Each lesson below was written by an elementary teacher from the Los Angeles area. Developed through the Getty Education Department's one-year professional-development program, Art & Language Arts, these lessons were designed to meet California content standards for English–language arts and visual arts.

For more information about the program, please e-mail teacherprograms@getty.edu.

Lessons 11–20 of 41

Narrating a Family Tradition
Grades/Level: Upper Elementary (3–5)
Subjects: Visual Arts, English—Language Arts
Lesson Overview: Students will observe a holiday depicted in a picture from a 16th-century manuscript. They will interview family members and write a paragraph about a family tradition. After a class discussion on how an artist creates the illusion of depth, students will create a collage illustrating a family tradition with a distinct foreground, middle ground, and background.

Python, Python, What Do You See?
Grades/Level: Lower Elementary (K–2)
Subjects: Visual Arts, English—Language Arts
Lesson Overview: Students will discuss the sculpture Python Killing a Gnu by Antoine-Louis Barye. They will use their imagination to visualize a setting for the python depicted in sculpture. Then they will describe their setting, sculpt a clay snake, and create their setting using mixed media.

Illustrating Similes
Grades/Level: Upper Elementary (3–5)
Subjects: Visual Arts, English—Language Arts
Lesson Overview: Students will observe emotions depicted in an 18th-century bust and two 19th-century paintings. They will learn about and create similes based on paintings that depict people waiting and receiving a court verdict, respectively. They will write their own narratives about a time they had to wait, and they will use similes to describe characters' emotions. Students will then create two original works of art that illustrate their narratives.

All in the Family
Grades/Level: Lower Elementary (K–2)
Subjects: Visual Arts, English—Language Arts
Lesson Overview: Students will analyze and describe a painting depicting a family. They will discuss similarities and differences between the setting of the painting and where they live. Then students will create a sculpture of their family doing an activity together and also create a diorama of a room in their home.

In Depth with Pearblossom Highway
Grades/Level: Upper Elementary (3–5)
Subjects: Visual Arts, English—Language Arts
Lesson Overview: Students compare and contrast a photograph and a photo-collage depicting the same highway and write a descriptive composition of both images. They identify one-point perspective in works of art then draw a desert landscape using one-point perspective.

Take a Trip on the Chandelier
Grades/Level: Lower Elementary (K–2)
Subjects: Visual Arts, English—Language Arts
Lesson Overview: Students will discuss the lines, shapes, and patterns used to decorate a 19th century chandelier that was made to look like a hot air balloon. They will create a papier-mâché sculpture of a hot air balloon and decorate it with a pattern. They will write about where they would go on a hot air balloon.

Decorating Objects...and Re-Decorating
Grades/Level: Upper Elementary (3–5)
Subjects: Visual Arts, English—Language Arts
Lesson Overview: Students will discuss the form and function of Chinese porcelain with gilt-bronze mounts that were added by French artists. They will decorate cups or bowls with thematic designs then "sell" these works to partners role-playing as French tourists. Partners will add decorations to the original designs. Each student will also write an account of his or her object's journey.

And Then What Happened?
Grades/Level: Upper Elementary (3–5)
Subjects: Visual Arts, English—Language Arts
Lesson Overview: Students will identify nouns, verbs, and adjectives visible in two paintings depicting a stormy and calm landscape, respectively. They will write a narrative inspired by the paintings, paying attention to transitional phrases and sensory details. Students will use color and line to create their own calm or stormy landscape.

Once Upon a Time in the 1800s
Grades/Level: Upper Elementary (3–5)
Subjects: Visual Arts, English—Language Arts
Lesson Overview: Students will examine the details and color in an 1821 painting by Jacques-Louis David depicting two sisters who are exiled princesses. Students will read a tale about the Brothers Grimm, who were writing fairy tales during the same time period that these sisters were exiled. Students will then write and illustrate a fairy tale inspired by the painting.

Remembering Waiting
Grades/Level: Lower Elementary (K–2)
Subjects: Visual Arts, English—Language Arts
Lesson Overview: Students will study the pastel drawing Waiting by Edgar Degas and discuss the story Degas may be telling through the body language and clothing of the people in the work of art. They will then create a pastel drawing depicting a time when they had to wait for something and compose a brief narrative based on this memory.

Lessons 11–20 of 41