like. They had a look at more examples of `scenes in a box` and discussed their opinions or what they thought was successful or not. The teachers read “Horton Hears A Who” to the students and evaluated the illustrations, discussing what was being portrayed and which emotions were evoked. The students split into groups and discussed their favorite scenes from the story and created a poster with illustrations of the scenes. The groups presented their posters to the class and explained why they drew each thing, and what emotions they were trying to convey.      

Week 3

The class watched the movie version of “Horton Hears a Who” and were taking notes on whiteboards. We would stop and discuss the scenes, encouraging the students to think about how it made them feel; was it the same as when we read the book? Were there any differences between the story and the movie, such as scenes or characters? After the movie was finished, we briefly looked at the posters the groups produced based on the story as discussed whether they were the same scenes they enjoyed in the movie. They divided into their groups to create a poster based on their favorite scene in the movie and then presented their thoughts to the group, encouraging an open discussion on whether others enjoyed the scenes too.

Week 4

The class split into teams and did a lucky dip to select the clip from the movie they will use to create the scene in the box. They watched the clips on the ipads several times to see what happened within the scene, what characters they saw, what the characters were saying, and decided which part they liked the most. They sketched out the scene which they liked and thought about the materials they will need to make their box, as well as think about the size of the box they will use. The groups presented their worksheets to the group, explained what they drew and what emotions were experienced during the scene.

Week 5

The class were introduced to the idea of how an image (or scene) is made up of a foreground, middle ground, and background. We went to the park to take photographs and the students were thinking about the composition of where things should be within the photographs. Once we returned to school, the students started working on their scenes in a box. They decided within the groups what they would all work on – thinking about the background, did they want the cardboard box color or different colors, furniture/props and characters.

Week 6

The students were successfully making progress with their boxes, with some groups continuing to use paper, others started to use paint to decorate the backgrounds and some used clay to create different elements of the scene. When the students were faced with challenges, they would discuss amongst themselves and ask for advice from the teachers on how they could make the ideas work. The scenes began to come to life in the boxes as the students started adding more props and elements and were able to present to the class what they had produced during the lesson and what they plan to make next week.

Week 7

During learning centers Ms Kitty had a quick catch up with each group asking the students what they needed to get finished today as it was the final day of working on the scene in a box. As some students were absent, a few students offered to help their friends, which meant everyone was very productive and finished their boxes. The students will get the opportunity to make any final amendments in the final week before presentation practice.

Week 8

Students practiced their parts of the presentation and did the final presentation as a whole group.

During the presentation, each group presented their "Scene in a Box," which they had made, and what they paid attention to, what was difficult, what was fun, and how they worked together as a group during the production process. The finished works are displayed in the school for parents to see.

Our next project is "Design an Animal Habitat".

We will design a sustainable home that is not only livable for animals, but also environmentally friendly.