BUILDING A COMMUNITY:

EXPLORING NATIONBUILDING THROUGH THE

ARTS
MATTHEW PETERSON
LTC_4240: ART FOR CHILDREN

LESSON OVERVIEW - 3RD GRADE

Students will explore works from multiple artists that depict a community or city.
Students will examine how different aspects such as color, line, shape, and space
give meaning to works of art and what they can tell us about a community or city.

Students will also examine the aspects of what makes up a civilization such as
Specialized Workers, Social Institutions, Writing/Record Keeping, Advanced
Technology, and Arts, Architecture, and Infrastructure.

Students will then take what they have learned and create a cityscape using a
watercolor resist to build their own civilization.

Students will later write about what their art tells the audience about their city
and their civilization, and make a judgement of how well they think their
civilization would survive the test of time.

KEY CONCEPTS
1. Visual Arts: Students will explore how different aspects of landscape
art give meaning to the piece and tell the audience about the
community they are viewing

2. Social Studies: Students will learn about the key characteristics of a

civilization and identify strong characteristics and risk factors in a
civilization

3. Literacy: Students will learn and practice how to present an

argument and support it with evidence from their artwork and learning

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
What can we learn about a community or civilization from how
their cities look and what artists choose to represent?

What do we value in our community and how would this appear in

a piece of art about our city?

Why are some civilizations/communities successful and others are

not?

How would your ideal society look? What would you value? How

would an outsider know your values when they looked at your city
or even just a single building?

LESSON OBJECTIVES
Visual Arts:
Students will analyze artistic aspects and discuss how they create meaning
Students will use watercolor resist to make an original cityscape

Social Studies:
Students will identify key characteristics of a civilization
Students will apply their learning to imagine a new civilization of their own
making

Literacy:
Students will present their thinking by describing their civilization and

providing evidence of how this was represented in their artwork

Students will write persuasively about the viability of their civilization based
off of evidence in their artwork and prior learning

CONTENT AREAS INTEGRATED

Visual Art (Inspiration Artists: Ivan Aivazovsky and Chankerk): Students will examine
landscape art and the elements that make up a cityscape. They will specifically look
at how artistic details give meaning/story to the art and help the viewer to know
things about the society or people they are seeing.

Social Studies: Students will explore the aspects of what makes up a civilization and
what cities need to function and succeed. They will use this knowledge of specialized
workers and public services/goods to help imagine and create their own civilization.

Literacy: Students will write about their art and their civilization giving evidence to
support whether their civilization would prosper or implode based on what they have
learned.

ANTICIPATORY SET
Students will engage in a Visual Thinking Strategies session
on cityscape works by two different artists.

The works (Coffee house by the Orkaty mosque in

Constantinople & Jalan Besar) present two contrasting scenes
of cities and civilizations that students can examine,
compare, and contrast.

SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT
Students will be formally assessed through their writing piece at the end of
the lesson.

Expectations will be laid out (using a rubric) that students will describe their
civilization and provide evidence for these characteristics from their artwork.

Students will also be expected to make specific reference to the

characteristics of civilization and to present an informed prediction on how
well their civilization could stand the test of time.

Students will be assessed on how well they meet these criteria.

EXEMPLAR

SOURCES
http://www.chanhampegalleries.com/contemporary-asian-lan
dscapes/
Information on and artistic works by Chankerk

https://theartstack.com/artist/ivan-aivazovsky/coffee-house-o
rtakoy-m
Information on and artistic works by Ivan Aivazovsky