Homer

- Took the class outside

-Told about artist's name and picture name

- Discuss "What do you see?"
School room -how many rooms? (one room school house all ages in same classroom)
Clothing - no shoes, most children at this time only had one pair they wore shoes for Sundays and snow, most children had hats or bonnets, suspenders...etc.)
Just boys? What are the girls doing? Do boys still play rough games at recess?
What do you think they took in their lunches? (hold up a small basket with napkin over top and apple inside)

good info: shows independent spirit..each boy hold the hand of his neighbor of whom he is aware only as a link in the chain. Each boy looks outward rather than at his neighbor, and the face of each boy is either turned away from us or hidden by the shadow cast by his cap or hat..home usually has the figures in his paintings turn away from us and rarely look like they are communicating with each other.

-Took 5 kids at a time to play Snap the Whip. (Sometimes with larger numbers someone is more likely to get hurt)

-While other children wait their turn I passed around a basket of whole apples. (I was really suprised how much the kids liked this "treat"!)

-Then had class sit on the ground and take turns picking an item out of a basket that represented something about the artist life. (The kids LOVED the story about him staring down a man that thought Winslow shouldn't paint blacks. Winslows mom had told him if he ever faced a wild bull to stare it down. Later a man from Texas who, was watching Winslow stare down the other man, said the mean man also probably thought Winslows hands were in his pocket with a derrringer gun in each one.)

-Look at the painting one more time. Have all the class say the artists name "HOME -ER"
FUN!
keep an eye on the time..