Special Populations Workshop: Outer Space

Eddie's Paper Bag Alien

To start the students off, I created a mini lesson using household objects, that would assist in transitioning the students in to art making mode. The students used a wide range of materials to create a Paper Bag Alien that would live in their Outer Space projects. The students used coffee filters for the heads, straws for the arms and crayons to color in the Aliens. They were so amazed once they were finished with the projects, that they could fit their hand in them and use them as a puppet. This was great for getting the students settled in with the theme for class, and motivating them to create an environment for their Aliens to live in.

Jabari was so excited about the Puppets!!

Katie then had the students create an environment for the Aliens to live. We learned about our solar system, and how the planets were named after Roman Gods. We even learned about constellations, and how the ancient cultures saw animals and people in the sky and made stories about them. That was the Ancient Cultures means of Entertainment.

Christian's Solar System

The students incorporated the use of the sun and moon, as well as making planets to go in their solar system. For this project the students learned that crayons can serve as a resist for the watercolor. They also used tempera paint to paint the planets and glue them in their solar systems. 

The students really enjoyed using the wide range of materials.

The learning center was set up to have an interactive constellation board in which the students could come up and connect the stars with yarn. This was a great way to get the students thinking of how the constellation come together!! There was also other activities such as: paper plate planet making, coloring pages, word search, word scramble, and a crossword to incorporate reading, writing and critical thinking skills. There were books on hand to use as a resource or if the students needed some time away from the lesson. 

Katie talking about students work

We set the stage by creating name tents for the students, setting 'Mission Goals' (general goals for the class such as Clean Up, Complete Alien etc.) as well as 'Personal Goals' for each students individual need. Every time the student reached a benchmark or was observed achieving these goals, the para-educators and staff had star stickers to reward the students. Once the student achieved 10 stars, they were awarded with a Big Star.