These lessons celebrate the history of women in art with stories of unique and amazing women. They cover the themes of adornment, women as artists, and women's roles in the family, and are designed for classroom teaching of primary grades.

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Lessons 1–3 of 3

Objects of Adornment
Grades/Level: Lower Elementary (K–2)
Subjects: Visual Arts, History—Social Science
Lesson Overview: Students explore a portrait of two historical princesses and consider the adornments they both wear. Each student compares these adornments to the decorative objects worn by a woman in their own lives and sketches a portrait of that woman, focusing on the objects of adornment she wears.

Bonaparte Sisters / David

Ambitious Women Artists at Work
Grades/Level: Upper Elementary (3–5)
Subjects: Visual Arts, English—Language Arts
Lesson Overview: Students learn the stories of two ambitious and courageous women artists in European history—Luisa Roldán (also known as La Roldána) and Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun—and examine works by both. Students then research and write a short report on a female artist working today.

Vicomtesse de Vaudreuil / Vigee Le Brun

Depicting Motherhood in Family Stories
Grades/Level: Lower Elementary (K–2)
Subjects: Visual Arts, English—Language Arts
Lesson Overview: 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."

Eva and Daughter / Rogovin

Lessons 1–3 of 3