Creating Commercials: Animated “Seussical” Characters

Teaching Team:

 Kristy Elliott, Bob Violett

Montgomery Upper Middle School, Skillman

Grade Levels:

Academic Focus/

Core Curriculum Standards:

Language Arts Literacy 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5

Technology students are promoting Seussical, the school play for our 2007 2008 school year, by creating animated commercials. These commercials will feature clay Dr. Seuss characters created and animated by the student and will be shown on the public access TV station for the community at large. The play supports the performing arts at the Upper Middle School.

Target Audience: Montgomery UMS student body and the wider community

This project takes place within the semester for approximately three to twelve weeks. Students are sculpting, building, photographing, and digitally manipulating their files and sculptures.

Art Elective, 2 marking periods during class time

Clay, clay paraphernalia, computers, light boxes, art supplies

Visual Arts Students will be creating art work made from plasticene modeling clay. These pieces are a result of the study of Dr. Seuss characters and understanding digital animation techniques. They will learn how to use modeling clay to create figures and objects. They will learn about creating stop motion animation and downloading files to use in the movie making software.

Literacy/Language Arts Students will create a written assessment of their work using a predefined teacher rubric. Students will also submit a reflective piece about their work.

Technology Students use technology to create their art movie; they will also print digital images to be used in the school yearbook and newspaper. The school Website also features photographs of their work.

Hurdles Encountered:

Hurdles: Anticipating how long each stage of the production will take place; coordinating all aspects.

Solution: Making a time chart and list of responsibilities for cooperative groups; check-off sheet of tasks.

Performance-based Education; Students are engaged in a project with a tangible goal and design steps to reach that goal.

Cooperative Learning Students work in groups to discuss and design their creatures.

Interdisciplinary Approach The students collaborate to learn the background of their task in music and art class. They use the media center for research, and the Music Teacher for information about the play.

Citizenship, caring and respect for nature; fairness and responsibility by working with others in the art room.

The pieces will be on display in the school showcase along with the names of the creators. This will demonstrate the project’s success and bring pride to the participants.

The project has not yet been completed, but key findings will focus on student interest and effort as well as on the aesthetic aspects of the finished production.

Publicity for the project will happen. The district has a community relations staff member to enhance and promote the school performance in April.

Parents and members of the community will be involved in publicizing the animated movie on local TV, Moreover, they can view the display of the sculptures in the school’s showcase,

Students will write a letter to Dr. Seuss, which will be a reflective piece on their work that describes the unusual lessons (on subject matter, teamwork, responsibility, patience, etc.) that they learned in the project. Art work can also be used to illustrate these lessons.

The rubric for this project includes questions about cooperation effort, time on task