Students learn about the evolution of landscape painting in France from the 17th to the 19th century. They will examine and compare three landscape paintings, emphasizing space, depth, and the concepts of foreground, middle ground, and background.

In this extension to the "Open Court Reader" unit on "City Wildlife," students look at a still-life painting. They discuss the observation of nature by scientists and artists and explore the symbolism of biological life cycles depicted in a painting.

Using a "Thirty-Second Look" activity, students will look closely at and describe the painting A Centennial of Independence. The students will read their ideas and note line, shape, and other details. Then students will create a favorite outdoor memory inspired by the painting, using crayons and the elements of art to guide their work. They will also make connections to the theme of "teamwork."

Students will examine Rembrandt's "Abduction of Europa" and discuss how the artist has taken an ancient Greek myth and contemporized it for a 17th-century Dutch audience. They will then read origin myths and choose a scene to illustrate in a contemporary setting.

Students will focus on how one artist tells the story of Joseph using continuous narrative. By observing and discussing visual details such as color and movement found in the painting, students write about what they think is happening. Students are encouraged to use the actions they observed in the painting to create and write a new story with a new character, and then illustrate them in their own continuous narrative.

Students create a class alphabet book or "ABCDarium," a book that uses images of animals or objects to illustrate each letter of the alphabet. The book is in the style of a medieval illuminated manuscript and incorporates both art and writing. Students decorate large uppercase letters of the alphabet and draw an original picture to illustrate each letter.

Students will observe images of gardens, visualizing and imagining the shapes, colors, textures, sounds, and smells of the plants, flowers, and other objects in a garden. They will also write about and sketch their observations. Students will then design and create a model of their own imagined garden.

Students will research how the development of the atomic bomb affected people in World War II, participate in a debate about the bomb's use, and investigate how it has affected people's lives since 1945.

Students will discuss the form and function of Chinese porcelain with gilt-bronze mounts that were added by French artists. They will decorate cups or bowls with thematic designs then "sell" these works to partners role-playing as French tourists. Partners will add decorations to the original designs. Each student will also write an account of his or her object's journey.

Students examine the roles of mothers and grandmothers by looking at black-and-white photographs of one American family and comparing that family's multi-generational story with their own. Students will make a photo-collage triptych based on the theme of multi-generational families. This lesson connects to SRA's "Open Court Reading" units "Our Country and Its People" and "Sharing Stories."

Students will analyze how a portrait reflects the events and trends of its time and then create a portrait of a public female figure today.

Students will compare a painting depicting hatmakers at work to a portrait of a noblewoman of leisure. Next, pupils will write narratives from the perspectives of the women depicted in the paintings and then create a paper hat.

Students will discuss the evolution of women's work from the mid-19th century to the present day and then create an artwork depicting women in contemporary times.

Students will examine a relief sculpture, focusing on its style, function, and design. They will then create a three-dimensional sketch for a decorative overmantel for a patron of their choice as part of an extreme home makeover. This sketch should reflect a current fashionable style.

Students will analyze a photograph to learn about body image. They will also discuss how society views the human body in different cultures.

Students will learn about the juxtaposition of image and text to define the social and psychological mood of the civil rights movement in the United States.

Students will engage in visual and written activities that will support their creative process of choreographing a solo dance composition. The lesson includes motifs and the movement components -- body, effort, shape, and space (BESS elements from Laban Movement Analysis).

Students learn about the relocation of Japanese Americans during World War II. Through an analysis of Dorothea Lange's photographs, the "Pledge of Allegiance," and a U.S. government flyer from 1942, students discuss the complexities of U.S. history and politics.

Students will observe the painting "The Abduction of Europa" by Rembrandt Harmensz. Van Rijn. They will then form groups to create a "tableau vivant" (living picture) inspired by Rembrandt's "The Abduction of Europa." Students will choose a character in the painting and create a scenario about what they think happened and what the character said before and after the scene. Each group will then collaborate and perform their tableau vivant for the class.

After viewing and discussing two beds in the Getty's collection, students design and write descriptions of imaginary beds. Students will understand that everyday objects can be works of art, and that artists can design functional items that reflect their ideals of beauty.