Self Identity Scratchboard

Grade: Third Grade

Time: Three days: The first day students will be working on the I am From Poem that uses the
colors to describe their self-identity (30-45 minutes). The following day students will be making
the scratchboard and creating their portrait. In the morning we will do a VTS session and create
the scratchboard (30 minutes), in the late morning we will place one more coat on the
scratchboard (5 minutes), and then we will create our self-portraits using different materials (3045 minutes). Day three will be presenting poems during writing time (25 minutes).

Budget: The budget for this lesson plan is less than five dollars. I will need to purchase liquid
detergent or starch, but I should have crayons, black tempera paint, and paintbrushes in my
classroom.

Objectives: Students will be able to create an I am From Poem incorporating colors that
describe their personalities. They will be able to create a self- portrait that incorporates these
colors to help identify their self-identity. Upon completion, students will perform their piece to
an audience.
Essential Questions:
o
o
o
o

What important characteristics do I posses?

What colors describe my personality?
How do life experiences influence the way you relate to art?
How do artists and designers learn from trail and error?

Standards:

Common Core
o

Knowledge of Language

Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking,

reading, or listening

Choose words and phrases for effect

Range of Writing

Write routinely over extended time frames (time 10. for research, reaction,
and revision) and shorter
time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for
a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Production and Distribution of Writing

With guidance and support from peers and 5. Adults, develop and
strengthen writing as needed
by planning, revising, and editing. (Editing for conventions should
demonstrate command of Language standards 13 up to and including
grade 3 on page 29.)

With guidance and support from adults, use 6. Technology to produce and
publish writing (using keyboarding skills) as well as to interact and
collaborate with others.

National Visual Art Standards

Artists and designers shape artistic investigations, following or breaking with

traditions, in pursuit of creative art-making goals

Apply knowledge of available resources, tools, and technologies to

investigate own ideas through the art-making process

Artists and designers experiment with forms, structures, materials, concepts,

media, and art-making approaches

Create personally satisfying artwork using a variety of artistic processes

and materials

Artists and designers balance experimentation and safety, freedom and

responsibility while developing and creating artworks

Demonstrate an understanding of the safe and proficient use of materials,

tools, and equipment for a variety of artistic processes

Artist and designers develop excellence through practice and constructive

critique, reflection on, revising, and refining work over time

Elaborate visual information by adding details in an artwork to enhance

emerging meaning

Individual aesthetic and empathetic awareness developed through engagement

with art can lead to understanding and appreciation of self, other, the natural
world, and constructed environments

Speculate about processes an artist used to create a work of art

Visual imagery influences understanding of and responses to the world

Determine messages communicated by an image

Summary: At the beginning of the year, we will complete this activity as a get to know you
that focuses on self-identity. Students will create their own I am From Poem that focuses on
characteristics about themselves and colors that would describe the personalities they have. On
the second day, students will create their own scratchboard that they will use to make a selfportrait to accompany their I am From Poem. Students will type these poems during their
scheduled computer lab time for the week, and then present their works to their peers to get to
know each other better.

Vocabulary/key terms: The term scratchboard will be an unfamiliar term for students in my
classroom. I will VTS a piece that is made from the scratchboard technique, and then ask the
students more explicitly what they think that means before giving them the definition.

Activities to engage student in imagining, exploring and/or experimenting: I will

demonstrate how students can use certain materials to complete the scratchboard activity, but
they will also be allowed to use found materials in the classroom. I will place out other materials
they can explore with that have not been demonstrated. Students can also explore how they use
the crayons on the white paper. Will they do even sections of the color? More organized
approach? Random sections?

Encouraging students to solve problems in divergent ways: Students will be able to use
materials in different ways and explore how to use them. When students use materials in a new
way and do not like it, we will work together to problem solve ways they can use the piece they

already have to make to it perfect. Or we will brainstorm ways they might need to make a new
piece if they still feel distraught.

Routinely reflecting on their learning/learning processes: Students will be give the chance to
routinely reflect on their learning and learning processes when they present to the class. Not only
will they read their poem, but also they will describe the colors they used, why they used them,
and how they created their piece in the form of an artists statement.

Assessing their own work and the work of the peers: Students will listen to the work of their
peers and be given the opportunity to ask questions to their classmates about his or her work.

Opportunities to revise and improve their understanding and their work: The materials for
this lesson will be available in the classroom. Students can use them to create more works during
free time or inside recess. We will also revisit this scratchboard technique later in the year for
other art projects.

Opportunities for students to share their learning/understanding/work: Students will

present to the class their ideas. I will record what they say for documentation, but also so I can
send their video to their parents. The self-portraits and I am From Poems will be placed in the
hallway bulletin board for other people in the school to seem, if students are comfortable with
this.
Materials:
o Construction paper- 8 by 8 (In the last right hand side cabinet closest to the sink)

Crayons (In the last right hand side cabinet closest to the sink)
Black Tempera paint (In the last right hand side cabinet closest to the sink)
o Liquid dish soap (Underneath the sink)
o Paint brushes (In the last right hand side cabinet closest to the sink)
o Long piece of butcher paper (Workroom- allow students to paint their piece of
o
o

paper black on this butcher paper)

o I am From Poem template
o Scratchboard Self Identity Power Point

Formula: cup black tempera paint and cup of liquid dish soap
Prior Knowledge and Experiences: This lesson will be taking place during week three or four
of school, after students have started to get to know each other on a surface level. This will take
the community building to the next level. In the previous weeks, we will have completed one
VTS session, making this lesson their second session. They will be familiar with what a VTS
session is and how they will be conducted in my classroom, but will probably need a refresher
since it is only our second time.
Procedures:
Day One:
1. During writing time, students will come to the carpet where I will introduce the I am
From Poem.
2. I will read my poem to the students and ask them to tell them what they learned about me
from my poem and parts of the poem they are still wondering about.
3. When students begin to question/wonder about the colors in my poem, I will show the
chart with color personalities and discuss it with them.
4. Students will be given a copy of the I am From Poem where they can fill in the blanks
based on their own characteristics and personalities.

5. Before leaving the carpet I will answer any questions students have about the assignment
(On the first day we will focus on the poem and not address the scratchboard part yet).
6. During writing time students will work on the I am From Poem in a more independent
setting, but can bounce ideas off of a neighbor or myself.
Day Two:
1. Students will come to the carpet and have a VTS session. I will review what a VTS
session looks like and how we do them in my classroom.
2. I will place the piece on the screen by Sally Maxwell and we will complete a VTS
session.
3. After the session, I will ask the students explicitly how they thought the artist made this
piece, if it was not brought up during the VTS.
4. Then we will discuss the term Scratchboard and what it might mean, before giving
students the definition.
5. We will learn a little about Sally Maxwell and how she creates her pieces while looking
at more examples of scratch boarding by Sally Maxwell and Lesley Barrett.
6. I will teach students how to make the scratchboard by discussing how to color hard on the
piece of paper. Then we will talk about how to paint over the crayon with black tempera
paint and liquid dish soap mixed together.
7. Students will choose crayons based on the colors in their I am From Poem, and as a
class we will discuss ways they can color their paper (even blocks, random, one color
more prominent, etc.). I have examples on the PowerPoint of different possible ways to
color, but want students to explore other ways.
8. Students will be given a piece of 8 by 8 paper to color.
9. While students are coloring, I will create the black tempera paint/liquid dish soap mixture
and walk around answering questions they might have.
10. When students are finished coloring they will take their piece to the back table where
butcher paper is laid out.
11. They will place their crayon paper on the butcher paper to paint it.

12. Later in the morning, students will come back in small groups to paint the second coat on
their scratchboard (Most only need two coats, but if more coats are needed then we will
paint them on. This could push our self-portrait to the following day)
13. In the afternoon I will show students different techniques they could use to scratch their
self-portrait into the scratchboard. I will demonstrate a pencil, toothpick, knife, and fork.
I do not want to be too explicit in showing them techniques because I want them to
explore with the materials as well. I will also place other objects on their table they can
use to make the scratchboard that have sharp edges on them (Legos, paper clips, spoons,
paint brush ends, and other classroom objects). Students may also use other materials
they find in the classroom. In the PowerPoint I will show examples of different
techniques and have an open conversation with students about ways to use materials.
14. During computer lab this week students will type their poem.
Day Three:
1. Students will preset their poem to the class and show their self-portrait. Not only will
they read their poem, but also they will describe the colors they used, why they used
them, and how they created their piece in the form of an artists statement.

Indicators of Success: During the VTS session I will make mental notes to write down in an
anecdotal note form after the session. I will be looking for ideas students present during the
session and things they notice. In addition, I will be making anecdotal notes on the way students
use materials to scratch into their scratchboard. The I am From Poem and self-portrait will
serve as documentation into the learning that took place. There will not be a set criteria
because each artists work will look different from one another. However, I am looking to see
that students incorporated colors that describe their personality and traits they feel they posses. I

will record each student reading his or her poem to the class to save as documentation. While
students are reading their poem to the class I will be looking for their artist statement and
evidence they put thought into their self-portrait.

Accommodations: Some students may not be able to color and paint their paper twice in one
day for multiple reasons, and some of them may not be dry. I will have to make sure I carve out
time the following day for students to finish their scratchboard. There will also have to be
accommodations made to the I am From Poem if I have a student in my classroom who does
not have a family or does not have a good history with their family. I will have to adapt the
poem before giving it to students to make sure everyone feels included.

Follow-up: We can hang these poems and self-portraits up outside of our classroom for others
to learn about us. As we complete other self-identity art projects we can use these colors as a
base. We can also compare the colors we used at the beginning of the year to the ones we used at
the end to see if they have changed at all.

I am From Poem
By: _______________________________

I am from _____________________ and

________________________(two special characteristics you have)
From _____________________ (an every day object you use)
I am from the _____________________ (description of home).
I am from _____________________ (something your family does
together),

And from _____________________

(sensory detail about your home).

Im from _____________________ (family tradition)

From _____________________ (name of family member) and
_____________________ (name of family member).
Im from _____________________ (something you believe in),
I am from _____________________ (location of your family memories).
Im from _____________________ (type of color(s))
From _____________________ (specific color(s)).
I am from________________________ and
__________________________________ (Repeat the beginning two
characteristics)