Lesson Plan Template

Below is a template you will fill in as your lesson plan. It is designed to include the actions of the 4 National Visual Arts Anchor Standards of
Creating, Connecting, Responding and Presenting. The left column you will populate with the lesson criteria. Be thorough and descriptive. The
right column you will share your rationale for the choices you are making. The rationale/reflection should be backed up by readings from the
class, and other content you’ve learned in other courses. Sharing your rationale is important as it asks you to think about why you are doing what
you are doing. Reflecting deeply is a significant aspect of teaching.

Lesson Title: _____Animation: Bringing Drawings to Life_______________

Targeted grade Level: ____3rd Grade_______ Anticipated Time Frame:____3 Classes_____

Lesson Plan Rationale

1. Conceptual Structure/Big Idea: Why is this a relevant concept for students to explore? How does it connect to
contemporary culture and context?

How does the experiences of 3rd Graders and how they
interact with the world influence how they create animation
and capture movement?
Every demographic sees the world in their own unique light. Through the
practice of animation, I hope to help the students become a bit more
mindful of their surroundings and the ways that life exists on earth and
maybe inspire them to consider art in a different way then they had
before.

2. Key Concepts (What ideas, facts, and new knowledge will the students Why is it important for students to know these concepts?
acquire? List the key art concepts that will help students to understand the big idea
as an artist.)
Animation as an art form has a strong basis on consistency in order to sell
the illusion that is movement. By having the students practice animation,
1. Understand basic timing in animation it can allow them to work on developing consistency in their artwork and
2. Visual narrative storytelling through art understanding of sequences which is transferable to many other subjects.
3. Maintaining consistency through multiple sequential By focusing on a narrative format, students can consider how what they
drawings are learning about in English can transfer over into the visual world

3. Objectives (what students will DO): How do the objectives fully support learning and how do they connect to the
students’ lives? (What evidence can you provide that makes you say this?)

1. I can tell a story through animation A large majority of childrens media comes through the medium of cartoons and
2. I can use tracing to maintain consistency in animation animated content, to the point where animation as a medium is often
downplayed on its effectiveness by being called, “Just for kids”. I hope that by
 3. I can understand timing when animating a ball bounce having the students learn a little bit about what goes on behind the scenes in
animation, they can appreciate it more and maybe consider exploring it more on
4. I can use a sticky note pad to make a flipbook their own.
5. I can trace my art using pens

4. Essential Questions (BIG overarching questions): How are these questions meaningful to the student? How do you know?

1. How do I see movement in the world around me and
how can I capture that movement in my art?
2. How does the media I consume influence the art I
create?
As a child, it's often hard to take a step back and live in the moment.
Children's lives are so often focused on getting to the end of the school
day, getting to the weekend, the next holiday, getting older, and chasing
the privileges they hope to gain in the future. These questions push the
students to take a step back and see what is actually happening around
them in the moment. These questions push students to think deeper
about the kinds of things they consume and how their body feels to exist.

5. Standards:
NVAS:
1. VA:Cr1.2.3a
a. Apply knowledge of available resources, tools, and
technologies to investigate personal ideas through the
art-making process.
2. VA:Re.7.2.3a
a. Determine messages communicated by an image.
3. VA:Cn10.1.3a
a. Develop a work of art based on observations of
surroundings.
Michigan:
1. ART.VA.I.3.3
a. Describe, discuss, and model the elements of art and
principles of design to communicate ideas.
2. ART.VA.II.3.3
a. Examine how artists turn ideas into visual solutions.
3. ART.VA.III.3.5
a. Discuss how personal experiences influence the creation
of art.
 4. ART.VA.V.3.2
a. Investigate and identify careers related to artists who
work in specific media.
5. ART.VA.V.3.4
a. Illustrate connections between the visual arts and other
curriculum through student artwork.

6. Connecting and Responding: Explain how the students will explore the concepts of the big idea through
artists and their artwork. What opportunities will the students have to RESPOND
Teaching Resources: (art work, videos, books, etc) to art? Choose artists whose work exemplifies an exploration of your big idea
Art: (Artists and insert thumbnail photo of examples shared) and include examples of the artist’s work in your presentation.

History of Animation:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tGFhNQ5eY4Y

Flipbook examples:
https://youtu.be/J2xrN5WQuxw?si=odSdEKxpnl5zsqBQ
GROW flipbook

- These videos are just a couple of short examples to provide in

the presentation in order to get their minds thinking and
considering what they might want to do on their final project.

https://youtu.be/wZ3Sw40gKog?si=jkZmWlIZkgI1Gkne
"First Flight" - Flipbook animation
https://youtu.be/hio2CGVLihY?si=U1AVPg-HV2MrPGwH
Pencil Flipbook: Constalation Prize

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzHx9D8QnnE
Multimedia Post-it Note Flipbooks - 2017
Article about flipbook animation with this age group:
https://www.scholastic.com/parents/school-success/learning-
toolkit-blog/create-diy-flip-book-your-little-artist

- simple ideas like a caterpillar inching across the page or a small

fish getting eaten by a bigger fish are simple short stories that
allow the students to tell a basic story through only their
artwork.

- The Images to the left show visual examples of these ideas.

 - This is going to be the example we use for the first
exercise of capturing movement. Everything is labeled
and should be easy for the students to have a successful
outcome which can help to build confidence for the
more independent project.

- Template for students to figure out their ideas for their final flip
book. Can help students feel like real animators getting to plan
their story.

7. CREATING Share rationale for choices in teaching and learning strategies, here is where I
should see additional evidence of the readings. How will you scaffold the lesson
Lesson Plan Sequence (This will be lengthy and will be broken down into to maximize learning?
days if need be) How will the art teacher help students artistically and creatively
investigate and express the big idea? What is your hook? Explain how you will
facilitate the development of knowledge about CREATING/ARTMAKING that will
help students explore subject matter, media, and techniques in their own work.
How will you weave opportunities for formative assessment and reflecting into the
lesson? Bold content specific art vocabulary. Include leading questions that you will
ask to evoke student thinking during this process.
1. Day 1: We will start the class by going over animation
and reconnecting it to my introduction I had shown
them previously and my experience as an animator. I'll
show the students some examples of flipbook
animations and I'll tell all the students that they are
going to be animators soon but before we make our
own animation, there are a couple of things we will
need to learn first. We will go over the first principle of
animation, Squish, and stretch, and go over animating
a ball bounce. After going over how to do that, all the
students will go work on their own ball bounce and if
any finish early, they will start planning and sketching
what they might want to do for their own animation.
2. Day 2: We will go over squish and stretch and check
out a few more flipbook animations at the start of
class and confirm all the students are on the right
path. Students will continue to work on ideation and
after checking in with me, they will begin work on
their actual flipbook using pencils. students will work
on that until the end of class. Once their pencil flip
book is working, they will trace it in pen, then once its
traced they can color it with colored pencils.
3. Day 3: We will share students' progress and some
successful work that their peers have been making.
students will be given the rest of the class to finish
their project and will be free to make another if they
1. Day 1: The ball bounce assignment and squash and
stretch are the two foundational components for
anyone learning animation. Squash and Stretch is the
first principle in the 12 principles of animation and
that is for a reason. Even without an understanding of
the other 11 principles, if a person has a grasp of
squash and stretch, they can still create appealing and
more life-like animation. The ball bounce presents an
opportunity to practice this principle without having
to focus on moving anywhere besides up and down
and not having any details besides the basic shape of
the sphere. The students will be free to turn their ball
into any kind of ball they want in order to offer
creative freedom, but typically, students just find the
fact that they made a ball bounce so magical that it
leaves them excited to learn more. I hope this
excitement will help motivate them for the next part
of this lesson where they will create their own story
with their flip book.
2. Day 2: I have seen a lot of students get stuck in the
nitty-gritty of coming up with ideas for their projects. I
hope that letting them sketch it out first and come up
with the story and checking in with me, it can help
allow them to feel more confident when they begin
work on their actual flip book. Once they have
everything working in pencil, they can trace it in pen
and color it with colored pencils. This is to help keep
students on the same project despite very different
working speeds. Using colored pencils will be
 finish early or we will introduce the next lesson plan important as markers may bleed through the paper
and some skills they can practice. and cause problems later down the road.

3. Day 3: Sharing other students' work from other

classes without attaching a name can help to motivate
others to work towards that same level and know it is
achievable as it is work created by someone else in
their grade. By providing an opportunity to create
another project if they finish early, it allows them an
opportunity to show their growth and maybe try
something more complicated after getting more
practice.

8. Differentiation/Accommodations/Modifications (For Share rationale for each

differently abled on both ends of the spectrum)
- By having the opportunity to do more and learn
about the process that goes into creating a flipbook, it
- For those who need a bigger challenge: Students who
gives the student the ability to make their own any
finish their work quickly can create more flip books
time they want to which can allow for a new way of
and can explore the process of making their own out
expressing themselves.
of scrap paper.

- For those who need it to be simplified: For students - By simplifying the project to abstract shapes and lines,
who may find it overwhelming to tell a story through it can allow the students to not have to worry as much
their flipbook, they can do more abstract shapes and about their own drawing skills and instead just focus
lines and only focus on moving them on the page. on the process.
9. Assessment Strategies: (Connecting and Responding) What evidence from
performances and products demonstrate deep understanding and generalizable
new knowledge?) What evidence of pre-thinking, in process ideation and
development will be required?
- Day 1:
- Pre-Assessment: Discuss as a class what they
notice about the videos we watched and about
the animation being shown before learning
anything about the principle of animation.
- Formative: Students create their ball bounce
following the principle of squash and stretch.
- Day 2:
- Formative: Students plan their flip book
animation on a storyboard paper template
- Day 3:
- Summative: The student's final animation
10 Insert photo of teacher created exemplar here:
Share rationale for formative and summative assessment, HOW will this reveal
knowledge acquired and how they will use it?
How will you know what your students have learned about:
• the big idea that they investigated
• the artistic concepts and depth of knowledgebase
• art creating and production/process
• reflecting on their own work and connecting and responding to other
art work
•How will the students’ voices be represented in the assessment and
presentation of their work?
- Day one: By having the students share what they see on
the rug, we get to develop an idea of what the general
population of the class notices and for the students who
may have missed some of the things shared, it allows them
an opportunity to catch up and get on the same page. The
ball bounce allows me to gauge how well they understand
the first principle of animation and what it means to
change shape but maintain mass. This is an important skill
for their own independent creation so if I see many
unsuccessful ball bounces, I might try different ways of
explaining the first principle.
- Day Two: By having the students plan their animation first,
I can work with them all one-on-one to make sure what
they are planning will be manageable. This can also allow
me to assess their creative thinking and storytelling.
- Day 3: the student's final animation is used in comparison
to their previous work in order to see if they were able to
apply what they learned into their own original project.
Rationale here should discuss the significance of what was created and address
prior knowledge (ideas, context etc) students will need to understand the
lesson content.
I really wanted to put a strong focus on making sure my
action was simple with one solid background so that my
 animation would be able to move along it to maintain
consistency. I felt like a staple of kids first animation is
the stick man fight so I took inspiration from those
simplified human forms in order to make my two people
on the rollercoaster. By not overcomplicating it, I was
able to make sure my animation worked and everything
maintained consistency.

Link to the book Flipping:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oG2Va7DgsfaGDJpGezSaL2u
4u8VIsZlW/view?usp=sharing

11. Materials/Tools/Art supplies needed What prior knowledge students will need to effectively use materials to express
their ideas? (you may complete this AFTER making your teacher exemplar)

- Pencil Students will need to understand tracing what they have already
- Paper drawn with the pen in a way that is careful and maintains or
- Sticky notes improves the quality of the original drawing. In their last project,
- Pen they got a lot of experience with this by using sharpies to go over
- Colored pencils their pencil drawings.
- Printer paper
- staples
- stapler
12. Materials Distribution/Clean Up Describe possible systems and management strategies

Students will collect their paper up by the teacher's desk and

use the pencils at their tables to work on their drawings.
When they move on to needing pens, they will come up to the
teacher's desk to grab a pen and return it when they are done Stratagy explained on the left
with it. Then they are ready for colored pencils, they will
collect a cup for themselves and the person sitting next to
them and share. Upon the end of class, students will turn in
their projects to the teacher's desk and put all the supplies
back where they got them before leaving.

13. PRESENTING How will your students’ work be PRESENTED and Who is the audience? What kind of feedback will the artists receive?
curated?

Due to the small and required handling of the flipbooks, it is

not very feasible to display them in the hallways. Instead,
each student could flip through their video, and the teacher
could record it over their shoulder and share it to the
classroom Instagram so that their families and others could Process explained on the left.
see their amazing work without the risk of it getting
destroyed. This allows students to feel proud that maybe their
animation will get to be seen by the world.