Samantha Rathfon

Brittney Donovan
Alyssa Brandt
Kat Gutowski
Rebecca Roberts
Kara Flowers

The Noisy Paint Book

Written by Barb Rosenstock and illustrated by Mary Grandpre
Why Did We Choose This Story?
We chose this text because it teaches a very valuable lesson. It addresses the themes of
creativity, individuality, and going against the status quo. This is a historical fiction book that
portrays the life of Vasily Kandinsky, a Russian abstract artist. The illustrations by Mary
Grandpre are colorful and correlate to our drama activities.
Key Understandings and Questions
Is there only one way to do art?
What is the true meaning of individuality?
Is it always best to do what others want you to?
Every person is unique in their own way.
Dont be afraid to stand out.
Warm-Up: Head to Toe Shake
3
minutes
Start the students off with a warm-up before you go into the different activities.
Have the students stand in a large circle with plenty of personal space around them.
The teacher will lead this warm-up with the help of students to make it more interactive.
Everyone will start by shaking out their heads counting to 10.

Each body part will go twice. The first will be slow then the second will be faster.
Have the students pick a new body part to shake out.

We are going to go around the circle and everyone will get a chance to choose a body part for
us to shake. We are artists and we need to get our creativity flowing.
After everyone has had a turn to pick a body part they will get ready for the first activity.
Activity #1: Soundscape
3
minutes
Grouping: Large group activity
Strategy: Soundscape
Materials: Students will use their voice and movements to create a soundscape based on the
image from the story.
Purpose: Using voices and movement to convey the meaning of the picture

Before we begin reading this book I want to introduce it with an activity called soundscapes.
This book has many beautiful and powerful pictures to help tell the story, and this picture in
particular *shows picture* is really important to the story.
For this activity I will assign groups of you to perform different sounds from this page. The
sounds that are on this page are: hiss, rattle, bash, fizz, zip, whistle, murmur, and clang.
Write sounds on board
I will assign each of you a sound, and I will teach you how to make that noise with your body.
After we have all learned how to make our sounds we will perform them.
(8 sounds, avg classroom size has 30 students= roughly 3 students per sound)
Teacher goes through the class, to different groups of 3 to 4 students, teaching them the sound.
Hiss- Make a hissing sound with mouth/teeth
Rattle- Drum hands on desk
Bash- Slam hands down on desk
Fizz- Make a buzzing sound (Z sound) with mouth
Zip- Say Ziiip, drawing out the i sound
Whistle- Whistle :)
Murmer- Say mumble, mumble, mumble low and quietly. Say this over and over.
Clang- Take pencil and hit the metal of your desk.
Does everybody know what sound they are supposed to make? Does anyone have any
questions as to how to make this sound?
Once students are all ready
Okay, so when I point to your sound on the board I want you to perform it the way we learned. I
want you to continue performing your sound the whole time, until I erase it off of the board. Any
questions?

After activity 1 the teacher will begin reading the story until the page before he shows
his artwork to his parents. (no page numbers in story) Pause the reading to perform
activity 2.
Activity #2: Tableaux
10
minutes
Grouping: Small Groups of about four people
Strategy: Tableaux
Materials: Students will work in small groups to create frozen images with their bodies in
anticipation for how they think his parents and auntie will react to his artwork
Purpose: Using imagination, students will create tableaus based on the anticipated reaction of
the parents.

On the next page we are going to see Vasya showing his parents all the artwork that he
has made with his new paint set. We are going to divide into groups and each group is
going to make a tableaux showing how they think the parents are going to react when
Vasya shows them the artwork.
In groups, students will be given 3-5 minutes to create their Tableaux
Alright now that everyone is in their Tableaux we are going to look at each group and try
to figure out how that group thinks the parents are going to react.
Group one, lets see your Tableaux.
Ok, great. What do we think the parents reaction is in this one?
Students will give ideas for parents reaction based on the Tableaux theyre viewing
Ok Group One, how did you imagine the parents and auntie reacting?
Group One will explain their Tableaux
(Will continue until each group as shown their Tableaux to the class)

After each group has had a chance to explain their Tableau the teacher will start
reading the story again until the page about the orchestra. At this point the teacher will
pause to perform activity 3.
Activity #3: Voices in the Head
7
minutes
Grouping: Individual thought
Strategy: Voices in the head
Materials: Students will come up with a sentence or word to share with the class in role
Purpose: Students will view the issue from the point of view of the main character and use prior
knowledge to evaluate how someone may be feeling when faced with these situations
This next activity we are going to do is called Voices in the Head. Think about everything that
Vasya has gone through in this book. He has not had a very easy time has he?
He loves to make abstract art, but it has not been appreciated by others, his parents have
discouraged everything he has wanted to do with art, and others have told him that he is doing
art incorrectly. If all of these things happened to you, you would be pretty sad dont you think?
Would you want to keep making art?
Now lets begin our activity. Thinking about some of the things that we have talked about, and
where we are in the story, I want you to imagine that you are our main character, Vasya, after
everything he has gone through in our story, and now he has just heard the orchestra playing.
What do you think he is thinking?

I will give you a few seconds to think about either a few words or a sentence to share with the
class of how you think he is feeling. Then, we will all close our eyes. When I place my hand on
your head, please share your thought with the class and then you can open your eyes. Does
anybody have any questions?
Waits a few seconds, and then begins walking around the room. Placing hand on each childs
shoulder, allowing them to recite their phrase/words. Refrain from comment until the end of the
activity.
Thank you class for sharing all of your wonderful thoughts and ideas, now lets return to our
book and see what happens next!

Teacher will continue to read the story to the end of the book after the completion of
activity 3.

Activity #4: Grafitti Wall

7
minutes
Grouping: Whole group
Strategy: Graffiti Wall
Song: Antonio Vivaldi- Autumn https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=gYyc4WXS2_Q&feature=iv&src_vid=KY1p-FmjT1M&annotation_id=annotation_454817
Materials: Students will write and draw out what they are hearing in the music that plays.
Purpose: Students will perform self-reflection while drawing and writing what they are feeling in
the music.
Now that we have finished reading about Vasya and his artwork, we are going to create
some of our own. Can anyone tell me what was special about Vasyas artwork?
Student will answer that he was able to hear colors or the colors had sounds
Right, so we are going to all sit on the floor, each person should have a couple markers
in front of them. We are going to listen to a song and while the song is playing we are
going to draw what we see/feel while listening to the song and create a collage with our
class. Does anyone have any questions about what were about to do?
Listen to song and students will draw/write what they feel while listening
Can anyone tell me about what they drew/wrote while they were listening? Why did you
choose to draw that?
What can we learn from Vasya and his struggle to express his true self through his
artwork?
Other ending comments
Resources

Miller, Carole, and Juliana Saxton. Into the Story. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2004. Print.
Rosenstock, Barb. The Noisy Paint Box. Illus. Mary Grandpre. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2014.
N. pag. Print.
Materials
A copy of the story, with sticky notes at stopping points
Activity 4: Large piece of paper, Writing utensils (Markers, Colored Pencils), Music piece