Classroom Resource

Alma Thomas

Subject Area

Arts Education

Grade(s)

K, 1

Overview

Students will analyze the painting, Pansies in Washington, by Alma Thomas. Students will create a color square.  Students can work independently or collaboratively. 

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

AE17.VA.K.2

Explore collaboratively in creative art-making.

Unpacked Content

UP:AE17.VA.K.2

Vocabulary

  • Art
  • Artwork
  • Collaboratively
  • Collage
  • Cool colors
  • Warm colors
  • Elements of Art
    • Color
    • Line
    • Shape
  • Imaginative play
  • Play
  • Portfolio
  • Primary colors
  • Principles of design
    • Pattern
  • Printmaking

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

  • Create two-dimensional artworks using finger painting, watercolors, paper collage, and rubbings.
  • Create three-dimensional artworks using techniques such as rolling, folding, cutting, molding, pinching, and pulling clay.
  • Work with a partner to create works of art.
  • Working in small groups, use recycled materials to create artworks.
  • Explore the books Why is Blue Dog Blue? by G. Rodrigue and My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss to understand color meanings and moods.
  • Read the book Lines that Wiggle by Candace Whitman to explore different styles of line.
  • Safely use and share scissors, pencils, crayons, markers, glue, paints, paintbrushes, and clay.
  • Use symbols to help tell a personal or make-believe story.
  • Manipulate art media to create textures and patterns.
  • Identify and use organic and geometric shapes to create works of art.
  • Show respect for self and others while making and viewing art.
  • Use the primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) to create a free-style painting while singing the names of the colors.
  • Use patterns in designing colored stripes on the shirt of a person you know.
  • Collect found objects such as paper tubes, forks, and pieces of cardboard. Press them in shallow tempera paint, and stamp them on paper to show printmaking.
  • Create a T-chart that separates cool (blue, green, and purple) and warm (red, yellow, and orange) colors in different columns. Use the symbols of water waves for the cool column header and the sun for the warm column header.
  • Work with a partner to find colors, lines, and shapes in art and tell each other what you see.

Anchor Standards

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

AE17.VA.K.12

Interpret art by identifying subject matter and describing relevant details.

Unpacked Content

UP:AE17.VA.K.12

Vocabulary

  • Art
  • Artwork
  • Collaboratively
  • Collage
  • Cool colors
  • Warm colors
  • Elements of Art
    • Color
    • Line
    • Shape
  • Imaginative play
  • Play
  • Portfolio
  • Primary colors
  • Principles of design
    • Pattern
  • Printmaking

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

  • Identify art in their community, such as landscaping, etc.
  • Communicate the ideas and stories he/she sees in a work of art.
  • Recognize and point out basic elements of art in their own artwork and that of others.
  • Describe the meaning in the marks they make on paper.
  • Compare a photograph or painting of a vase to a real vase.
  • Explain what they think a piece of artwork means.
  • Listen carefully to the point of views of others and recognize that people have different opinions and responses.
  • Share what they see in a piece of artwork by listing items seen using art vocabulary. Answer questions such as, "What do you see?" or "How does this art make you feel?"
  • Explain why they like or do not like a piece of artwork.
  • Explain why he/she likes or dislikes his/her own artwork.

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 8: Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work.
Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 1 - Visual Arts

AE17.VA.1.1

Engage collaboratively in exploration and imaginative play with art materials.

Unpacked Content

UP:AE17.VA.1.1

Vocabulary

  • Complementary colors
  • Contrast
  • Curator
  • Elements of Art
    • Texture
  • Landscapes
  • Portrait
  • Positive/ negative space and shape
  • Principles of design
    • Repetition
    • Variety
  • Secondary colors
  • Still life
  • Technique
  • Venue

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

  • Work with a partner or small group to create an artwork.
  • Use the book Perfect Square by Michael Hall to help "thinking outside the box" skills.
  • Create two-dimensional artworks using a variety of gadgets for printmaking.
  • Use paint media to create paintings of family portraits or a favorite memory.
  • Create three-dimensional artworks such as clay pinch pots or found-object sculptures.
  • View a step-by-step demonstration of an artistic technique.
  • Properly clean and store art materials.
  • Use Mouse Paint book by Helen Walsh to teach color mixing of primary to achieve secondary colors.
  • Create a painting inspired by Piet Mondrian's Broadway Boogie Woogie.
  • Create a "Pop Art" inspired artwork of positive and negative spaces and shapes by using colored paper cut-outs and gluing to different background squares.
  • Make a color wheel and identify the complimentary colors (red and green, blue and orange, yellow and purple).
  • Draw different forms in the school environment: cones in the gym, cubes in math center, and sphere used for a globe.
  • Create texture rubbings by placing paper over different surfaces and rubbing with a crayon or oil pastel. Use a rough brick wall, a smooth table, bumpy bubble wrap, or soft felt shapes.
  • Use repetition in art by looking at the designs on a shell or the stripes of a zebra for inspiration.

Anchor Standards

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

AE17.VA.1.12

Interpret art by categorizing subject matter and identifying the visual qualities.

Unpacked Content

UP:AE17.VA.1.12

Vocabulary

  • Complementary colors
  • Contrast
  • Curator
  • Elements of Art
    • Texture
  • Landscapes
  • Portrait
  • Positive/ negative space and shape
  • Principles of design
    • Repetition
    • Variety
  • Secondary colors
  • Still life
  • Technique
  • Venue

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

  • Identify the basic elements of art in a work of art through group discussion.
  • Discuss how people create works of art to communicate ideas and serve different purposes.
  • Investigate how a select work of art was created.
  • Identify elements of art and principles of design in their own artwork and in those of others using art vocabulary.
  • Connect the stories in works of art to the cultures they represent.
  • Compare Leonardo DaVinci's Mona Lisa with Johannes Vermeer's The Girl with the Pearl Earring to identify different uses of the elements of art and principles of design.
  • Compare images that represent the same subject matter.
  • Connect visual stories with literary stories.
  • Share their art-making processes with peers
  • Classify/ group art work by portraits, landscapes and still life.

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 8: Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work.
Link to Resource
https://www.nga.gov/education/teachers/lessons-activities/pre-k/alma-thomas.html

CR Resource Type

Learning Activity

Resource Provider

National Gallery of Art
Accessibility
License

License Type

Custom

Custom License Type (URL)

https://www.nga.gov/notices/terms-of-use.html

Approved Date

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