The excitement of the new school year affords children many new learning opportunities. In this lesson they consider WHAT and HOW they think they will learn this year, and share that vision with others.

Learning Area: Language Arts, Math, Social Studies, Science, Social-Emotional Learning, Art

Time Commitment: 30 minutes to 1 hour

Grades:  3-5

Activity Synopsis:

To prepare for an exciting year, students predict WHAT and HOW they will learn, including and going beyond academic knowledge. They illustrate themselves learning something new then connect content with HOW they will learn. Finally, they present to find peers with shared interests and learning styles.

Materials List:

Drawing Paper

Crayola Colored Pencils

Crayola Markers

Crayola Colors of the World® Markers or Colored Pencils

Instructions

RESPOND. Students will:

• Respond to the exciting opportunities a new school year provides for learning. Predict WHAT and HOW they think they’ll learn.
• Extend their thoughts beyond academic knowledge to include learning about other people, books, art techniques, and ways to be kind and civic-minded.
• Consider what unexpected experiences might broaden their horizons during this school year.

CREATE. Students will:

• Create an illustration of themselves learning in new ways, or a scene that represents something new that they will learn.
• For the setting, think of the many places where they learn; perhaps they will be holding a book or picking one off a library shelf, at the playground learning a new skill, or in the art room broadening their creative experiences and skills.
• Add a title to their sketch.

CONNECT. Students will:

• Connect their illustration with some key words that describe HOW they will learn – perhaps through flexible thinking, exploration, discovery, improvement, curiosity, or collaboration.
• Perhaps consider topics such as friendship, responsibility, cultural insights, and appreciation to describe WHAT they want to learn.

PRESENT. Ask students to:

• Present their art and learning plans to classmates.
• Explain the reasons for their choices and describe other WHAT and HOW descriptive words they considered.
• Compare and contrast the ideas each classmate presents.
• Find peers who share their interests to establish new friendships and deepen understanding of others.

Learn More:

• Help students develop progress charts or rubrics for tracking their learning goals.
• Share ideas about student goal setting and assessment preferences with other educators and families and discuss the importance of students having control over their learning.
• For more about advantages and processes for “Strategies for Supporting Student Goal setting,” see https://edutopia.org/article/supporting-student-goal-setting/ .
• For information on “How Novice and Expert Teachers Approach Classroom Management Differently,” see the 2021 research at https://www.edutopia.org/article/how-novice-and-expert-teachers-approach-classroom-management-differently/ .
• There are many frameworks for social-emotional learning. CASEL Social Emotional Competencies are at https://casel.org/sel-framework/
• Crayola offers lessons, projects, webinars, and other support at https://www.crayola.com/education