Ask: What problems do you think an artist who likes to work outdoors in nature would have drawing or painting? (shadows change position, size, colors change) When everyone has had a chance to respond, pass out drawing paper and crayon and have each child choose something to draw -- it could be a tree, a building, a person, a fence, that throws a very clear shadow. Tell them: In your drawings, I want to be able to see each shadow, how large it is, and at what angle it falls.
Circulate among the students and give assistance and encouragement with the project. When they have all finished, have them gather around the stake you have planted and ask: What has happened to the shadow that was falling on the rock when we put it in? How far away would the rock have to be placed to mark the shadow this time?
Suggest that some students may want to experiment over the weekend on a clear, sunny day, marking with a rock exactly where the shadow of a stick falls from hour to hour for as long as the light lasts. Ask: Would the shadows themselves get longer or shorter as the morning progressed? (shorter) What about as the afternoon progressed? (longer)
Tell them that painters who paint landscapes out of doors often insist on working on a certain painting only within a small window of time each day to be sure that the shadows and quality of light and color are as much the same as possible. Say to the class: From now on, when we look at paintings, don't forget to note what the artist is doing with light, shadows, and reflections.
Fourth Grade - Visual Arts - Lesson 3 - Portrait of Paul Revere
Note to Teacher
This lesson should not be taught before the students have had American History Lesson 4 and Literature Lesson on Longfellow's Paul Revere's Ride.
Observe carefully a portrait of a famous American by an American painter.
Review the contribution of Paul Revere to the American Revolution.
Recall Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem about Paul Revere.
Hear that Paul Revere was a silversmith in colonial America.
Reproduction of John Singleton Copley's Paul Revere
Books with reproductions of Copley's painting Paul Revere
Cobblestone. Vol. 11, Number 6, June, 1990. "Paul Revere, Metalworker," pp. 12-15.
Good biographical reference for the teacher. Has full page black and white reproduction.
De la Croix, Horst, Richard G. Tansey, and Kiane Kirkpatrick. Gardner's Art Through the Ages, ninth ed., vol. II. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1991.
Color reproduction on p. 835.
Sullivan, Charles, ed. Imaginary Gardens: American Poetry and Art for Young People. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1989.
Full page color reproduction on p. 61.
Other Suggested Books
Benchley, Nathaniel. Sam the Minuteman. New York: Harper & Row, 1969.
An "I Can Read Book" illustrated with wonderful drawings by Arnold Lobel gives an authentic idea of what the experience was of a colonial New England minuteman.
Kalman, Bobbie. Colonial Crafts. New York: Crabtree, 1992.
Nice color photographs plus good explanation of the importance of the silversmith in colonial days. Students may be interested to know that, "In colonial times there were no banks in which people could put their silver coins. Instead of hiding the coins, people took them to a silversmith to be melted down into plates, spoons, and candlesticks, which were engraved so that people could identify them if they were stolen." (p. 21)
Background for Teacher
John Singleton Copley was born in 1738 in Boston, where his earliest portraits were painted. The most famous portrait painters of the time were those living in England who painted portraits of English aristocrats in the most elegant costumes possible, as a sign of their class standing. Copley was eager to study the methods of the English portraitists, which he did first through imported engravings. (An English mezzotint engraver named Peter Pelham settled in Boston in 1726 and eventually became Copley's stepfather. At the time, the main job of mezzotint engravers was making copies of famous paintings.)
By 1774, at the urging of Sir Joshua Reynolds and Benjamin West, Copley travelled 