Henri Rousseau Jungle Art

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Subject Area

Arts Education
English Language Arts

Grade(s)

3

Overview

Students will read Michelle Markel's picture book, The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau. Students will discuss the main character of the book, Henri Rousseau. Students will discuss how people's reactions to his artwork have changed over time. Students will create an individual imagined jungle word list to be used as a prompt for a jungle drawing. They will elaborate on their individual imagined jungle word list by creating a jungle drawing that contains a subject and background.

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

Phase

During/Explore/Explain
Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 3 - Visual Arts

AE17.VA.3.1

Elaborate on an individual or prompted imaginative idea.

UP:AE17.VA.3.1

Vocabulary

  • Creativity
  • Criteria
  • Critique
  • Design
  • Media
  • Mixed media
  • Monochromatic
  • Principles of design
    • Rhythm
  • Technology
  • Visual image

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 to create a three-dimensional mask showing a student's personality.
  • Use torn paper scraps to create rhythm in a landscape.
  • Plan a community/city; then, build a model of it with recyclable materials, such as cardboard, boxes, containers, and tubes.
  • Collaborate with a group to demonstrate how to care for tools used in class (such as paintbrushes).
  • After looking at Vincent van Gogh's painting, Bedroom, create a narrative painting depicting a memory of a student's personal bedroom.
  • Use appropriate visual art vocabulary during the art-making process of two-and-three-dimensional artworks.
  • Collaborate with others to create a work of art that addresses an interdisciplinary theme.
  • Read and explore books like Imagine That by Joyce Raimondo or Dinner at Magritte's by Michael Garland and then create a Surrealistic style artwork.
  • Recognize and identify choices that give meaning to a personal work of art.
  • Create a drawing using monochromatic colors (paint, oil pastels, etc.).
  • Explore individual creativity using a variety of media.
  • Understand what effects different media can have in a work of art.

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 1: Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.
Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 3 - Visual Arts

AE17.VA.3.15

Recognize that responses to art change depending on knowledge of the time and place in which it was made and on life experiences.

UP:AE17.VA.3.15

Vocabulary

  • Creativity
  • Criteria
  • Critique
  • Design
  • Media
  • Mixed media
  • Monochromatic
  • Principles of design
    • Rhythm
  • Technology
  • Visual image

Essential Questions

EU: People develop ideas and understandings of society, culture, and history through their interactions with and analysis of art.
EQ: How does art help us understand the lives of people of different times, places, and cultures? How is art used to impact the views of a society? How does art preserve aspects of life?

Skills Examples

  • Discuss how art can be used to express ideas in poems and short stories.
  • Observe and compare similar themes, subject matter and images in artworks from historical and contemporary eras.
  • Discuss the relationships between the elements of art.
  • Use historical and cultural artworks to answer questions about daily life.
  • Discuss how we encounter art and artists in everyday life.

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 11: Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural, and historical context to deepen understanding.
ELA21.3.22

Learning Objectives

Students will identify Henri Rousseau's traits, motivations, and feelings and how his actions contributed to the sequence of events in The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau.
Students will explain how his actions contributed to the sequence of events in the text.

Students will reflect on the text and identify how responses to Henri Rousseau's art changed over time.

Students will create an individual imagined jungle word list to be used as a prompt for a jungle drawing. (Minimum of 10 words.) * The text shares how Henri Rousseau never saw a real jungle. He used his life experiences and imagination to create his jungles.

Students will elaborate on their individual imagined jungle word list by creating a jungle drawing that contains a subject and background.

Activity Details

The students will read The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau.

NOTE: Information for the Accelerated Reading (AR) Test is listed under Advanced Preparation.
The digital resource linked in this activity is a read-aloud of the book.

The instructor will ask questions about the text.
When did Henri decide he wanted to be an artist?
At the first exhibition, did the critics like his art?
Did Henri give up?
At the second art exhibition, did the critics like his art?
Did Henri give up?
Did he make a lot of money selling his art?
How did he make money?
What did he buy with his money?
What was the subject of his art?
Had he ever been to a jungle?
Where did he get his ideas?
Who taught Henri how to draw?

The instructor will continue to guide discussion about the text.

What kinds of things did the critics say about his paintings?
Are those kind?
Did Henri let their words stop him from following his dreams?
After many years or making art, who encouraged him?
Is he considered to be a great artist today?

(Note: In the text, the author gives examples of how responses to Henri Rousseau's art changed over time. No one liked his art until he was nearing the end of his career. Younger, less traditional artists were creating new art movements that changed how people valued Henri Rousseau's art. Today, he is viewed as one of the most talented self-taught artists in art history.)

The instructor will ask questions about student experiences.
We do not live near a real jungle. Where might we see images of a jungle?

The students create a word list of places they have seen images from the jungle. (Books, movies, TV, museums, zoos, etc.) The students will create a word list of things they might see in a jungle. The students should have at least ten words.

The instructor will allow a few minutes for students to create their word list. Then the instructor will ask students to turn-and-talk to share their word lists with their partners. Students may add new ideas.

The students will elaborate on their individual imagined jungle word list by creating a jungle drawing based on their personal experiences combined with their imagination. Henri Rousseau used his experiences (the green house, post cards, and magazines) to elaborate on his imagined jungles. Their drawing will serve as a sketch or practice drawing. Student drawings must include a subject and background. (If time allows, they may add color while their classmates catch up.)

Assessment Strategies

Standard

Objective

Mastered

Attempted

Not Attempted


[ELA2021] 
(3) 22: Describe literary elements within a story, including setting, plot, characters, and themes.

 

Student reflected on the text and identify the traits, motivations, and feelings of Henri Rousseau.

 

 

 

Student described how Henri Rousseau's actions contributed to the sequence of events in the text.

 

 

 

 

 

Standard

Objective

Mastered

Attempted

Not Attempted

[ARTS] VISA (3) 15: Recognize that responses to art change depending on knowledge of the time and place in which it was made and on life experiences.

 

Student reflected on the text and identified how responses to Henri Rousseau's art changed over time.

 

 

 

 

Standard

Objective

Mastered

Attempted

Not Attempted

[ARTS] VISA (3) 1: Elaborate on an individual or prompted imaginative idea.

 

Student created an individual imagined jungle word list to be used as a prompt for their drawing. (Minimum of 10 words.)

 

 

 

 

Student elaborated on their individual imagined jungle word list by creating a jungle drawing that contained a subject and background.

 

 

 

Variation Tips

To enhance student understanding of how place and experience affect art, try sharing different idea sheets with different tables. Don't allow them to view the idea sheets of other classmates. 

At the end of class have students share their sketches and see how the idea sheets (their "experience") affected everyone's art. 

Example: Students who were given images of tigers will likely draw more detailed tigers than students who didn't have access to an image of a tiger.

*Idea Sheet - a printed handout or image to use as inspiration.

Background / Preparation

Media:

The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau (Book)
or
The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau (Video Read Aloud)
 

The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau

Markel, Michelle 
AR Quiz No. 153252 EN Nonfiction
Accelerated Reader Quiz Information IL: LG - BL: 4.8 - AR Pts: 0.5
Accelerated Reader Quiz Type Information AR Quiz Types: RP
Book Rating Rating: 3.5

Supplies:
Pencils
Brainstorm Paper (for making list)
Sketch Paper (for practice drawing) *Recommended standard copy paper
Coloring Tools Optional (crayons, markers, or colored pencils)

The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTnZhFL3m5g&t=2s

Approved Date

Owner (Author)

abbykuhn
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