Learning Activity

Native American Mural Research

Subject Area

Arts Education
Social Studies

Grade(s)

5

Overview

Students will each research a different aspect of a specific tribe of Native Americans and combine their ideas to create a work of art/design. 

Students will work in groups to brainstorm, research, and plan a mural to represent the culture of a specific tribe of Native Americans.  

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 5 - Visual Arts

AE17.VA.5.1

Combine ideas to develop an innovative approach to creating art.

Unpacked Content

UP:AE17.VA.5.1

Vocabulary

  • Cultural context
  • Formal & conceptual vocabulary
  • Genre
  • Linear perspective
  • Preserve
  • Principles of design
    • Movement
    • Emphasis
  • Relief
  • Vanishing point

Essential Questions

EU: Creativity and innovative thinking are essential life skills that can be developed.
EQ: What conditions, attitudes, and behaviors support creativity and innovative thinking? What factors prevent or encourage people to take creative risks? How does collaboration expand the creative process?

Skills Examples

  • Use a variety of materials (wood, found objects, wire, paper, clay, etc.) to construct a three-dimensional work of art.
  • Have students keep journals to reflect on and combine ideas for their works of art.
  • Draw a still life of students' favorite objects, while adding color with a variety of media (paint, pastels, collage, etc.).
  • Draw an object or other images (landscapes, hallways, etc.) in linear one-point perspective.
  • Create tessellations in connection with interdisciplinary subjects such as mathematics.
  • Write a short story and illustrate the story with original drawings.
  • Draw and transform two-dimensional shapes into three-dimensional forms.
    • (squares to cubes, circles to spheres, triangles to pyramids and cones)
  • Write a personal artist statement to accompany an original work of art.
  • Draw a landscape including foreground, middle ground, and background.
  • Create an artwork integrating observational and technical skills to solve a problem or address contemporary social issues.
  • Create a bas-relief by carving into a clay slab.

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 1: Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.
Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 5 - Visual Arts

AE17.VA.5.2

Demonstrate the methods of the art-making process, including brainstorming, sketching, reflecting, and refining, to create a work of art/design.

Unpacked Content

UP:AE17.VA.5.2

Vocabulary

  • Cultural context
  • Formal & conceptual vocabulary
  • Genre
  • Linear perspective
  • Preserve
  • Principles of design
    • Movement
    • Emphasis
  • Relief
  • Vanishing point

Essential Questions

EU: Artists and designers shape artistic investigations, following or breaking with traditions in pursuit of creative artmaking goals.
EQ: How does knowing the contexts, histories, and traditions of art forms help create works of art and design? Why do artists follow or break from established traditions? How do artists determine what resources and criteria are needed to formulate artistic investigations?

Skills Examples

  • Use a variety of materials (wood, found objects, wire, paper, clay, etc.) to construct a three-dimensional work of art.
  • Have students keep journals to reflect on and combine ideas for their works of art.
  • Draw a still life of students' favorite objects, while adding color with a variety of media (paint, pastels, collage, etc.).
  • Draw an object or other images (landscapes, hallways, etc.) in linear one-point perspective.
  • Create tessellations in connection with interdisciplinary subjects such as mathematics.
  • Write a short story and illustrate the story with original drawings.
  • Draw and transform two-dimensional shapes into three-dimensional forms.
    • (squares to cubes, circles to spheres, triangles to pyramids and cones)
  • Write a personal artist statement to accompany an original work of art.
  • Draw a landscape including foreground, middle ground, and background.
  • Create an artwork integrating observational and technical skills to solve a problem or address contemporary social issues.
  • Create a bas-relief by carving into a clay slab.

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 1: Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.
Social Studies (2010) Grade(s): 5

SS10.5.3

Distinguish differences among major American Indian cultures in North America according to geographic region, natural resources, community organization, economy, and belief systems.

Unpacked Content

UP:SS10.5.3

Vocabulary

  • belief system
  • community organization
  • distinguish
  • economy

Knowledge

Students know:
  • The description of major American Indian cultures including geographic regions, the use of natural resources, community organization, economy and belief systems and locate these nations on a map.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Locate major American Indian nations on a map.
  • Distinguish American Indian cultural groups by examining the geographic region, natural resources, community organization, economy, and belief systems.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • The major American Indian cultures can be distinguished from one another based on geographic region, natural resources, community organization, economy, and belief systems.

Phase

During/Explore/Explain
Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives

  • Students will identify aspects of major American Indian cultures by researching one aspect of a particular tribe's culture. 
  • Students will collaboratively plan a work of art/design to represent their Native American tribe. 
  • Students will create a work of art/design to represent the culture of a specific major American Indian group from North America. 

Activity Details

1. Begin by showing students examples of murals and discussing what a mural is. Tell the students that today they will be creating murals similar to the ones that you have shown them. 

2. Tell the students that they will be researching Native American Tribes to generate ideas for their murals. 

3.Divide students into groups of five or smaller and assign each group a different major American Indian group from North America to research.  Each group member will research a different aspect of their American Indian group's culture and record their research on a data recording sheet. (The teacher should provide appropriate and approved research links using the digital tool padlet.com.) 

4. Students will combine their ideas to plan an innovative approach to represent their Native American tribe in a work of art or 3-D design.

5. Allow students to present their murals to the class.  Have the other groups complete a Peer Notes form during presentations.  Students will note 3 things they learned from each presentation, 2 ways their tribe is similar to the tribe in the presentation, and 1 way their tribe is different from the one in the presentation.

Data Recording Sheet

Mural Rubric

Peer Notes

Assessment Strategies

Assessment Strategies

Students will complete a data recording sheet to document their research. 

Final projects will be assessed using a rubric.

Students will complete a Peer Notes form during mural presentations to note similarities and differences between their researched tribe and the other tribes being presented. 

Data Recording Sheet

Mural Rubric

Peer Notes

Background and Preparation

Background / Preparation

The teacher should create a Padlet.com page to share links to appropriate and approved research sites for the project. Padlet is a free application to create an online bulletin board that you can use to display information for any topic.  

Example Padlet Page for Native American Discoveries Mural

Teachers can use the link for the example padlet page above with their classes, but teachers will not have access to edit or change links on the provided padlet.  If teachers create their own padlet, they can update links as needed and provide other resources specific to their own classroom. 

The teacher will need to make copies of the data recording sheet, mural rubrics, and peer notes for each student.  

The teacher will also need to prepare a large paper (craft paper, bulletin board paper, poster board, etc.) and an assortment of art supplies for students to use for their murals (markers, crayons, colored pencils, construction paper, etc.).  

The teacher will need to have examples of murals prepared and ready to show the students at the beginning of the lesson. 

Digital Tools / Resources

Padlet
http://www.padlet.com

Approved Date

Owner (Author)

asiahester1
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