Hello, and welcome to my blog. I've been away for awhile, but I am still full of ideas. Please remember that what you see here is copyrighted by me so give credit where it is due. Thanks.
Illustrating a dictionary page? Well, yes, it is possible. The idea following is an adaptation of a lesson I saw from School Arts magazine (trial copy). Check out SchoolArtsMagazine.com online to order your own free trial copy. Student Teacher, Kimberly Taylor Underdown, from Flagstaff, Northern Arizona University, came up with this cool way to use old dictionaries. I have added my own spin on it of course!
Prep Work: Scour Goodwill or thrift shops in your town. You will need to find a few old dictionaries (the old hardback kind are best as the paper is better quality.) Make your own example for students to see!
The purpose of the lesson is how can students communicate language (words) in art on a dictionary page. Grade level: 2nd-3rd would do best on this. However, you could do older students, with adaptations.
You'll need pencils, crayons, markers, oil pastels, or watercolors, glue sticks, construction paper (several colors) old dictionaries, notebook paper cut into thirds so you have 1/4 sheets.
NOTE: It's best to have a few pages from each letter of the alphabet taken out ahead of time from the dictionary. Use an exacto knife to cut the pages close to the spine; tearing would tear the paper.
Randomly (This reduces the time it takes for them to find a page they want) pass out a page to each of your students along with a pencil and 1/4 page of a notebook paper.
Have the students read their dictionary page (front and back) for a word they think they might be able to illustrate on the page. For example, if they received a page with letter G and they found the word giraffe, they might want to draw a giraffe on the page. Students will write their name, their word on the notebook paper, and the definition. copyrightLGates2015
Students will then use pencil to draw on the dictionary page to illustrate their word.(If possible try to keep some of the word showing through so it can be read.) After drawing, they can use the media they want: crayons, markers, watercolors, oil pastels, etc. Be sure to demo use of these media first with them--especially watercolors and how to use little water so the paper will not warp or wrinkle!
Have students mat their dried dictionary word illustrations on construction paper with glue stick, and glue their word and definition notebook paper at the bottom of the construction paper, so it hangs like a tag. Display these wonderful creations!!!
Good luck, have fun, and learn some new words!!!!
