Biographies
Student Objectives:
1. To teach students the meaning of biographies.
2. To locate biographies in the school library media center.
Activities:
1. Read aloud to the students the following biographies.
Diego by Jeanette Winter
Diego Rivera by Mike Venezia
Diego Rivera by Jan Glieter
2. Discuss with the students the similarities of the previously listed books.
Are there any similarities? If so, what are they? What kinds of information can you find in a biography? How is a biography different from a fictional story about someone?
3. Have the students locate the biographies in their school media center. Discuss with the students the various biographies. How many are about artists? Presidents? Scientist? Sports figures? Have the students list the different kinds of people that the biographies are about.
4. From information found in a biography located in the school media center, have the students write a paragraph about a person
5. Have the students interview on another and write a brief biography on that person.
Cubism
Student Objective:
1. To be able to identify and create a work of art in the style of cubism.
2. The students will become familiar with cubist paintings done by Diego Rivera, Paul Cezanne, and Pablo Picasso.
Activities:
1. Students will view and compare art work done by Cezanne, Picasso, and Rivera.
2. Using a still life have the students draw or paint it in the style of cubism.
Letter Writing
Student Objectives:
1. Students will become familiar with the Work Progress Administration and its mural projects done in New Haven,Ct.
2. The students will view a variety of murals done in New Haven Public Schools( Troup Middle School and Fair Haven Middle School), New Haven Public Library and the Westville Post Office.
3. Students will learn how to write a letter.
Activities:
1. After studying about the W.P.A and the murals in New Haven, schedule several field to trips to view the murals. Discuss with students the subjects of the various murals. Discuss why they painted the subjects and who was it they were depicting. Discuss the condition of the murals.
2. Have the students write letters to each other. The letters should be “friendly” letters reporting on what they thought of the murals they viewed.
3. Have the students write a letter to the Mayor of the city persuading him to preserve any existing murals in the school system.
Mural
The mural will be a culminating project for the students.
Student Objective:
1. The students will create a permanent mural in the school media center. The mural will be created after they have studied and viewed murals done by Diego Rivera and murals done in local schools during the W.P.A.
Activity:
1. Have the students decide as a group what the subject of their mural be be. Will it teach others something? Will it represent something that has occurred and should be remembered? What do you want the viewer to learn or feel after they view the mural?
2. Plan mural with preliminary sketches. Sketch the outline of the mural on the designated surface.
3. Plan the colors to be used. Plan how they and the mural fit into the architecture of the room where the mural is located.
4. Paint the mural.