How can art that uses shapes and their attributes promote the common good?

Our entry event was held on February 17th, 2021. During this "Punch & Paint" event, virtual and in-person scholars were given an opportunity to explore the artist and creativity inside of them. Scholars learned about 5 basic elements of art, engaged with an expert artist, created inkblots, and painted their very first piece of canvas art. Each scholar had their own set of art supplies to personalize this experience. Pictures from our entry event are below:

Virtual and in-person scholars used the entry event to initiate inquiry by reflecting on their prior knowledge of art and shapes and then generated questions that they “need to know” the answer to in order to successfully complete the project by May 2021. Their first round of "need to know" questions are below:

• learn about the elements of color and value from expert artists from Indiana University Bloomington

• define the common good and learn about the rights of others in Social Studies class

• categorize and define shapes based on their attributes

• research and identify community-based issues that need to be addressed

• engage with guest speaker about community-based artwork

• practice using different art tools and mediums

• visit virtual museums

• draft final masterpieces

• draft artistic statements to compliment masterpieces

SS3CG2: Explain the importance of Americans sharing certain central democratic beliefs and principles, both personal and civic.

a. Explain the necessity of respecting the rights of others and promoting the common good.

ELAGSE3RI5: Use text features and search tools (e.g., key words, sidebars, hyperlinks) to locate information relevant to a given topic quickly and efficiently.

ELAGSE3RI7: Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and how key events occur).

MGSE3.G.1 Understand that shapes in different categories (e.g., rhombuses, rectangles, and others) may share attributes (e.g., having four sides), and that the shared attributes can define a larger category (e.g., quadrilaterals). Recognize rhombuses, rectangles, and squares as examples of quadrilaterals, and draw examples of quadrilaterals that do not belong to any of these subcategories.

MGSE3.G.2 Partition shapes into parts with equal areas. Express the area of each part as a unit fraction of the whole. For example, partition a shape into 4 parts with equal area, and describe the area of each part as 1/4 of the area of the shape.