Norman Rockwell - Activity 1 Parts of Speech

This is part of the Norman Rockwell integration blog series. To gain access to all the blogs in this series, click the tag “Norman Rockwell”.

You are encouraged to try out these activities and to comment on the blogs, activities and ideas. You might even find that you can share other ways to integrate Rockwell into what you do! Your voice and ideas matter!

Muse Away!

ACTIVITY Parts of speech –

Practicing the parts of speech can become a chore with traditional worksheets. And it’s important for students to understand that parts of speech are everywhere, not just on weekly papers. Using some of Rockwell’s beloved paintings to help students develop and review their knowledge of nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs can be an entertaining and interesting twist to a traditional task.

Materials:

• Worksheet http://theinspiredclassroom.com/articles/Rockwell%20parts%20of%20speech.pdf
• Norman Rockwell paintings

Procedure:

1. Have students look closely at the painting and allow for some time for first impressions and conversations about the characters and the situation.

2. Ask students to take a closer look at the painting and state the prompt depending on what part(s) of speech you are studying or reviewing.

a. “We know a lot about what a noun is – a person, place or thing – now, let’s see if you can locate nouns in this painting.”

b. “We have been studying both nouns and verbs. There are many examples of nouns and verbs in this painting. Look closely and see if you can locate some nouns and verbs.”

c. “You have begun study on adjectives. Now I want to see how many adjectives you can notice in this painting.” Students offer suggestions and then halt. “Look carefully, there are more adjectives in the painting than meets the eye. Take your time and you will see more.”

3. After a short introduction to the activity, invite students to work in small groups or on their own with a new painting. You may want students to complete the WORKSHEET.

Worksheet link: http://theinspiredclassroom.com/articles/Rockwell%20parts%20of%20speech.pdf

Implementation Ideas:

• Have a copy of a painting for each student. (They do not have to be the same.)
• Give students a copy to use in small groups.
• Place copies of paintings around the room and have students do the activity while traveling from piece to piece in an “around the world” format.
• Do a shared lesson or activity with your whole class or with a small group.
• Create a center in your room where students can visit and complete the activity.

Extensions and Variations

• In the t-chart, have students locate common and proper nouns.
• In the t-chart, have students come up with a relate subject and verb to later use in a sentence.
• Have students write a sentence about what they see in the painting and underline the nouns, circle the verbs, etc.
• Students can then expand their sentences by adding in adjectives and adverbs.
  

Next Blog (due out on Tues, January 12, 2010) – A little bit about Norman Rockwell and how to bring his paintings into your classroom effectively. Plus more activities coming in future blogs this month!

Make a Comment - We want to hear from you. What do you think of this activity? Any extension or variation ideas? Comments are welcomed and encouraged.

Norman Rockwell - Inspiring in the Classroom

Norman Rockwell, an all-American painter, captures the hearts of so many of us: young and old. He has a realistic sense of humor, a poignant grasp of the human spirit, and an ability to express so much in the expressions of his characters’ faces.

In the classroom, his painting can be used to grab students’ attention. Students love to watch the boys in a pig pile grasping for the pigskin in First Down, http://imagecache5.art.com/p/LRG/20/2010/H2S6D00Z/norman-rockwell-first-down.jpg wonder what happened to the girl outside the principal’s office in Girl with a Blackeye, https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3zneWOoVsNTBWOvtXGjE7zhbqHTK8yIRhiJB1-DqVsZweAgJpbN4xAzL0IdN60_3rzInLj_o2f0ze3xTQkTSWbC0CdcRP6PAPS3tAd0qwGOQfG5AU9fqz-YzN_HQ8Rq4LyMPgcL5Q50Q/s400/Girl+with+Black+Eye.jpg and are curious as to why the boy is giving medicine to his dog in Mysterious Malady. http://imagecache5.art.com/p/LRG/20/2044/IFL4D00Z/norman-rockwell-mysterious-malady.jpg

There is so much going on in each of Rockwell’s paintings, both action and emotion; and in them is much potential for art integration including ways to develop grammar skills and reading strategies. Over the next few weeks, we will be going over a few ways to do just that!

Collecting Rockwell paintings can be easy. Maybe you have old calendars of his work or a few prints in your home. If not, you can display some of his works on your classroom computer after finding a few examples on the internet. A great resource is the Norman Rockwell Museum website http://www.nrm.org/. Here, along with finding images, you can explore Rockwell’s biography and view his home and studio. Another wonderful website to visit is http://www.rockwelllicensing.com/index.html. Click the gallery tab and view full screen images of Rockwell’s paintings.

If you have hard copies of his paintings (like outdated calendars), consider laminating them to preserve them in the classroom. Maybe you have enough for students to use in small groups or even individually. If so, you can pass out examples or place the artwork around your room and have students do the activity while traveling from piece to piece in an “around the world” format. If not, consider doing a shared lesson or activity with your whole class or with a small group. Another possibility is to create a center in your room where students can visit and follow simple directions to complete an activity while enjoying and studying a great piece of Americana.

Each week this month, I will be blogging about Norman Rockwell and how to integrate his artwork into your language curriculum. Each blog will have a link to a worksheet you can print and use right away in your classroom.

We encourage you to try out these activities this month and to comment on the blogs, activities and ideas. You might even find that you can share other ways to integrate Rockwell into what you do! Your voice and ideas matter! Muse Away!

Beethoven's Birthday - a December Holiday

Yes, in my family, it seems that Beethoven's birthday is its own little holiday. No, we do not have a party or exchange gifts, but we do remember that on December 16th a most magnificent man, one who changed music forever, was born.

My grandfather was, to say the least, a fan of Beethoven's music and life. He celebrated the man's life and found in him a genius with such a life's story. It is this love and appreciation for music that was passed down to my mother, uncle and, of course to me!

Now, as a teacher, I use Beethoven's birthday to celebrate the holiday season in a new way. All month we learn about the man and listen to his music. On his birth week, I do a thematic learning approach and try to fit in all things Beethoven in our lessons: from penmanship practice using Beethoven quotes and developing our understanding about fact and opinion using short articles about his life in reading groups to practicing our math using Beethoven-based word problems.

Each year, my classes enjoy this extra attention to a man whose music they know and love. This year I have a class of very interested students who even want to have a mini recital of Beethoven's music. A handful of students will play excerpts of pieces they know on a variety of instruments. What a fun way to end our 2009 year! I can't wait.

I never would have imagined that a long, forgotten birthday would have had such potential to keep my students focused and excited all the way to the holiday break. But that seems to be what is happening. I love it!

Results of the Teacher Survey in Arts Integration

I have conducted a survey in my school district on arts integration and have discovered that there is a real interest in it! I invited all elementary teachers to participate and as of this blog date, 31 have completed the survey. At this point, I can account for the results as only a "dipstick" of the attitudes and practices of the arts in our district.

There are some roadblocks, however... the top two being time (71%) and curriculum demands (61%), followed by money (45%).

My colleagues, I am proud to say, see and understand the importance of the arts. The vast majority of the participants considering the arts, in general important (85%) and each individual art form questioned (visual, movement/dance, music, poetry, drama, storytelling, technology/media), was also seen as important by the majority. At the top of the list was music (79%), visual arts (72%) and poetry (76%). No art form was seen as unimportant and the only ones that were even considered as "somewhat unimportant" were movement/dance, drama and technology/media all ranging at a mere 3-4% in that category. All other percentages to be accounted for were in the "somewhat important" category.

As for integration, my colleagues who participated in the survey again showed their belief in at least some arts integration by reporting that a majority conduct all of the arts (except drama) on a weekly or daily basis. However, the percentages are not astounding: Visual Arts (48% weekly), movement/dance (27% weekly), music (45% daily), poetry (31% weekly), drama (24% monthly), storytelling (35% weekly), technology/media (41% weekly).

My colleagues are also interested in professional development opportunities in the arts! The majority were interested in opportunities in all art forms, but the highest percentages were for visual arts and music (76%) and poetry (72%). The other options were "no interest" or "not sure". A couple of participants took the time to comment that the reason for indicating that they were disinterested in these opportunities was TIME - either because of other curriculum demands or personal obligations outside of school.

When asked, "If you were given time to collaborate more this other teachers in the area of arts integration, would you?" The majority replied YES (72%), the rest said Maybe and no one said no! (There is opportunity here!!!)

Please note that this survey time frame is not over and once I have more completed surveys, I will update the information.

Also,along with surveying classroom, special ed, and reading teachers, I conducted a separate survey for arts teachers and specialists. These results will be reported in a separate blog...

TIC - A New Beginning

This may ramble a little - just need to get some thoughts out...

For a leadership class I am currently enrolled in, I am to assess the environment I hope to change. Right now, I am in the middle of doing some reading and developing a survey. This is not easy. I feel like I have one chance to do this initial assessment well. Survey Monkey is the avenue I think I will take in terms of the platform for the assessment. I'm hoping that is the most user friendly for my colleagues. The questions are in arts integration and I plan to survey ALL teachers: classroom, arts, special ed and specialists.

My ultimate goal has been and continues to be focused on the teachers - what they need to develop their craft and feel comfortable in the arts as they teach. The long term goal is to reach out to teachers and to implement some sort of teacher-friendly program/professional development opportunities to do this. Something that is accessible, meaningful and, most importantly practical to the teachers.

I know that so many teachers see the value in arts education and integration, but the pressures being put on us is immense and it is hard to stray away from the basics. However, I believe that there is a way. There are places in our country who have seen such success in arts integration. It is my hope to shed light on this and to help empower teachers who want to integrate TO integrate.

I've been taking small, what I thought were unrelated steps, but the momentum has kicked in in the past few months. With the beginning of The Inspired Classroom's online social network http://the-inspired-classroom.socialgo.com , many teachers have found a place to chat on various arts infused topics in education as well as find a community of like-minded educators.

We also started TEACHER FIELD TRIPS where teacher get together to do various cultural and arts infused activities. (The first one, going dancing, was such FUN!)

I continue to present at conferences and teach workshops in arts and music integration. This is a topic that teachers are into and once they hear the possibilities, they are convinced that there is a place for it in their classrooms!

There are many other possibilities with this too: Professional Learning Communities centered around arts integration, additional publications, community involvement and outreach, the use of artists in residence.

This is truly beginning to take shape and become something more than I anticipated 10 years ago when I started to write down the first sentences of what became my book on my once new computer.

My final note before I finish - "WE" I need a we in this now. I cannot do this alone. I am quickly realizing that the potential to this work is much greater than I am and in order to continue I need the ideas, support and community that other educators and interested persons can bring to the table.

And so, this fall has brought on a new beginning to Yeogirl Press and The Inspired Classroom. It is exciting, stimulating, overwhelming and nerve racking all at once. I guess that's a good sign of what is to come!

The Inspired Classroom

The Inspired Classroom

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Teacher Field Trips

This month, the The Inspired Classroom will be officially starting two new ways to get in touch with teachers - newsletters and field trips!

The first newsletter is set to be sent out on Thursday 11/5. It will be a short intro to TIC (The Inspired Classroom) and hopefully will spark interest and help the network (http://the-inspired-classroom.socialgo.com) gain more membership. Anyone who is interested in submitting articles, both short and long, are encouraged to email submissions to newsletter@theinspiredclassroom.com.

Our first ever Teacher Field Trip will be held on 11/13. We will be going out dancing in Boston and we already have some interested teachers! The way I figure, in order for us teachers to be inspired, we need to get inspired and part of that is to feed our own creativity.

This is only the beginning, though! In the future TIC hopes to organize field trips to the symphone, to local poetry slams, museums, ropes courses - you name it! If we don't take care of our own creative sides, how can we do that for our students??

Needless to say I am excited! This is the beginning of a new page for TIC. So, help spread the word, get online, share your ideas, get inspired and be inspiring! That's what it is all about!!