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Museum
Educator-led Programs
Pre & Post Visit Resources
Framing
the Berkshires
Grades
3-5
Scroll down the page to find items
on the menu below or click on a link to jump to an item.
Program Description and
Frameworks
Program Outline
Key Terms and Concepts
Classroom Activities
Suggested Print and Web Resources
Go
to The Power of Place
Click
here for printable version of all resources listed above
Program
Description and Frameworks
Bring the Berkshire landscape to life through creative writing,
storytelling, and visual arts projects, while exploring paintings
and photographs of the Berkshires as seen by artists of the past
and present. Program includes an optional (but suggested) classroom
activity, in addition to the other suggestions listed here. Information
provided upon registration.
Location: Power of Place Exhibit
Length: One hour
Grades: 3 - 5
Massachusetts
MA English Language Arts: Standards 1.2,1.3,
3.3, 3.5, 4.3, 5.1, 8.6, 8.12, 8.24, 14.2, 15.2, 19.10, 19.15, 21.2
| 1.2 |
Follow
agreed-upon rules for discussion (raising one's hand, waiting
one's turn, speaking one at a time); continue to address this
standard as needed. |
| 1.3 |
Apply
understanding of agreed-upon rules and individual roles in order
to make decisions. |
| 3.3
|
Adapt
language to persuade, to explain, or to seek information. |
| 3.5 |
Make informal
presentations that have a recognizable organization (sequencing,
summarizing). |
| 4.3 |
Identify
and sort common words into conceptual categories (opposites,
living things). |
| 5.1 |
Use language
to express spatial and temporal relationships (up, down, before,
after). |
| 8.6 |
Make predictions
about what will happen next in a story, and explain whether
they were confirmed or disconfirmed and why. |
| 8.12
|
Identify
sensory details and figurative language. |
| 8.24 |
Interpret
mood and tone, and give supporting evidence in a text. |
Arts: Visual Arts Strand; Standards 1.2, 3.2, 4.2
Note: Students will be exploring the following topics during
the educator-led program, though they will not actually create artwork
during the program. For hands-on studio art experiences covering
these frameworks, please see the Activities section below.
| 1.2 |
Create
artwork in a variety of two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional
(3D) media. |
| 3.2 |
Create
2D and 3D expressive artwork that explores abstraction. |
| 4.2
|
Select
works for exhibition and work as a group to create a display. |
New York
Art Standards 3 and 4
| 3 |
Students
will respond critically to a variety of works in the arts, connecting
the individual work to other works and to other aspects of human
endeavor and thought. |
| 4
|
Students
will develop an understanding of the personal and cultural forces
that shape artistic communication and how the arts in turn shape
the diverse cultures of past and present society. |
English Language Arts Standards 2 and 4
| 2 |
Students
will read and listen to oral, written, and electronically produced
texts and performances from American and world literature; relate
texts and performances to their own lives; and develop an understanding
of the diverse social, historical, and cultural dimensions the
texts and performances represent. As speakers and writers, students
will use oral and written language that follows the accepted
conventions of the English language for self-expression and
artistic creation. |
| 4
|
Students
will listen, speak, read, and write for social interaction.
Students will use oral and written language that follows the
accepted conventions of the English language for effective social
communication with a wide variety of people. As readers and
listeners, they will use the social communications of others
to enrich their understanding of people and their views. |
Program
Outline
|
Introduction
A
quick discussion introducing students to the Power Of Place
Exhibit, and some introductory exercises to encourage students
to start looking closely at the images and to use all of their
senses.
Entering a Painting
Students
imagine that they are in a specific painting, in a specific
place. What do you hear, see, smell, feel?
Soundscape Composition
After
considering what sounds would be heard in different images,
students vocalize their sounds, creating a group soundscape
composition.
Cooperative
Poem
After discussing the question, "What is a poem," students
work in small groups, using the class word lists developed
in the previous activities. Each group will contribute one
line to a single class poem.
Short
Stories: Paintings Come To Life
Each group will focus on a different picture, making it come
to life as the subject for a simple short story, Students
will consider the essential who, what, where, when, how and
why of their story. Within each group, one student will write
about the picture in the present tense, one in the past tense,
and one in the future.
|
Concepts
Covered
- A poem is
a piece of writing in which the words are chosen carefully to
develop an image, idea, or mood, with close attention to the sounds
and rhythms of each word. Rules of grammar can be turned on their
head-- poems let you play with your words! Sometimes they are
short, sometimes they rhyme- but not always.
- A short
story has characters, a setting, and a plot; these let readers
know what happened, as well as where, when, how and why it happened.
- If you use
your eyes and your imagination when looking at a painting, you
can imagine what it would be like to be in the 3D world the painting
represents.
- As a writer,
if you include descriptive words and use all your senses, your
readers can imagine the world of your story or poem, just as you
did with the paintings.
Key Terms Used During the Program
You may want to familiarize your students with the following terms
before your visit to the museum.
Background
Berkshire County
Berkshire Hills
Foreground
Landscape
Rhythm
Short Story
|
The
area in a picture that appears to be farther away, in the distance.
A county in western Massachusetts that includes, but is not
limited to the Berkshire Hills.
The expanse of low-forested mountains in western Massachusetts
that forms part of the Appalachian Mountain Chain.
The area in a picture that appears to be closest to the viewer.
An expanse of scenery that can be seen with the eye. In art,
a landscape is a painting, drawing or photograph of this type
of scene, usually in the country or in nature.
The pattern of stressed (emphasized) or unstressed syllables
or sounds in speech.
A written work of fiction that is relatively short in length.
|
Activities:
Before and After Your Visit
Berkshire Letters (suggested classroom
activity)
Imagine a beautiful place far away, filled with sights and adventures
you have never before seen. For many people (today and in the
past) the Berkshires is an exciting vacation destination. Imagine
a friend or family member was vacationing in the Berkshires and
was sending you letters and postcards describing their trip. Using
this letter try to imagine the place they are describing. Using
their description create a drawing or painting of this place,
bring your artwork to the museum and try to match your painting
with this place.
Note: If your class chooses to participate in this activity
notify your museum educator when your group arrives and they will
be given time during the program to complete this activity.
Click
here for Letter to Home.
Berkshire Picture Gallery
Make a drawing or collage of one of your favorite places in the
Berkshires. On a separate sheet of paper, write about your favorite
place, include in your information who you go there with, what
is special about the place, and explain what you do when you are
there. Use descriptive words about what you see, hear and feel.
Attach your essay to your painting/drawing. Make an exhibition
in the classroom of everyone's artwork. During your visit to the
Museum, see if your favorite place can be found in the Power of
Place exhibit.
Collaged Self-Portrait
Create a self-portrait that captures important elements of your
life, such as what you wear, your hobbies and interests, where
you live. Use images cut form magazines and/or draw your own picture.
What do you think life was like for a girl or boy in the past?
Make a second portrait of yourself, but imagine you are alive
200 years ago. What would your self-portrait look like if it were
the 1800's? For information on the lifestyles of 19th Century
American visit the following website.
Rise
of Industrial America, 1876 - 1900 Rural Life in the Late 19th
Century
This library of Congress website is an excellent resource that
allows to students to discover the lifestyles of 19th century
American from first hand accounts.
Travel Diary
Some artists in the 1800's made visual documents of places they
had traveled so that others could see what faraway places looked
like. Imagine that you are traveling to the Berkshires for the
first time. Write your own travel diary for your trip to the Berkshire
Hills. Your travel diary should include written descriptions as
well as drawings and sketches of the places and sights that you
enjoyed the most.
Art Riddles
In this activity, students choose an artwork and write a series
of clues describing this artwork to your classmates. These clues
should only be things that they would see, hear, or feel if they
were in the painting! Exchange your clues with a partner and find
each other's artwork! To prepare for this activity, search for
artwork online at Artcyclopedia,
and print out several images for students to use, or have students
find images themselves and print them out.
Art Activities
The following projects apply the Visual Arts Standards listed
for this program. For complete instructions please see Easy
Art Activities That Spark Super Writing by Dea Paoletta Auray
and Barbara Mariconda (full bibliography is listed in the resources
section of this document).
Autumn
Scene
This activity focuses students in descriptive details using
their senses. Students will examine the sensations of autumn
through writing activities and explore art by creating their
own autumn leaves.
Cinderella
Examine the elements of this story through writing activities
and art projects designed to help students identify the beginning,
middle, and end of stories.
Suggested
Web and Print Resources
All print resources are available through the Central/Western
Massachusetts Library System.
Use the Berkshire
Athenaeum's on-line catalogue to search for these print
resources in Western Massachusetts.
Print Materials For Students
Blizzard,
Gladys S. Come Look with Me.
Charlottesville, VA: Thomasson-Grant, Inc.,1992.
This children's book gives full color illustrations of landscape
paintings and explains the techniques and meaning for each one.
Crew, Gary and Craig Smith. Troy
Thompson's Excellent Poetry Book.
LaJolla, CA: Kane/Miller Book Publishers, 2003.
An excellent introduction to various forms of poetry, this
fictional story tells the tale of students trying to win a poetry
contest.
Levin, Nathan and Jim Burke. Walt Whitman:
Poetry for Young People. New York: Sterling Publishing,
1997.
This book is an introduction to Walt Whitman's poetry. It contains
excerpts from and illustrations of some of his longer poems.
Silverstein, Shel. Where the Sidewalk
Ends. New York: Harper Collins Children's Book, 1973.
This collection of amusing poems is designed for children and
is a good way to introduce them to poetry.
Print Materials For Educators
Auray, Dea
Paoletta and Barbara Mariconda. Easy
Art Activities That Spark Super Writing.
New York, NY: Scholastic Inc., 2000.
This book of art activities is designed for students in grades
2-4 and provides art easy art projects that lead into writing
activities.
Melvin, Betsy and Tom. Robert Frost's
New England. Hanover, NH. University Press of New England,
2000.
Each photograph in this book is a landscape from New England
and is accompanied by a poem or verse by Robert Frost.
Thoreau, Henry David. Walden.
New York: F. Watts, 1969.
Walden is one of Thoreau's most famous works.This book is a
record of his experiment in simple living as he tried to live
independently from society on the banks of Walden Pond in Concord
Massachusetts.
Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass.
New York: Paddington Press, 1976
A collection of Walt Whitman's poems written throughout his
life.
Web Materials for Students
See
the Berkshires
Learn about different parts of the Berkshires and the places
and events that bring people to this unique landscape.
Web Materials
for Educators
Smithsonian
Education
This Smithsonian website provides teachers with information
on landscape paintings and provides lesson plans and additional
resources.
 The
Institute of Museum and Library Services, an independent Federal
grant- making agency dedicated to creating and sustaining a nation
of learners by helping libraries and museums serve their communities
supports the Berkshire Museum.
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