ESL Kids Learn Geometry Through M.C. Escher & Printmaking!
My students need 2 books about M.C. Escher, and block printing materials, including "Soft-Kut" blocks, styluses, ink, ink rollers, and artist quality paper.
Hi! I am an ESL teacher working with some fantastic Bengali, Mexican, Sudanese, Dominican, Pakistani, Uzbek, Georgian, Chinese, and Haitian kids at a middle school in Brooklyn, New York. I've come up with an exciting plan to address two challenges my students face.
The seventh grade English Language Learners I work with often struggle to master the vocabulary of content classes like mathematics. Part of my job as their ESL teacher is to help make the new terminology of these fields accessible and real for them so that language does not become a barrier to success in their math class.
These students don't get a visual arts class at any time during their three years at our school! I strive to incorporate art into my lessons whenever I can, so that the kids can explore their visual intelligence and express themselves creatively.
I have planned a great unit to teach my students geometry vocabulary through the visual arts. We will explore the life and works of the artist M.C. Escher, who created prints using fractals, symmetry, tessellations and other mathematical concepts. We will then create our own block prints using similar concepts, and use new vocabulary to write descriptive essays about our creations.
Can you help this project come to life? The art materials and books we have requested will foster students' creativity, as well as support vocabulary and math skills that these English Language Learners are trying to master.
Nearly all students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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