Creating Mistakes

GRADES K-1 ELA AND ART

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Students and adults are afraid to make mistakes. This is a shame because some of the best discoveries and inventions come from failures! Mistakes lead to creativity, original thought, and ideas. In order to promote a classroom environment where mistakes are not only acceptable but encouraged, there are a few things we can do as educators.

Ask students if they have ever made a mistake. Discuss these mistakes and if they turned their mistake into something positive. Students explore a variety of mistakes that became something unique or helpful. Examples include: Slinkies, penicillin, chocolate chip cookies, post-it notes, x-rays, play-doh and more.  Read the book Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzburg and discuss how each mistake can be transformed into something else. How does the author use the illustrations and text to show the main idea?

Lesson Process:

Step 1:  Have students create their own Beautiful Oops! Inspired book as a class.

Step 2: Have students splash paint, spill, drip, scuff, mark up a piece of construction paper. Then, each student gives their “oops” paper to another student in the room.

Step 3:  Students create something wonderfully unique using the “oops” and write (or dictate) a sentence to go along with their new illustration.

Step 4:  Bind the pages together to create a classroom book that reminds students that mistakes are encouraged, celebrated, and valued.

Time Required:
30-45 minutes

Materials List:

  • Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzburg
  • Acrylic or Tempera Paint
  • Construction Paper • Erasers
  • Pencils
  • Book binding materials (hole punch, yarn, staples/stapler, etc)

Assessment:

Diagnostic Assessment Checklist. Look for student’s current knowledge of the following:

  • Students clearly connected the main idea of the story through their sentence and illustration.
  • Students effectively collaborated with others to create something unique.