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Classroom activity Grade 1 Art & Music

Dovecote Hill Puddle Map: Crayon Rubbing Stations

A grade 1 art activity: three crayon rubbing stations record the texture of a grate, a brick path, and gravel for a class map of playground wet spots.

Objectives

  1. Students will make a crayon rubbing that records the texture of a surface.
  2. Students will compare rubbings from three schoolyard surfaces.
  3. Students will mark wet spots on a class map of the playground.

Vocabulary

Key words: texture, rubbing, surface, gravel, grate

Teacher overview

Dovecote Hill School is a fictional school where the low corner of the blacktop stays wet long after the rest of the yard has dried, and in this activity a class of about twenty first graders gathers the evidence an adult would want before deciding what to do about it. Working in three groups that rotate through three stations, students make crayon rubbings of a metal drain grate, a brick path, and a gravel strip, then tape those rubbings onto a large class map beside the spots where water sits. The technique teaches texture directly, because a rubbing records only what the surface does to the paper, so a rough gravel strip and a smooth brick path come out looking different even when both are drawn with the same crayon. The error to correct early is that students press with the crayon point and produce a scribble, so model rubbing with the long side of a peeled crayon before any group starts.

Activity Directions

  1. Set up (5 min, before students arrive). Choose three outdoor surfaces near the wet corner and mark each with blue tape: station 1 on a metal drain grate, station 2 on a brick or paver path, station 3 on a gravel or mulch strip. Tape the large chart paper to a wall or fence and draw a rough outline of the yard on it.
  2. Define the problem (8 min). Walk the whole class to the wet corner. Pour one watering can of water on the blacktop and on the gravel strip while students watch. Ask what happens to the water in each place, and write two student questions about the corner on the class map.
  3. Model the rubbing (5 min). Lay paper over the grate, hold the peeled crayon flat on its side, and rub with long strokes in one direction. Show the class a scribbled attempt beside the good one so the difference is visible.
  4. Rotate the stations (18 min, 6 minutes each). Send one group to each station with clipboards, paper, and crayons. At the teacher's signal, groups rotate clockwise until every student has one rubbing from all three stations. Students write the station number on each rubbing.
  5. Build the class map (6 min). Back inside, have each group tape one rubbing from each station onto the class map near the matching spot on the yard outline. Add a blue paper dot wherever the class saw standing water.
  6. Debrief (3 min). Ask two questions and take answers from at least four students: which rubbing feels roughest to the eye, and which surface let the water sink in fastest. End by marking a star on the map at the one spot the class thinks needs help.
Dovecote Hill Puddle Map: Crayon Rubbing Stations — Grade 1 Art & Music
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Handout

My Puddle Map Notes. Station 1 is the metal drain grate. Station 2 is the brick path. Station 3 is the gravel strip.

  1. Write or draw one place on the playground where water sits after rain.
  2. Look at your station 1 rubbing of the grate. Are the lines mostly straight or mostly curvy?
  3. Look at your station 2 rubbing of the brick path. Do you see rectangles or circles?
  4. Look at your station 3 rubbing of the gravel strip. Is it smooth or bumpy?
  5. The teacher poured water on the blacktop and on the gravel. Which one let the water sink in faster?
  6. Which rubbing has the most texture: the brick path or the gravel strip?
  7. Ask one question about the wet corner of the yard. Write it or draw it.

From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.

Answer Key
  1. Answer: Accept any real spot named or drawn, such as the low corner of the blacktop, the end of the gravel strip, or the dip by the gate.
  2. Answer: Straight. A drain grate is made of straight metal bars, so the rubbing shows a set of straight lines.
  3. Answer: Rectangles. Bricks and pavers are rectangles, and the rubbing shows their edges as a grid.
  4. Answer: Bumpy. Loose stones sit at different heights, so the crayon skips and the rubbing looks rough.
  5. Answer: The gravel. Water slips down through the spaces between the stones, while the blacktop has no spaces and holds the water on top.
  6. Answer: The gravel strip. Its surface is uneven, so the rubbing shows many small light and dark spots instead of a flat, even tone.
  7. Answer: Accept any question about the wet corner, such as where the water goes, why it stays so long, or who could fix it.

Differentiation

Support

Pair these students with a partner who holds the paper flat while they rub, and pre-tape the paper at two corners so it cannot slide. Give them a short strip of crayon rather than a full one, which makes the flat-side grip easier for small hands, and let them complete items 1 through 4 only.

Extension

Ask these students to take a fourth rubbing from a surface of their own choosing, add it to the class map, and write one sentence saying whether that surface belongs with the grate, the bricks, or the gravel. Have them explain the sort to the class in one sentence.

ELL supports

Preteach texture, rough, smooth, and bumpy by passing around a sandpaper square, a tile, and a smooth stone before going outside. Post the three station labels with photographs, and accept pointing or a circled picture for items 2 through 6.

Extensions

Return to the same three stations after the next real rain and have students mark the class map again with a second color of paper dot, then compare the two sets of dots to see whether the wet spots stay in the same places. The rubbings can also be cut apart and reassembled into a large class collage of the yard surfaces for the hallway.