LESSON PLAN BY JOY BLEWETT, ART TEACHER

PORTRAIT PROJECTPRESCHOOL THROUGH FIFTH GRADE OBJECTIVES/LEARNING OUTCOMESIn honor of Black History Month, students created portraits of influential African Americans. Each grade level focused on a different set of individuals. These portraits were displayed in the elementary school’s hallways as well at a community family event. The portraits were created by using a variety of art mediums, a tracing/transfer process of photographs, and painting/drawing techniques. Students began by tracing photographs with pencil and using a transfer process to create a line drawing to work with as their final portrait. This process was a confidence builder for students and a step-ping-stone into the next project where students learned another drawing technique for creating a self-portrait.

MN STANDARDSK-3 – Visual Arts – 0.1.3.5.1K-3 – Visual Arts – 0.2.1.5.14-5 – Visual Arts – 4.1.1.5.34-5 – Visual Arts – 4.2.1.5.1

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONSWho are influential African-Americans in history and today? What can we learn from them? What were their achievements or their significance?What is a portrait? How might you create a portrait of one of these influential figures to honor them?

ASSESSMENTFormal assessments through daily activities, use of materials, and student participation and effort.Summative assessment of final artwork presentation.

PRESCHOOL

5TH GRADE

KINDERGARTEN

5TH GRADE 1ST GRADE

Lesson Plan by Joy Blewett 2013

Preschool and Kindergarten learned about Harriet Tubman and William Still, abolitionists and leaders of the Underground Railroad.

DAY ONELesson Overview The first step in this project is creating backgrounds for the portraits. Using one primary or secondary color, students will mix white or black to the color to create tints and shades. They will paint a background for their portrait on 11x17 paper. Stations will be set up with one color and students will be able to choose the color they wish to work with.

Objectives • Students will understand how tints and shades are made with paint.• Students will be able to work with tempera paint and be able to create

tints and shades of a color in their artwork.• Students will envision a background for the portrait and complete it by

the end of class.

Preparation Tempera paint and prepared palettes, brushes, water buckets, 11x17 paperPowerpoint with instructions, demonstration materials, and visual examples, which can be swapped out later for student work examples, pencils

VocabularyPrimary and secondary colors, tint, shade, value, gradient, tempera paint

Anticipatory Set/MotivationStudents may wonder who they will be able to do a portrait of.• I can explain that each grade level will focus on two specific people in

African American history but it is a surprise for the following art class.Students may even ask why we need to do portraits. • This portrait project is a stepping stone to the self-portrait project we

will be doing. Learning will be scaffolded but don’t necessarily want to say that to students.

Why do we have to focus on African Americans?• This project is in honor of Black History Month.

Demonstration Demonstrate tints and shades, how to use a palette and mix colors, being sure not to mix them all. Demonstrate the gray that will create. Each side of the table has one water bucket so emphasize safety and how spilled water can ruin art. Demonstrate painting a background for the portrait.

Student ActivityStudents will spend a good 15 minutes painting backgrounds. Clean up will begin with 20 minutes left of class. Students can continue working as other students are bringing their work to the drying rack and I am giving out clean up tasks. Painting needs a lot of clean up time.

AssessmentFormal assessment regarding participation and completed backgrounds. Informal assessment on primary colors following the video.

Closure After or during clean up show the OK Go Primary Colors video.

1st graders learned about Martin Luther King Jr. and Marian Wright Edelman, civil rights activists and leaders. Edelman is a children’s rights activist.

2nd graders learned about the first female African American pilot, Bessie Coleman and George Washing-ton Carver, innovative scientist.

3rd graders learned about writers Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston.

Lesson Plan by Joy Blewett 2013

DAY TWO/THREELesson OverviewStudents will cover the back of a photograph with black oil pastel, and then attach it to another piece of paper. Then trace the facial features and image within the photograph to make the image transfer to the next page. Once that is complete, they will trace the new image with black marker to make it a final image. Then use watercolor to shade in their portrait. Objectives • Students will learn about two significant African American leaders. • Students will understand why these leaders are significant in history. • Students will learn how to deconstruct photographic images.• Students will learn how to transfer images when drawing. • Students will demonstrate the studio habit of engage and persist as this

part of the process has a lot of steps from pencil to marker to watercolor.• Students will be able to create tints and shades with watercolor.

Preparation Oil pastel, tape, pencils, black markers, watercolor, water buckets, brushesVisual examples of the steps for completing the portrait. Powerpoint.

VocabularyTint, shade, value, transfer, wash (watercolor), trace

Anticipatory Set/Motivation“We are now on the second part of creating our portraits. Last we created painted backgrounds and today we are starting the portrait part. Each grade level is focusing on two significant African Americans in history in honor of Black History Month. The two individuals your class will be focusing on are...” Introduce the two individuals, stating significant details about who they were, when they were born, when they died, why remember them.Students may ask how they died (it has been a common question).Students may share other things they’ve learned about these individuals.

DemonstrationDemonstrate the transfer process with visual examples and explaining it step by step. Demonstrate the marker and watercolor – making light washes and dark color. Demonstrate for students that the more water on their portrait, the more likely the watercolor will run. Demonstrate how to remove excess water on the side of their water bucket.

Student Activity Start the demonstration with the first steps of creating the transferred im-age. Then add in the marker step and possibly allow the marker and water-color step to be another day. Most of the day will be work time for students to complete a portrait.

ClosureAllow 15 minutes for clean up if using watercolor.

AssessmentStudents artwork will demonstrate their ability to follow directions, as well as their eye/hand coordination of tracing, as well as seeing shapes, form and line within a photograph.

4th graders learned about Harlem Renaissance artists Augusta Savage and William Johnson.

5th graders learned about Jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald and Jazz musician Louis Armstrong.

SPEN learned about sports greats Althea Gibson and Jackie Robinson.

Lesson Plan by Joy Blewett 2013

DAY FOURLesson OverviewStudents will create their final artwork by cutting out the portrait they made and pasting it onto the background they created earlier. Once those are glued together, they will be placed onto a black construction piece of paper to create the final artwork. Work will need to dry before being hung up or given back to the student to take home. Objective: • Students will understand what a composition is.• Students will be able to create their own composition of collaging the

portrait they made with the background they painted.

Preparation Scissors, glue, student artworkPowerpoint with written directions, visuals for demonstration

VocabularyComposition, horizontal, vertical

Anticipatory Set/Motivation “The past two weeks we have focused on painting tints and shades with tempera paint for backgrounds and watercolor for portraits. Today we get to put our final portraits together. I know that several of you have expressed excitement to take them home, but they will need to dry today and next time you come to art, you will be able to take them home.”Students might ask about whose will go up in the hall or at the event.• Only a few will be chosen to go up in the hall and at the event. We will

be choosing from each grade level to represent the range of people we have honored and learned about during this project.

Demonstration Demonstrate the different choices students can make in preparing their composition by cutting the portrait out and placing it on the background.

Student Activity/Closure Students will spend about 20-30 minutes completing their artwork for this project. About 10 minutes will be needed for clean up and putting artwork onto the drying rack. Students could then be shown a video at the end of class if everything gets done. Congratulate students on their patience and persistence in getting through this project. Let them know what a wonderful job they did in following all the steps and directions.

AssessmentSummative assessment is student’s final artwork.Formal assessment for older grades is a written self-reflection.Informal assessment for younger grades by polling as a class for their responses to the activity, the process.

1ST GRADE

3RD GRADE

4TH GRADE