Lesson Overview:

Introducing children to well-written and beautifully illustrated books helps build basic skills while providing for the aesthetic need for beauty and pleasure. This lesson revolves around the story Owl Moon, beautifully told by author Jane Yolen and lavishly illustrated by John Schoenherr. The story describes a young child’s adventure on a snowy winter evening searching for owls. The book's illustrations serve as the inspiration for an arts exploration in which students create a watercolor painting.

Length of Lesson:

Two 45-minute periods

Notes:

This lesson is particularly suitable for grades 3-4.

Instructional Objectives:

Students will:

• gain a greater awareness of how words and illustrations can work together to create a feeling or setting.
• explore how the use of high contrast colors can create the impression of a winter forest at night.
• respond to the story and class discussion with the design and creation of their own watercolor painting of a winter forest. Written responses may include poetry or other creative expressions of the concepts of the lesson.
• learn about the author and illustrator of Owl Moon, and discuss what inspired them to create the book.
• reflect on the feelings they expressed in their paintings and the particular arrangement of light and dark in their paintings.
• understand the effect of using light and dark areas to create a feeling or setting, and express whether the painting is aesthetically pleasing to them.
• view the paintings made by the entire group and interpret the feelings conveyed by at least one painting.

Supplies:

• Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
• Writing material for written responses
• Good quality paper (heavy construction paper or watercolor paper)
• Good brushes
• Watercolor paint or tempera paint that is thinned so that it washes over the paper (colors: dark blue, white, black, brown, and yellow)
• Newspaper to cover desks or tables
• A water dish (margarine tub) for every two students
• A paper towel for each student
• A paper plate for each student
• Rags to catch the spills
• Coffee cans or buckets to soak brushes

Instructional Plan:

Introduction

If you have a reading carpet in your classroom, you may want complete the activity in this space. Hold up the cover to the book Owl Moon by Jane Yolen. Tell students that you are going to read this story to them. Ask them to look at the cover and consider the book’s title. Ask them what they think the book will be about. Take several responses. It is likely that students will state that the story involves winter, snow, cold, owls, night time, and the moon. Ask students if they have ever taken a walk through the snow on a winter evening. If any have, ask them how they felt.

Have students stand up in their own personal space and pretend that they “feel” the room growing colder and darker. Have them pretend to slip on heavy winter coats and be sure to fasten them up. Next, have them pull on woolen hats, scarves, and mittens. Remind them the snow in the woods is at least several inches deep. Have them pull on heavy boots.

While they remain in place, tell students to go for a walk in the cold winter woods, goose-stepping through the snow, and listening for the slightest sound. Tell them to watch the moon rise and the snow glisten. Transport them magically back to their warm and cozy classroom and have them be seated.

Read the story and show the pictures as you go along. Have students listen carefully for words in the story to help them get the feeling of being in the woods on a wintry night. Ask them also to think about how the illustrator helps us “see” the snowy woods.

Guided Instruction

Ask students what words they heard that made them feel like they were in the wintry setting of the story. Reread pages as needed to help students remember. Write these on the board. Ask them how Ms. Yolen used words to help us experience the feeling of the scene.

Ask them which characters were in the book. Which character was telling the story? What could they tell from the story? Was owling a special privilege? What sound did the owl make? (Optional: use of owl call on cassette tape.) What words did the character use to tell us that owling was special? In a way, Ms. Yolen used words to paint a picture of the wintry forest and the characters that we meet there. Ms. Yolen and her family live in rural Massachusetts. Her husband, David Stemple, used to take their three children, Heidi, Adam, and Jason, owling on winter nights. It was her fond memories of these special evenings that inspired her to write this story.

Have students now look at the illustrations in the book. The illustrator, John Schoenherr, loves nature. He agreed to illustrate the story of Owl Moon because he used to take his own children, Jennifer and Ian, owling on his family farm. The Schoenherr family farm is featured in the watercolor illustrations we see in Owl Moon, as the book jacket states, “the shadowed trees and trails are landmarks past which he and his family trudged on winter nights searching for the magnificent and elusive owl.” The motif, or theme, of his illustrations was the winter forest.

Explain to students that Mr. Schoenherr used watercolor paintings to complement Ms. Yolen's words. Together, the words and pictures help us step into the story and walk alongside the characters on their search for the owl. Revisit the illustrations with the children and look at the way Mr. Schoenherr has used color to show us the shadows and moonlight of the woods. We describe a work of art that has more darkness than lightness in it as low value. Paintings containing a large degree of lightness are called high value. The sharp difference between the light and dark areas of the illustrations is called contrast. Distribute the Vocabulary handout and/or post the words so students can refer to them during the lesson.

Independent Activity

Tell students that they will be creating their own watercolor painting inspired by the illustrations of John Schoenherr. Demonstrate how to load the paint on the wet brush and stroke across the paper with dark blue and black to create the shadows. Black and brown can be used to create the trees and figures of the characters and the owl. Swipes of white can be used to highlight the places where snow is in direct moonlight. Demonstrate how to clean the brushes in order to change colors.

Once you have completed your demonstration, have students line up to get their materials or pass materials out to them. Remind them to begin with the background. Allow the students adequate time to complete their paintings.

Closure

Ask students to think about and respond to the following questions (You may want to post these questions for the whole class to review and/or require a journal for student to write responses):

• Pretend that your painting is going to be sold through a museum catalog. Write a title and a short description of your painting for the museum catalog.
• What feelings are you trying to convey in your painting?
• Are you pleased with your painting?
• Why did you choose this arrangement of shapes and colors?
• In what ways did Jane Yolen use words to help us feel that we were owling in the winter woods?
• In what ways did John Schoenherr use watercolor illustrations to help us feel that we were owling in the winter woods?

Each student should clean up around his or her own work area. Brushes should be placed with the bristle side down in a coffee can of water. Assigned students will collect materials and store, clean, or discard as directed.

Assessment:

Evaluation will occur by direct observation during the lesson. Consider student participation and comments during whole group discussion at the introduction of the lesson and during the examination of peer paintings. Paintings should be assessed on whether they show a contrast of light and dark areas in a woodland setting.

Assessment should also consist of student writing, including the title and catalog description for the painting. This writing will address how the particular painting conveys the feeling of winter cold, contrasting light. Best student writing should include an accurate reference to the vocabulary introduced in the lesson. You may also wish to have students respond formally to the feelings generated by the painting of a classmate.

Additional assessment can be found on the Assessment Rubric.

Extensions:

Hang student paintings around the classroom. Have all students go around the classroom and view the artworks created by his/her classmates. Ask them to pick one painting to examine very closely. Have them think about the ways that the student used dark and light colors to show us the feeling of a winter forest.

The following are additional suggestions for ways to extend the lesson:

• You can include an owl pellet dissection if you want to make science connections. Written instructions are located in the Project Wild curriculum guide. Contact the California Department of Fish and Game for information on Project Wild guides and workshops.
• Use music to set the mood of winter and cold.
• Ask students to act out the owling adventure, showing what it is like to walk through deep snow in the cold and the dark. Have them listen for owls.
• Have students write one or more paragraphs on what they have learned about the author and illustrator. These folks both have other wonderful children’s books. Have students find and share one of these other titles.
• Have students create poems inspired by their paintings and the story Owl Moon.

Sources:

Print:

• Cecil, Nancy Lee, and Phyllis Lauritzen. Literacy and the Arts for the Integrated Classroom: Alternative Ways of Knowing. New York: Longman. 1994.
• Cornett, Claudia E.The Arts as Meaning Makers: Integrating Literature and the Arts Throughout the Curriculum. Ohio: Merrill. 1999.
• The Young Artist’s Handbook. Hodge, Anthony. New York: Shooting Star Press. 1995.
• Kinghorn, Harriet, Jacqueline Badman, and Lisa Lewis-Spicer. Let’s Meet Famous Artists: A Creative Art Activity Book. Minnesota: T.S. Dennison & Company. 1991.
• Yolen, Jane. Owl Moon. New York: Philomel Books. 1988.

Media:

• (Optional) Cassette tape: Peterson Field Guides: Western Birding By Ear: A Guide to Bird-Song Identification, by Richard K. Walton and Robert W. Lawson. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. 1990. ("Great Horned Owl" is on Cassette 1. This is a big expense for just one bird call; however, you may want to contact your local National Audubon Society. Members may be able to help you with a loan for a short period.

Authors:

• Rose James, Teacher
  CSU Chico
  Chico, CA