Summarizing + Art = Collaboration

I was asked to further stretch the concept of summarizing with my 6th grade students by combining it with art.  I thought, what a great idea!  I am the type of person who has to picture something before I write about it, or while I read it, to gain the full understanding of a concept.  So, I'm sure there are a handful of my students who need to learn how to picture a concept before they can write about it.  My method of teaching visualizing + summarizing was to show the students several paintings and have them answer the "who, what, when, where, why" in their own words.  I allowed them the creative license to create their own story line of the painting to add a touch of creativity to the lesson.  Here are the paintings we looked at and summarized into our own words:

Josh

In this painting, The Circus, by Georges Seurat, there are people putting on a show because these are people from all around the world.  This occurred at the mall in 1998.

 

 

Airiell

In the painting, In the Box, by Mary Cassatt, the twins, Marie and Mariah look at the surprise box at night when their parents are sleeping, so they won’t get caught so easily.

Demetrius

In this painting, The Front of the Asylum Saint Remy, by Vincent Van Gogh, John Williams takes interest in it.  He stands in the shade of a tree and admires the building.  The afternoon sun shines and at the moment the building’s owner opens it up.  The man smiles and relaxes in the shade.  “That’s one nice building,” he says.

 

Annie 

In this painting the artist Georges Seurat paints, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte.  It is a Sunday afternoon and people from all over town come out and sit by the water to watch the fish.  They ate lunch and then they came down, they kids were playing, everyone was relaxing because it was a Sunday.  They are at the big lake and it’s so pretty there.