Lessons & Projects

Lessons and Projects

Transitional Kindergarten

Set A - Lesson: Fall / Project: Fall Leaf Crayon Rubbing
Objective: To discuss the basic elements of color and texture.
Set B - Lesson: Winter / Project: Winter Painting
Objective: To discuss the basic elements of color, line and shape.
Set C - Lesson: Spring / Project: Flower Finger Painting
Objective: To discuss more about the elements of color and shape.
Set D - Lesson: Animals / Project: Symmetrical Drip Creatures
Objective: To discuss more about the elements of line and texture.

Kindergarten

Set A - Lesson: Trains / Project: Train Collages
Objective: To discuss the basic elements of color, line, and shape in art.
Set B - Lesson: Horses / Project: Crayon Resist Horses
Objective: To discuss more about the basic elements such as color, line, and shape, and introduce the last two basic elements of texture and value.
Set C - Lesson: Animals / Project: Clay Animals
Objective: To discuss more about texture and introduce the concept of distance by discussing foreground, middle ground, and background.
Set D - Lesson: Boats / Project: Fish Prints
Objective: To discuss the meanings of vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines.
Set E - Lesson: Houses / Project: Oil Pastel Houses
Objective: To discuss primary, secondary, and neutral colors.
Set F - Portraits / Drawing Self Portraits
Objective: To discuss the different styles of portrait, and review the basic elements of art covered in the last five sets in selected portraits.

1st grade

Set A: Lesson: Line / Project: Styrofoam Printing
Objective: To teach the concept of lines. Students will learn and identify various kinds of lines: natural, man-made, vertical, horizontal, diagonal, curved, and imaginary.
Set B: Lesson: Shape / Project: Creative Rubbings
Objective: To teach the concept for shape. Students will identify various shapes in art: natural, mad-made, geometric, and free-form.
Set C: Lesson: Color / Project: Color Wheel, Fold and Dye
Objective: To teach the different groups of colors, such as primary, secondary, complementary, warm and cool colors.
Set D: Lesson: Texture / Project: Abstract Texture Collage
Objective: To teach the concept of texture as one of the elements of art. Students will increase their awareness of textures in their environment and identify visual texture in selected paintings.
Set E: Lesson: Value / Project: Monochromatic Painting
Objective:To teach the concept of value as one of the elements of art. Students will learn the meaning of value in art and identify tints and shades in selected art prints.
Set F: Lesson: Review (Vincent van Gogh) / Project: van Gogh Sunflower Drawing
Objective: To review the elements of art by studying the paintings of Vincent van Gogh. Students will expand their understanding of these elements and learn to recognize van Gogh's style.

2nd grade

Set A: Lesson: Landscapes / Project: Tissue Paper Landscapes
Objective: To introduce the concept of distance in selected landscapes, The students will be able to recognize a landscape painting and begin to understand how an artist creates a feeling of distance.
Set B: Lesson: Seascapes / Project: Watercolor Seascapes
Objective: To review the five elements of art and the concept of distance in selected seascapes. The students will be able to recognize a seascape painting and discuss contrast, reflection and rhythm.
Set C: Lesson: Cityscapes / Project: Reflective Cityscapes
Objective: To review contrast, reflection and rhythm in selected cityscapes and to introduce the concept of balance. The students will be able to recognize a cityscape painting.
Set D: Lesson: Portraits / Project: Clay Head Sculpture
Objective: To introduce the students to portrait painting as one of the five types of paintings studied this year: landscape, seascape, cityscape, still life, and portrait. The students will be able to identify a portrait.
Set E: Lesson: Still Life / Project: Still Life Sketching
Objective: To introduce still life painting and to review contrast and balance in art. The students will be able to identify a still life painting and discuss contrast and balance.
Set F: Lesson: Review (Pierre-Auguste Renoir) / Project: Impressionistic Painting
Objective: To review various types of painting (landscape, seascape, cityscape, portrait and still life) by studying the paintings of Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The students will identify various types of painting in selected paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir and will learn to recognize Renoir’s style.

3rd grade

Set A: Lesson: People and Their Feelings / Project: Expressive Lines and Portraits
Objective: To review the basic elements and principles of art learned in previous years. Students will be able to discuss techniques used by artists to express feelings.
Set B: Lesson: People at Work / Project: Composition to Show Distance
Objective: To present a varied and interesting selection of paintings by several artists whose subject matter is people working. Students will demonstrate their appreciation and understanding of the paintings by discussing the concept of distance such as overlapping, aerial perspective, and linear perspective.
Set C: Lesson: People at Play / Project: Foil Sculpture
Objective: To review the elements and principles of art and to discuss ways by which artists show movement and people at play. Students will be able to discuss techniques used by artists to show movement.
Set D: Lesson: People and Music / Project: Painting to Music
Objective: To learn the concept of rhythm by discussing selected paintings that depict different musical instruments. Students will be able to recognize different kinds of rhythm as created by the repetition of line, shape, and color and explore the relationship between rhythm and mood by listening to different musical selections.
Set E: Lesson: People and Animals / Project: Imaginary Animals
Objective: To review the principles of art already learned in previous lessons: aerial perspective, balance, harmony, highlight, and rhythm. Students will demonstrate their understanding of the principles of art by discussing selected paintings which depict people and animals.
Set F: Lesson: People Around the World / Project: West African Style Print
Objective: To review the elements of art by studying selected paintings from around the world. Students will demonstrate their understanding of the elements of art by discussing distance, rhythm, balance and other related concepts in selected paintings from around the world.

4th grade

Set A: Lesson: Realism and Primitivism / Project: Primitive Tempera Painting
Objective: To review elements and principles of art and to learn the differences between realism and primitivism in selected art works. Students will build upon previously learned concepts and will learn to distinguish between realism and primitivism in selected portraits, interiors, and landscapes.
Set B: Lesson: Impressionism (and Post-Impressionism) / Project: Impressionistic Pointillistic Painting
Objective: To introduce impressionism, post-impressionism, and pointillism as styles of painting and to examine how they differ from realism and primitivism. Students will be able to identify Impressionism and Post-Impressionism in selected paintings.
Set C: Lesson: Cubism / Project: Cubist Portraits
Objective: To introduce Cubism through the works of selected artists and to gain an understanding of the meaning of cubism.
Set D: Lesson: Surrealism / Project: Surrealistic Eye Drawing
Objective: To introduce Surrealism through the works of selected artists and to gain an understanding of the meaning of surrealism.
Set E: Lesson: Expressionism (and Fauvism) / Project: Mask Project Part 1
Objective: To discuss one of the three major trends in modern art: expressionism through selected French and German Expressionist and Fauvist paintings.
Set F: Lesson: Introduction to Abstract Art / Project: Mask Project Part 2
Objective: To introduce abstract art; to bridge realistic and nonobjective art. To show that abstract art can be produced in various styles, but is made up of the same elements as realistic art and that the same elements and principles apply. Prints are shown in order of their degree of abstraction.

5th grade

Set A: Lesson: Art of the First Americans / Project: Native American Totem Designs
Objective: To introduce the students to three groups of Native Americans whose cultures flourished prior to the arrival of Columbus. The students will be able to understand the history and meaning of different artifacts from the Iroquois, the Mound-builders, and the Indians of the Pacific Northwest.
Set B: Lesson: Colonial Art / Project: Limner Portraits
Objective: To introduce the students to the difference between early American primitivism and realism during Colonial times. The students will see that art can be used to learn history.
Set C: Lesson: Revolutionary Art / Project: Grid Drawing
Objective: To introduce the students to the styles known as romanticism and realism during the American Revolutionary War Period. The students will be able to identify Realistic and Romantic Art, and understand how the politics and culture of the Colonial Americans influenced their art.
Set D: Lesson: Westward Movement / Project: Asymmetrical Compositions
Objective: To introduce the students to genre painting as influenced by the upsurge of a strong middle class. To study the effects of the Westward Movement on romantic realism of the landscape and genre painters. To present the chroniclers that tell of an exotic life in the unsettled west. The students will be more aware of the art styles of the late 1850’s. They will be able to discuss and compare genre and landscape painting and the chroniclers as they relate to social changes and the Westward Movement.
Set E: Lesson: American Artists / Project: Close-up Flower or Skull Watercolor Painting
Objective: To review the elements and principles of art while learning about late 19th Century and 20th Century American artists. The students will review terminology that they have been learning throughout elementary school, while learning about American artists and some American art forms: Ashcan, Pop Art, and Regionalism.
Set F: Lesson: Photography / Project: Creative Photography
Objective: To present photography as form of art that is available to the amateur as well as the professional. To show the basic parts of a camera and how they control light. To encourage the students to use the elements and principles of art that they have learned in Art Vistas to make more memorable photographic compositions of their own.

6th grade

Set A: Lesson: Cave Art / Project: Cave Painting
Objective: To introduce the students to the early beginnings of art history. The students will see examples of prehistoric art and understand that art has existed for thousands of years. They will examine some of the theories of why the cave paintings were created.
Set B: Lesson: The Treasures of Tutankhamen / Project: Egyptian Cartouche
Objective: To introduce students to The Treasures of Tutankhamen. The students will learn that Egyptian art was not a separate entity. It was part of their way of life. Their art was part of the magic that surrounded their lives and their afterlife.
Set C: Lesson: Greek and Roman Architecture / Project: Drawing Greek Temple using Perspective
Objective: To introduce the students to the subject of Greek and Roman Architecture. The students will learn about the tremendous impact that the ancient Greeks and Romans had on the field of architecture.

7th grade

Set A: Lesson: African Art / Project: Weaving
Objective: To give students an overview of African art as it relates to the ceremonies, traditions, tribal customs, and everyday life of the African people. The students will gain some understanding of how African art is different from the art of the Western tradition. African art is generally functional and not created to hang in a museum, although it is highly collectible and has influenced modern art.
Set B: Lesson: Chinese Brush Painting / Project: Chinese Brush Painting
Objective: To introduce students that, to the Chinese brush painter, art is an expression of one’s philosophy of life. A little background knowledge of their philosophy can help us to better understand their paintings. Brush painting reflects the combination of two main schools of thought, Taoism and Confucianism.
Set C: Lesson: Renaissance Art / Project: Drawing the Hand
Objective: To provide the students with an understanding of the characteristics of Renaissance art and what distinguishes Renaissance art from the art of the Middle Ages.

8th grade

Set A: Lesson: American Quilts / Project: Quilting
Objective: To teach the concept of quilting as it relates to the westward movement in American history. The students will be able to relate quilting as an art form, as a historical record, and as a woman’s means of self-expression.
Set B: Lesson: Editorial Cartoons of The United States / Project: Editorial Cartooning
Objective: The students will be more aware of the influence of political cartoons on the social and political climate in America, and how the social and political climate influenced the artists of the time.