Art and Poetry 1.1: MS & Upper Elementary
Hi, parents of students in the Upper Elementary and Middle School classes!
We had an introduction to art and poetry and how they can relate to each other for our first class. The artist we are learning about is Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000), specifically his Eight Studies for the Book of Genesis.
Our in-class project was a review of the elements of art; ask your child(ren) if they remember the chant! If they need a review, here it is:
“Line, shape, form, color, texture, value, space — the elements of art can make things great!”
Their homework for this week (Quarter 1, Class 1) has three parts for the Middle School class, and two parts for the Upper Elementary class (although the UE is very welcome to do all assignments).
I will ask the students to hand in their poems they write for class next week! The poems can be handwritten or typed. We will discuss the video and any other thoughts about the lesson in class.
1. Watch the video about poetry, which also compares poetry to other kinds of art (everyone):
https://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-makes-a-poem-a-poem-melissa-kovacs#review
2. Complete the lesson on TED-ED which is below the video linked above (Middle School class). You’ll have to create an account for TED-ED, and then you’ll be able to answer the questions, access the extra videos and links, and check out related content. I have not looked at every single one of these links, as a warning, but I haven’t yet found one on TED-ED that is awful! Parental supervision is highly recommended anyway, especially if you will be viewing the “discussion” section of the lesson, where other people have posted their responses to the given question. My goal is for this TED-ED lesson to help the students (with you also in discussions with them) understand poetry a bit more before our next class.
3. Write a poem about how an emotion is perceived, through the five senses. For Upper Elementary, they MAY choose to write about a color instead! The goal is to learn how to associate and relate abstract concepts with tangible ideas/things, as we explore how expression and emotion are the link between the visual and language arts.
Template for Middle School:
(Emotion) looks like...
It sounds like...
The emotion (emotion) smells like...
It tastes like...
(Emotion) feels like...
Here is an example, which I told the class today:
Sadness looks like rain on a day when I wanted to go to the beach.
It sounds like the raindrops dripping slowly down my window.
The emotion of sadness smells like the old house where I used to live.
It tastes like raisins in a cookie when I expected chocolate chips.
Sadness feels like falling on the sidewalk and scraping both my knees.
Template for Upper Elementary:
(Color) looks like...
It sounds like...
The color (color) smells like...
It tastes like...
(Color) feels like...
Example (not written by me):
Red looks like the embers smoldering in the fire.
It sounds like the shrill of an ambulance siren.
The color red smells like a fresh cut apple.
It tastes like a warm cherry pie.
Red feels like a fever when you’re sick.