Teach Haiku with Kandinsky

Here's a great arts integration lesson plan for teaching writing with Kandinsky.

Analyzing the Work of Art

Students analyze Kandinsky's Color Study: Squares with Concentric Circles, which is commonly known as Kandinsky's Circles. 

Jumping In is my favorite method for analyzing this painting. You can read about it in this post titled Teach Place Value with Kandinsky. This is because this is the BEST activity I have found for analyzing this work of art. (You can find extensive information and helpful tips on using this strategy with students in my eBook.) 

https://www.wikiart.org/en/wassily-kandinsky/color-study-squares-with-concentric-circles-1913

Here's another idea for analyzing this work with students. This would be my second favorite method to use with this work of art. It is called Puzzle. This strategy is from my eBook called Strategies for Looking at Art with Students. 

• Cut a print of artwork into pieces. Make sure each piece has a significant piece of the artwork showing. 
• Give each group one piece. Ask the students to study their pieces and describe what they see to the other groups. You can either have them memorize what is shown in their piece and describe it without looking OR have them look at the piece as they describe what they see. 
• Have students assemble the pieces to show the full work of art as if putting together a puzzle. 

Create a Work of Art

Have students follow these steps to create their own concentric circles in squares.

1. Cut a large sheet of tagboard in half vertically. Fold one half into three squares.
2. Draw concentric circles in each square. The first square should have five circles. The second square should have seven circles. The third square should have five circles. This corresponds to the syllables in a haiku.
3. Add color using color theory. For instance, one square could be warm colors, one cool colors, and one neutral colors. (Specifics on adding color can be found in my eBook about arts integration with Kandinsky.)

Haiku

Have students compose a haiku using the color scheme from their artwork as a guide for writing. Let's use the following image, cropped from Kandinsky's work, as an example. 

The top square has five circles. The color scheme is primary colors (the colors are mainly red, blue, and yellow). The line for the haiku that corresponds to this square could be

Garden berries grow

which refers to the colors of the berries used (red for raspberries or strawberries, blue for blueberries, yellow for yellow grapes). 

Finale

I want to help get you started with this lesson. So, for a limited time, I'm giving away my Arts Integration with  Kandinsky Resource Bundle for FREE. This Resource Bundle includes:

• Kandinsky Materials Checklist Download
• Kandinsky Decimals Worksheet Download
• Kandinsky Haiku Assessment Checklist
• AND, Kandinsky Dance Curves Resource List.

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 I hope you will give this lesson a try. Let me know how it goes.

Ready for More?

My new eBook, Arts Integration Lessons Featuring the Work of Wassily Kandinsky, includes 

• tips and tricks for implementing this lesson
• math computation sheet for place value 
• extension activities for place value and number concepts
• details for working with the art materials
• assessment options
• AND, more arts integration lessons featuring Kandinsky.

Click here for more info and to purchase your copy while it is on sale!

You might also like these posts on using Kandinsky's work for arts integration:
Place Value
Decimals
Speaking and Listening

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