Artstart for Grades 1 and 2

Before the Visit Mini-Lesson

What's a museum?
Before your visit to the museum, talk to your students about the Morris Museum of Art. Ask questions like “Who can tell me what a museum is? Now that we know what a museum is, what things might we see when we visit?” This helps students create a definition in their own words. Remember to mention that the Morris Museum of Art focuses on Southern artwork. The Morris has artwork and objects from the late eighteenth century to the present day: paintings, photos, sculptures, and even furniture that were made in the South or made by Southern artists.

Museum: a place devoted to the care, study, and display of objects of lasting interest or value; a place where artworks are shown.

What's a docent
Introduce the concept of a docent. After defining a museum, you could say, for example, “Museums have their own teachers, just like schools. They are called docents. When you visit the museum, a docent will teach you about the things that you will see.“

Docent: a person who leads guided tours through a museum; a teacher of the museum

Who are our “Museum Friends?”
Explain to students that when they go to visit the Morris Museum of Art, they will see museum and security staff who can answer any questions. They are also there to protect you and the artwork. They are our museum friends.

What are “Museum Manners”
Talk to students about helping the museum protect the art by being careful when walking around the museum. The Morris Museum of Art has a special set of rules called “M & M's” or Museum Manners. The M & M's include:

• Look with your eyes, not your hands. This includes the art and the walls.
• Do the “Museum Walk”: walk with you hands behind your back or close to your sides. This helps us remember not to touch.
• Listen while others are talking. Talk in quiet voices so everyone can be heard.
• No running. If you run, you might damage an artwork.

Explain to students how important these M & M's are.

Focusing on One Artwork

Jonathan Green, The Silver Slipper Club, 1990.
Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, Georgia
View a larger image of this artwork.

While focusing on one artwork, you can use this discussion guideline to help your students get prepared for learning about primary and secondary colors and patterns. Before you begin the discussion questions, show the artwork to the students and let them guess the title. Then tell the students the title, artist's name, and date.

• “What are these people doing? Let's pretend we are dancing with them. How would you dance?” (Let one or two students demonstrate.)
• “Think about rhythms when you dance or clap your hands.” Clap out a rhythm with a pattern (two claps and then pause, etc.).
• “Do you know what a pattern is?” Help the students construct their own meaning for the word pattern. (Something that repeats.) “Do you hear a pattern in the rhythm that we clapped?”
• “Do you see any patterns in this painting?”
• Pattern: repetition of distinct elements such as lines, shapes, or defined areas of color
• "What colors can you see in their outfits?" Talk about primary and secondary colors.
• Primary color (red, yellow, blue): a color that cannot be created by mixing other colors; primary colors can be mixed to create most of the other colors.
• Secondary color (orange, green, purple): a color that is created by mixing two of the primary colors.

Activity: Creating Pattern Lines
To illustrate how you can make patterns, conduct this very short activity that involves minimal materials. The steps are illustrated in the photographs below.

Materials

• About twenty different colored shapes
• Tape
• Four 24 x 8 inch sheets of construction paper

Preparation
Cut out large shapes (circles, hearts, stars, squares, triangles) from different colors of construction paper. Have one table be the “pattern table” and lay out all of the shapes on this table. Have each of the four pieces of paper on separate tables.

Procedures

1. Have the students sit at four tables with a long sheet of paper at each table. At each table, students will create one pattern line along the length of the paper.
2. Tell the students that their group must create a pattern with the shapes that are on the pattern table. Have them take turns as groups to go to the pattern table and pick out their shapes. As they are working, constantly remind students of the definition of patterns.
3. Allow students to complete their patterns lines and then tape their line up on the board.
4. Once everyone has completed their pattern line, they should sit down to view their work. Allow groups to talk about their patterns.
5. If time allows, read Joseph Had a Little Overcoat, by Simms Taback. Patterns are emphasized in the illustrations, so the students can point them out as you read. Also, they can discover the pattern in the way the story is told.

Step 1:

Step 2: