Canada Unit: If You Are Not from the Prairies Art Project

I think the best way to teach students about Canada is to take the most visual journey possible, the next best thing to actually taking a trip. 
When teaching about the Prairie provinces, the book If You Are Not from the Prairie, written  by David Bouchard, is a powerful teaching tool both in its poetic language and painted imagery.

I read it slowly to the students, emphasizing the repetitive words, "flat", "sky", "grass", "wind". 

After the reading, as a class, we discuss the pictures, focusing on the horizon, the colours, foreground and background. 

The students choose from photocopies  of some of the key pages from the book, which they, themselves attempt to sketch. 

After sketching, they outline the bolder lines of their drawing with sharpie pen.  In this lesson, I shrunk the artwork on the photocopier, to darken their pencil lines as well.

To finish the project, the students used water colour paints, mostly blues, yellows, greens and browns to paint their pictures. 

A few carefully chosen spots in their paintings, such as a barn or flower, are painted with a bright, bold colour, such as red or pink. Lastly, the students use sharpie to print the key word that goes with their picture, such as "grass", "flat" or "cold". 

The students were thrilled with their finished pieces and others enjoyed them too.  Likely a small, but hopefully an accurate glimpse of the Prairies.

Comments

[Cathy Grant]

I did this project this week and they turned out beautiful. We drew first, then painted and left them overnight to dry. In the morning, the kids outlined the pencil lines with sharpies and they loved how their paintings came to life. This was a great part of the prairie section of our trip across Canada unit.
Thanks for sharing!

[Mary Smith]

Hi, Cathy, thank you so much for your kind comment! I'm glad that a fellow Canadian teacher could use it for a Canada unit! I'm so glad that they turned out well for your students! Flattered to hear that!

[Tonya]

LOVE this! Did it with my kids today! was meaningful and fun!

[Mary Smith]

Thanks so much for commenting! Glad to hear that the project went so well!