Pre-Visit: Seasonal Landscapes (Farms)
The following lesson is the first of three lessons studying the seasons and farms through landscape drawing, painting, and writing. In the first pre-visit activity the students will examine Grant Wood's lithographs and painting landscapes. Our observations of Wood's artwork will prepare us for our trip to a local landscape (farm) to sketch our own seasonal landscapes. We will visit and sketch the farm four times, once during each season.
A lesson plan for grade K Visual Arts Education and English Language Arts
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Learning outcomes
Students will:
- observe, record, and monitor the changes in one landscape over the four seasons.
- use reasoning to justify the elements within their sketches of seasonal landscapes.
- explore the effects of weather on the landscape (ie, plants and animals).
- develop critical and creative thinking skills and perceptual awareness necessary for understanding and producing art. (Visual Arts Goal 1)
- reflect upon and assess the characteristics and merits of their work and the work of others. (Visual Arts Goal 6)
- receive connections between visual arts and other disciplines. (Visual Arts Goal 7)
Teacher planning
Time required for lesson
10 hours
Materials/resources
- paper
- pencils
- craypas
- colored pencils
- tempera paints
Technology resources
Digital camera
Word processing software
Microsoft Powerpoint
Pre-activities
Students will brainstorm what they know about farms and things they want to learn about farms.
Students will visit a local farm and explore its various parts (ie. crops, tools, animals, and buildings).
Activities
- Read Winter Wheat as a class and discuss what times of year and seasons are represented in the book. Students should explain their reasoning by referencing characteristics and attributes of the illustrations. (25 minutes, Day 1)
- Examine the lithograph, July 15 by Grant Wood of the farm in summer. Ask the class, “What is going on here?” and guide the conversation to observe and explain what is in the lithograph and what time of year it represents. (20 minutes, Day 2) Use the Powerpoint presentation to guide the observations and discussion. (See attachment)
- Visit the landscape (farm) and choose one location to sketch (hopefully one with a large vista). Use colored pencils, craypas, and colored chalk. Teach the children to use a view finder (A viewfinder is a 4 inch square piece of matboard with a 1 inch square in the middle. The hole in the middle is used to focus on specific aspects of the landscape.)
- Use the digital camera to take photos of the landscape. The digital photos can then be used for several purposes:
- cut a color copy of the landscape into sections for the students to piece back together
- when displaying the children’s sketches, include the photos in the display.
- Back in the class, post the sketches up for all to view. Ask children to describe their drawing and have children ask questions of their classmates. Ask if there are parts of the landscape that:
- indicate the season.
- may change over time.
- The next day, students will use their drawings to recreate the landscape using tempera paints. Students should concentrate on their use of color and the layers in their landscapes.
- On same day or the following day, the students write about their landscape drawing. The writings can be either fictional or non-fictional. Students share their paintings and writing with the whole class.
- The students will place their work in a ‘Landscapes of the Seasons Portfolio.’ Use the attached portfolio checklist for students to monitor their artwork (see attachments).
Assessment
- Student Checklist (see attachment) for teacher. This assessment is intended to be used to monitor if the children have completed each task. A simple check in each cell will do.
- Student Portfolio Checklist (see Attachment). Each student should have copy of this sheet attached to the inside of their ‘Landscape Portfolio’ and check off when each task is completed.
- Student Reflection/Interview (see Attachment). The teacher in small groups or individually conferences with the students to listen and record their reasoning behind their landscapes.
Supplemental information
Thomas, Jane Resh. Lights on the River. Illustrated by Michael Dooloing.Hyperion Books, 1994.
A Hispanic Family travels to a new farm as migrant field workers. The illustrations use of color and landscape are extremely expressive.
Winter Wheat by Brenda Z. Guiberson Published by Henry Holt and Company, 1995
Lithographs by Grant Wood:
January
March
July 15
Fall Plowing
Related websites
These sites contain the Grant Wood lithographs and paintings listed above!
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco (March and July 15th)
Go to Imagebase and then search Grant Wood
http://www.thinker.org/
Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery at the University of Nebraska (January)
hhttp://www.sheldonartgallery.org/
The University of Virginia American Studies Program
(Fall Plowing and a colored version of January). Go to museum, then to the Grant Wood gallery at bottom of page.
http://xroads.virginia.edu/
Comments
This lesson is the first of three lessons studying the seasons and farms through landscape drawing, painting, and writing. (Pre-Visit: Seasonal Landscapes (Farms), Visit: Exploration of Color and Landscapes, and Post-Visit: Farm Landscape Book.
This lesson plan was created in a LEARN NC workshop held in Chapel Hill. This workshop was funded by the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics for the purpose of giving teachers the time, energy, and resources to create lesson plans. Using the Ackland Museum in Chapel Hill was an inspiration for helping us to incorporate the elements of arts education into our series of lessons.
North Carolina Curriculum Alignment
Visual Arts Education (2001)
Kindergarten
- Goal 1: The learner will develop critical and creative thinking skills and perceptual awareness necessary for understanding and producing art.
- Objective 1.03: Understand and follow step-by-step presentation of art activities.
- Objective 1.08: Create work that does not conform to adult standards of realism.
- Goal 2: The learner will develop skills necessary for understanding and applying media, techniques, and processes.
- Objective 2.11: Use the art room rules for behavior, care and safety of equipment, tools and materials.
- Goal 4: The learner will choose and evaluate a range of subject matter and ideas to communicate intended meaning in artworks.
- Objective 4.02: Demonstrate the use of life surroundings and personal experiences to express ideas and feelings.
- Objective 4.03: Invent original and personal imagery from observation and imagination to convey meaning and not rely on copying or tracing another's work.
- Goal 5: The learner will understand the visual arts in relation to history and cultures.
- Objective 5.01: Recognize that people in many times and places have made art.
- Goal 6: The learner will reflect upon and assess the characteristics and merits of their work and the work of others.
- Objective 6.02: Accept others' work and ideas.
- Objective 6.07: Begin to understand there are varied responses to specific art works.
English Language Arts (2004)
Kindergarten
- Goal 3: The learner will make connections through the use of oral language, written language, and media and technology.
- Objective 3.01: Connect information and events in text to experience.
- Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, written, and visual texts.
- Objective 4.04: Maintain conversation and discussions:
- attending to oral presentations
- taking turns expressing ideas and asking questions.
- Objective 4.06: Write and/or participate in writing behaviors by using authors' models of language.
- Objective 4.04: Maintain conversation and discussions:
