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Intermediate Level: Grades 4-5 Intermediate Standard: Literal Comprehension
Gain ideas and information from listening to presentations about the cultural context, function, and style of each of the unit's 28 images.
Use arts terminology descriptive of the visual elements of artworks: color, shape, line, light, texture, space.
Describe the visual choices that artists made in creating the unit's 28 images by responding to questions that can be answered by looking at the images. (See the "Look" discussion questions following the essay about each image.)
Intermediate Standard: Interpretation and Evaluation
Use arts terminology to express ideas about artworks and to identify styles of art belonging to the diverse cultures contributing to the history of art in America.
Interpret each of the unit's 28 images by responding to questions that help explore an artist's creative intent and the reasons behind the artist's visual choices. (See the "Think" discussion questions following the essay about each image.)
Study a selected image to find and discuss clues about what the image is made of, how it was made, what it was used for, and what it reveals about the people who made and used it. (See Preview Activities, "History.")
To complement study of Henry Lewis's St. Anthony Falls, listen to a reading of a report about Lewis's sketching trip on the Mississippi River, and discuss how a similar contemporary trip would be alike and different. (See Extension Activities, "The American Land: Changing Landscapes.")
To complement study of the Connecticut Room (1740) and/or the Charleston Drawing Room (1772), work in a small group to determine 10 items to pack if emigrating to America at that period and explain why those items were selected. (See Extension Activities, "The American People--Newcomers: Home Sweet Home.")
After reviewing the unit's specific images that honor heroes and heroines, consider the definition of hero/heroine and why the people represented by the images can be considered heroic. (See Extension Activities, "The American People: Heroes and Heroines.")
To complement study of the unit's images of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, read biographies of these presidents, and compare how the biographers and the artists have emphasized personal and professional aspects of these presidents. (See Extension Activities, "The American People: Heroes and Heroines.")
To complement study of the terms artifact and archaeologist, discuss what the unit's artifacts teach about the lives of the people who made them, and participate in creating a classroom "museum" of labeled artifacts that would reflect the contemporary life of a student for future archaeologists. (See Extension Activities, "The History of America: Archaeology.")
To complement study of the Connecticut Room and/or the Charleston Drawing Room, imagine being a resident of the original house for a day and write a corresponding diary entry. (See Extension Activities, "The History of America: Dear Diary.")
Discuss the term portrait and various examples of portraiture within the unit, and then create a "word picture" of one of these portraits. (See Extension Activities, "The Arts in America: Portraiture.")
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