Student Exhibition

A person seated at a table, holding up a handmade card that says "ABC Thank You" in colorful letters. The table is covered with various craft supplies, including markers, scissors, a basket, and papers. Other people are seated around the room in the background.
Art, Books, and Creativity
Grade Level
3 to 5 6 to 8 9 to 12
Subject Area
English/Language Arts Visual Art
Download Lesson 14

Lesson 14

One 45-minute period. This final lesson is a celebration of the students’ creativity and achievements. It is a time for students to enjoy looking at each other’s artists’ books and for the class to reflect on what it has accomplished and learned.

Key Connections

Visual Arts

  • Artists often celebrate the completion of a body of work with an exhibition.
  • An exhibition provides a time and place for artists and others to look at and appreciate their artwork.
  • Artists sometimes write a statement about their work for others to read during the exhibition.

Writing

  • Writers often mark the completion of their work by publishing it and celebrating the publication of their work with a reception or book party.
  • A reception is a time for writers and others to appreciate their written work.
  • Writers sometimes speak about their work during a reception.

Instructional Objectives

Visual Arts and Writing

  • Students will celebrate their accomplishments.
  • Students will reflect on their achievements and what they have learned during the year.
  • Students will recognize each other’s work and creativity.
  • Students will write comments about each other’s work.

Instructional Plan

Observe

Congratulate students on their accomplishments and help them recognize what a major accomplishment their artists’ books represent. Explain that the exhibition provides an opportunity for them to observe and discuss their peers’ work and to share and respond to questions about their own.

Give students time to browse freely through the exhibition and look at each other’s work. Be sure to give them time to write comments about each other’s work. You may or may not decide to have formal discussions during the exhibition, but if you plan to have presentations or group discussions, let students and guests know about the schedule of events.

Create: Student Exhibition

Supplies

  • Student journals
  • Artists’ books created by students
  • Paper for student comments (several sheets for each book) or use journals made in the first lesson
  • Party supplies (optional)

Activity

  1. Give students clear instructions about their roles as artists and as guests during the exhibition. These roles include:
  2. Spend time looking at all of the artists’ books on display.
  3. Write a comment about each student’s artist’s book on the comment forms. Remember to use sentence stems that begin with, “I notice….” or “I wonder….”
  4. Congratulate peers and ask questions about their work.
  5. Enjoy yourself!

If you invite guests from outside the classroom (family, friends, principal, other students, etc.), some additional roles may be:

  1. Greet guests
  2. Introduce the exhibition and give guests a tour
  3. Make an oral presentation about your artist’s book

Reflect

Use the following prompts to generate a class discussion about the students’ experiences during the project and their thoughts about what they’ve learned and how they might use their new knowledge in the future. Students can also respond to one or more of the prompts in their journals.

Reflection about the project:

  • What did you learn during this project?
  • What did you like about the project?
  • What helped you most?
  • What caused you problems?
  • What did you do to overcome the problems?
  • How will you use what you learned in the future?
  • What are you still curious about?
  • What advice would you give to next year’s students?

Reflection about the artists’ books:

  • What does your artist’s book show that you know about the elements of art and the traits of writing?
  • I will remember my artist’s book in the future because….
  • This artist’s book is my best example of….
  • This artist’s book shows I am able to….
  • If I could do this artist’s book again, I would….
  • This artist’s book makes me want to try….
  • Comments from others about my artist’s book include….

Go Deeper

Check out related writing objectives and more in the comprehensive PDF lesson plan.

View the Lesson Plan, opens in new tab 

Vocabulary

Art exhibition

An art exhibition is a space where works of art meet an audience. An exhibition is usually temporary and might feature the work of one artist or a group of artists. Sometimes the works of art are for sale. Exhibitions allow many people to view the work and sometimes to make comments about it.