Learning Activity

FDR's Four Freedoms Painted by Norman Rockwell

Subject Area

Arts Education

Grade(s)

6

Overview

Students will analyze Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms Posters from FDR's famous speech to Congress using the digital resource and will make connections to the United States' preparation to enter World War II.

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

Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 6 - Visual Arts

AE17.VA.6.12

Interpret art by discerning contextual information and visual qualities to identify ideas and meaning.

Unpacked Content

UP:AE17.VA.6.12

Vocabulary

  • Artistic ideas and work
  • Formal and conceptual vocabulary
  • Innovation
  • Investigation
  • Two-dimensional
  • Three-dimensional
  • Experimentation
  • Conservation
  • Craftsmanship
  • Linear perspective
  • Environmental responsibility
  • Prior knowledge
  • Museum
  • Gallery
  • Curator
  • Digital
  • Horizon Line
  • Brainstorming
  • Research

Essential Questions

EU: People gain insights into meanings of artworks by engaging in the process of art criticism.
EQ: What is the value of engaging in the process of art criticism? How can the viewer "read" a work of art as text? How does knowing and using visual arts vocabularies help us understand and interpret works of art?

Skills Examples

  • Select examples of how geographical, cultural, and historical perspectives are represented in visual artworks.
  • Compare and contrast the ways that personal aesthetic choices in visual arts influence personal choices.
  • Examine and describe the influence of art in a community.
  • Research examples of arts-related activities in communities around the world.
  • Describe what the global community would look like or be like without art.
  • Demonstrate the responding process, using, background knowledge, personal experiences, and context when examining artworks and determining personal meaning.
  • Examine and discuss how the geographical, cultural, and historical perspectives represented in visual artworks influence personal choices (economic, political, and environmental) and personal aesthetic criteria.
  • Compare attributes of artworks in the classroom, school, and community, or artworks of a specific culture, place, or time, and describe how they influence culture, ideas, and events.
  • Demonstrate the responding process, with attention to the elements and principles of design, to interpret and describe works of visual art.
  • Analyze how the uses of traditional and nontraditional mediums affect the mood of an artwork.
  • Demonstrate various presentation and responding processes for a work of art. Evaluate visual artworks by analyzing their structure and interpreting meaning using various criteria.

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 8: Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work.
Social Studies (2010) Grade(s): 6

SS10.6.6

Identify causes and consequences of World War II and reasons for the United States’ entry into the war.

Unpacked Content

UP:SS10.6.6

Vocabulary

  • consequences
  • Allies
  • Axis Powers
  • World War II
  • Pearl Harbor
  • Battle of Normandy
  • Battle of Stalingrad
  • Battle of Midway
  • Battle of the Bulge
  • Atomic Bomb
  • Holocaust

Knowledge

Students know:
  • How to identify the causes and consequences of WWII and what led to U.S. involvement in WWII.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Recognize relationships among people and places by locating historical events on a map.
  • Cite evidence to support historical events using primary and secondary sources.
  • Describe how world events contribute to international conflict.
  • Examine the contributions of significant individuals and/or groups, and their role in WWII.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • There were many causes and consequences of WWII and the motivations for American involvement in this war.

Phase

Before/Engage
Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives

  • Students will interpret the meaning of artwork from a specific time period.
  • Students will make connections to the United States' preparation to enter WWII using artwork from the time period. 

Activity Details

The students will use the digital resource to analyze the artwork from Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms Posters. Have students browse the entire collection to determine an overall theme or mood of the collection. Then, have students choose or assign the students one piece, in particular, to analyze more closely. Students will use a graphic organizer to record their analysis.

See, Think, Wonder Graphic Organizer

Using the digital resource, students should listen to the clip of FDR's Four Freedoms speech and read about how the posters were used in a war bonds campaign. Students should use this information to write a concluding statement about the artwork that they analyzed and its connection to the United States' preparation to enter WWII.

Assessment Strategies

Assessment Strategies

Students will write a concluding statement about the artwork that they analyzed and its connection to the United States' preparation to enter WWII on the See, Think, Wonder Graphic Organizer.

Variation Tips

You may want to show the students the images from the posters without the words for the See, Think, Wonder portion and then let the students listen to the excerpt from FDR's speech and guess which poster goes with which freedom before they complete their concluding statements.

Background and Preparation

Background / Preparation

The teacher should be familiar with WWII and ways in which the United States prepared to enter the war before Pearl Harbor. 

The teacher should make sure students have access to a computer and test the internet connection before the lesson to make sure students will be able to access the digital resource. 

The teacher should make copies of the See, Think, Wonder Graphic Organizer before the lesson.

Digital Tools / Resources

The National Archives Powers of Persuasion Poster Art from WWII Four Freedoms
https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/powers_of_persuasion/four_freedoms/four_freed…

Approved Date

Owner (Author)

asiahester1
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