Sample Lesson Plan, K-3rd grade, Cognition

NCSCOS Goal: Visual Arts Goal 4 and English Language Arts Goal 2

NCSCOS Objective(s): 4.01- Recognize that an artist's work has certain characteristics that distinguish it from that of others and 2.04 which varies by grade level.

Grade Level: K - 3rd grade

Lesson Objective: Students will determine and defend their choice of main idea in a piece of art work.

Assessment Strategy: Students will give 2 accurate reasons why they chose a piece of artwork to represent a main idea.

Materials:

· A variety of reproductions
· A list (6 are included in this lesson) of main idea clues on slips of paper (that children can lay under a piece of artwork).

Slip #1: We think the main idea for this work of art is doing or action.
Slip #2: We think the main idea for this work of art is Nature.
Slip #3: We think the main idea for this work of art is to show what makes a place special.
Slip #4: We think the main idea for this work of art is to show an important person or people.
Slip #5: We think the main idea for this work of art is to look beautiful.
Slip #6: We think the main idea for this work of art is to be used in a house.

· Slips with the sentence and a blank ("We think the main idea for this work of art is to_________")
· Parent/Guardian chaperones
· Pencils

Procedures:

1. Focus and Review (Anticipatory Set): We have been talking about main idea with stories. Who can tell me what "main idea" means? Children may answer what the story is mostly about.

2. Statement of Objective: Today we are going to be given some main idea sentences to match up with a painting. We will be looking for the main idea in pieces of artwork.

3. Teacher Input: The teacher will review main idea. Then, the teacher will read the 6 possible clue slips. The teacher will model taking one of the slips and placing it under the work of art. For example, the teacher may want to use "We think the main idea for this work of art is to show an important person or people" and place it under the "Damocles" painting by Richard Westall. Parent chaperones may need to help with reading the slips for K and first grade pairs.

Slip #1: We think the main idea for this work of art is doing or action.
Slip #2: We think the main idea for this work of art is Nature.
Slip #3: We think the main idea for this work of art is to show what makes a place special.
Slip #4: We think the main idea for this work of art is to show an important person or people.
Slip #5: We think the main idea for this work of art is to look beautiful.
Slip #6: We think the main idea for this work of art is to be used in a house.

4. Guided Practice:

1. Students will be paired; each pair will be given a set of three "clues." Each "clue" will have a statement on it saying "The main idea of this work of art is . . ." See above.
2. Each pair will be guided to a specific gallery (or group of works in the classroom) and asked to find a work of art that best relates to each of the statements (one statement for one work of art). Once they find a work of art with a given main idea, they place that statement in front of that work. More than one pair can place the same or a different statement in front a work of art; they just need to be prepared to orally justify their choice.

5. Independent Practice: (Optional) Pairs will then take a blank slip and with teacher help, create a slip by writing "We think the main idea for this work of art is to______" to put under a work of art that does not have any slips under it yet.

6. Closure: The students then reconvene as a whole group, and each pair presents their works of art that they put slips of paper under for that specific gallery until all pairs have presented their ideas. As the students travel through the works, the teacher will ask the students questions to help them notice how the same main idea may be articulated or shown in different ways in different cultures.

Modifications/Extensions: Students select the statement that they are the most interested in, and create a composition that makes the statement true. When all works are finished, the students can repeat the slip activity with each others work. This will allow a student to understand how others perceive his/her work.

The following works of art could be used with "The Main Idea" slips from the lesson above:

Pierre-Athanase Chauvin, French, 1774 - 1832, The Falls at Tivoli with the Temple of the Sibyl, oil on canvas, The William A. Whitaker Foundation Art Fund, Ackland Art Museum, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
79.65.2

Indian, Gandhara Region, Kushan Period (50?320 A.D.), The Offering of the Four Bowls to Buddha, schist, 1st-2nd century A.D., Ackland Fund and gift of Clara T. and Gilbert J. Yager, Ackland Art Museum, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 90.35

The Painter of Vatican 365, Greek, Attica, Wine Container (Neck Amphora): Departing Warrior; Apollo Flanked by Maidens, black-figured terra cotta
about 540 B.C., Ackland Fund, Ackland Art Museum, 88.15

Jean-Pierre-Alexandre Antigna, French, 1817 - 1878, Washing, oil on canvas, about 1860, Gift of Dr. Joseph C. Sloane, Ackland Art Museum, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 96.9

Camille Pissarro, French, 1830 - 1903, The Banks of the Oise, near Pontoise, oil on canvas, 1876, Ackland Fund, Ackland Art Museum, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 65.28.1

Workshop of Agbonbiofe Adeshina, African, Nigeria; Yoruba People, died 1945,
Veranda Post from the Palace Complex at Efon-Aleye, painted iroko wood, 1912/1916, Ackland Fund, Ackland Art Museum, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 91.174

Each important Yoruba town or city has a palace for the local ruler. Like other Yoruba houses, they are built around a series of courtyards surrounded by covered verandas. The posts that support the veranda roofs in a palace are usually elaborately carved. The wood of the iroko tree, hard and resistant to insects, is favored for architectural construction. We know that this post was carved as part of a renovation to the palace of Efon-Aleye, after it was severely damaged by fire in 1912. The renovations were completed by 1916.

Post carvings in a palace often combine male and female figures as this one does, expressing the different types of power that Yoruba thought attributes to men and women. As the scholar John Pemberton has put it: "the hidden power of reproduction and nurture belongs to woman. Overt power, as in the hunt and war, belongs to man. He sustains life with death; she sustains life with life." The male figure, standing with weapons in hand, and the woman, seated and holding a child, typify these two forms of power.

Salomon van Ruysdael, Dutch, 1602 - 1670, River Landscape with Fishermen, oil on panel, 1643, The William A. Whitaker Foundation Art Fund, 2002.15

This painting is typical of a type of river view that became popular in the Netherlands in the mid-seventeenth century: depictions of water, sky and foliage in subdued color. Quiet and unpretentious, these pictures show a great sensitivity to the changes of light and weather, and a lively interest in everyday life on the river. Salomon van Ruysdael was a leader in the development of this subject matter.

The building with a square tower near the center of this picture has been identified as the house of the Count of Brederode, in the town of Vianen on the river Lek. But the painting is probably not a literal view of a specific place. Dutch painters often combined studies from nature to compose imaginary landscapes in the studio.

The Eretria Painter, Greek, Attic, Classical Period, about 430 - 420 B.C.E., Oil Vase (squat lekythos): Women at their Toilette, terra cotta, red-figure ware
The William A. Whitaker Foundation Art Fund, 71.8.1

Northern Chinese, Jin Dynasty (1115 - 1234), Head of Guanyin, Bodhisattva of Mercy, gilded and painted cast iron, 13th century, Ackland Fund, Ackland Art Museum, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 88.29

Chinese, Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644), Guan Yu, wood, lacquer and lacquer paste, polychrome and gold, leather and hair, 1490s, The William A. Whitaker Foundation Art Fund, Ackland Art Museum, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 95.2