Whistler

Portrait of the Artist's Mother



2nd Grade Lesson Plan

* Who has done Art Masterpiece before? Why do we learn about art/artists? What is it?
* Have one student stand at front of room and not move until you are almost done
* Showed picture of 4 generations: me, mother, grandmother, great grandmother
What are differences? How can you tell which one is the oldest picture? (Colors, hat, clothes, etc.)
* Show painting "My Mother", show artist
talk about painting: lines, colors, what is in picture (hankie, hat)
talk about artist: tell briefly about his life, his mother
* How long did he make his mother stand (student standing guesses)
he felt so bad! Pull a chair up, put out a box or container for a foot stool, have student sit in same position as painting.
* Show other pictures he painted (from book in packet)
* Have four students come to board and draw soccer ball, butterfly, round computer game character (digipet or something similar), dragonfly
Show signatures, vote on which one students art most closely resembles his signature
Show students his signature on the painting.
* If I was going to change this picture to make it more colorful and fun what would I add? (I had a long list of crazy things: small sombrero, top of pineapple, monster truck, sailing ship, plate of cookies, tried them on the sitting student, put in their lap or on their head). They thought this was great fun.
* Liked the plate of cookies and then passed them around.
If you still have time; have them draw a picture of "My Mother" - their own mom