NTUE Alphabet Book

Common Childhood Situations that produce strong feelings

The Assignment• Work with a partner to create a page for an alphabet book.• Choose a common situation from childhood and make a picture showing

this scene that emphasizes emotions. This should be a situation that has a lot of emotion, whether anger, sorry, frustration, joy, happiness, comfort, etc.– The scene can come from home, school, outings, etc. It may be from your own

experience or something you know about. Examples include: receiving a bad grade, making a friend, being bullied, winning/losing a competition, being compared with someone, etc.

• Include one or more words on the front of your picture that begins with your letter that relates to your picture. It could be the name of an object in the picture, the name of an emotion, an action, or anything else.

• Use only cut paper and simple geometric shapes.• Share your picture with the class. See if others can guess which scene or

situation your picture depicts.

Picture Book Principles1. Smooth, flat, horizontal shapes give us a sense of stability and calm.2. Vertical shapes are more exciting and more active. Vertical shapes rebel against the

earth's gravity. They imply energy and a reaching toward heights or the heavens. 3. Diagonal stapes are dynamic because they imply motion or tension. 4. The upper half of a picture is a place of freedom, happiness, and triumph; objects in

the top half feel more spiritual.5. The center of the page is the most effective “center of attention.” It is the point of

greatest interest.6. White or light backgrounds feel safer to us than dark because we can see well during

the day and only poorly at night.7. We feel more scared looking at pointed shapes; we feel more secure and comforted

looking at rounded shapes or curves.8. The larger an object is in a picture, the stronger it feels.9. We associate the same or similar colors much more than we associate the same or

similar shapes. 10. We notice contrasts, or put another way, contrast enables us to see.11. Motion moves most naturally from left to right. 12. Borders confine or restrict images.

Look at the following pictures

• Each picture is based on one letter of the alphabet

• Each picture shows a situation and emotion. • Guess the situation and emotion(s)• What other words beginning with the letter can

be related to this picture. • Explain the picture’s elements of design.• Which elements help produce a particular

feeling or idea?