Grades: 	Upper Elementary (3–5)
Subjects: 	Visual Arts, English–Language Arts 
Time Required: 	Two weeks
Author: 	Robert Allen Karon, 3rd grade Teacher
 	Canterbury Magnet School, Los Angeles Unified School District

Lesson Overview
Students write a friendly letter based on their observations of a painting by Poussin. They demonstrate their observation of the painting’s content and new vocabulary that they access themselves, using a thesaurus.

Learning Objectives
Students should be able to:
- write a friendly letter in the correct format.
- use a thesaurus to aid and enhance writing.
- use the vocabulary of art elements to describe and discuss a work of art.

Featured Getty Artwork
Landscape with a Calm by Nicolas Poussin 
http://www.getty.edu/art/collections/objects/o113640.html

Materials 
- a variety of colored Post-it® notes
- several thesauruses
- writing paper and pencils

Steps
1.	Have students observe a laminated image of Landscape with a Calm by Nicolas Poussin and identify nouns, adjectives, verbs, and prepositions that describe or can be found in the painting. Encourage students to identify the elements of art, such as line, color, shape/ form, texture, space, and value.

2.	Each student should write the words they come up with on a Post-it note and adhere it directly to the laminated image.  

3.	Review the words that are placed on the image with the class and discuss their meaning.

4.	Using the vocabulary of art, have the class discuss what the painting is about and what the artist is trying to communicate.

5.	Give students thesauruses. Have them find and catalogue alternate words for those adhered to the image.

6.	Have the class imagine that they are inside the painting.

7.	Using the alternate words found in the thesaurus, each student should write a friendly letter home. The letter should be written as if they are somewhere in the landscape.

8.	Students share their letters with the class.  

Standards Addressed

Common Core Standards for English Language Arts

Grades 3–5

SPEAKING AND LISTENING
3.6 Speak in complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation in order to provide requested detail or clarification. (See grade 3 Language standards 1 and 3 for specific expectations.)
4.3 Identify the reasons and evidence a speaker or media source provides to support particular points.
4.6 Differentiate between contexts that call for formal English (e.g., presenting ideas) and situations where informal discourse is appropriate (e.g., small-group discussion); use formal English when appropriate to task and situation. (See grade 4 Language standards 1 and 3 for specific expectations.)
5.6 Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, using formal English when appropriate to task and situation. (See grade 5 Language standards 1 and 3 for specific expectations.)

WRITING
3.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
4.4 Produce clear and coherent writing (including multiple-paragraph texts) in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

Visual Arts Standards for California Public Schools

Grade 3
Artistic Perception
1.5	Identify and describe elements of art in works of art, emphasizing line, color, shape/form, texture, space, and value.
Aesthetic Valuing
4.3	Select an artist’s work and, using appropriate vocabulary of art, explain its successful compositional and communicative qualities.

Language Arts Standards for California Public Schools

Grade 3
Writing Strategies
1.0	Students write clear and coherent sentences and paragraphs that develop a central idea.  Their writing shows they consider the audience and purpose. Students progress through the stages of the writing process (e.g., prewriting, drafting, revising, editing successive versions).
1.3 	Understand the structure and organization of various reference materials (e.g., dictionary, thesaurus, atlas, encyclopedia).

Writing and Oral English Language Conventions Applications
1.0	Students write and speak with a command of standard English conventions appropriate to this grade level.
1.4 	Identify and use subjects and verbs correctly in speaking and writing simple sentences.
1.9	Arrange words in alphabetic order.

What I Learned  
“This sequence of lessons was an effective tool in developing vocabulary and inspiring a richly written friendly letter. It further resulted in providing my students with a keen ability to observe with discernment artworks for an extended period.”   
—Robert Allen Karon