Georgia O’Keeffe’s Flowers

School: Oak Grove Primary School

Grade Level: Kindergarten and First Grade

Subject: Language Arts and Math

Materials: oil pastels, black construction paper, scissors, and glue sticks

Common Core Standards Frameworks:

Language Arts:

First Grade Standard: 1f Use frequently occurring adjectives.

Kindergarten Writing Standard 1: Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose opinion pieces in which they tell a reader the topic or the name of the book they are writing about and state an opinion or preference about the topic or book.

Math
Kindergarten Standard: 1. Describe measurable attributes of objects, such as length or weight. Describe several measurable attributes of a single object. 2. Directly compare two objects with a measurable attribute in common, to see which object has “more of”/”less of” the attribute, and describe the difference.

Visual Arts

3a. Create works of art using a variety of different processes.

Lesson Sequence:

1. Tell the students that some of Georgia O’Keeffe paintings are a yard wide. They are very famous and hanging in many famous art museums. Use a teacher created flipchart for the interactive white board to introduce Georgia O’Keefe.) You can use the print to do a See, Think and Wonder thinking routine.
2. Show students a yard stick and explain to them that this is used to measure long distances just like the foot is used.
3. If possible, allow students to measure some of the parts of Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings in inches.
4. Provide black bulletin board or large construction paper and oil pastels for students to create a replica of one of Georgia O'Keeffe's flowers.

5. Each student will measure their flower to find the width and height. (A display idea would be for each student to put the measurement of the flower on the steam and write a description using color words.)

6. Discuss some of the various types of poetry. Allow students to write a poem about their flowers.

7. Ask students to tell you about the artist we used to pattern our flowers. Ask the students why it is important to know how to measure accurately. Use the flowers and poetry to create an art display to reinforce the concept of measurement.

DESIRED RESULTS
What standards (knowledge and skills) will students attain as a result of this unit/study?
Common Core Standards Frameworks:
Language Arts:
First Grade Standard: 1f Use frequently occurring adjectives.
Kindergarten Writing Standard 1: Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose opinion pieces in which they tell a reader the topic or the name of the book they are writing about and state an opinion or preference about the topic or book.
Math
Kindergarten Standard: 1. Describe measurable attributes of objects, such as length or weight. Describe several measurable attributes of a single object. 2. Directly compare two objects with a measurable attribute in common, to see which object has “more of”/”less of” the attribute, and describe the difference.
Visual Arts
3a. Create works of art using a variety of different processes.
FOCUS QUESTIONS
What questions will focus this unit?
Essential Questions
1. How can I check my work?
2. What ways can I measure this? What's the best way?
3. What relationships can I find here?
4. What should be measured and compared in order to solve this problem?
Unit Questions
1. How would you define or describe the following terms: length, capacity, weight, mass, degree Celsius, degree Fahrenheit, perimeter, area, square unit, inch, foot, yard, mile, meter, centimeter, decimeter, ounce, pound, cup, quart, pint, gallon, gram, kilogram?
2. What units to you use to measure capacity? Temperature, length? Weight? Mass?
3. Which is the longest measure?
4. Which tool would be used to measure length (weight, capacity, time)?
5. Which tool would be used to measure how heavy a person is, how tall a person is, etc?
6. Arrange these in order from the smallest to the largest measure (units of length, weight, or capacity within a system)?
ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE
What evidence will be used to show that students understand?
(performance Tasks, Projects, Quizzes, Tests, Academic Prompts, Observations, Work Samples
Dialogues, and Student Self-Assessment)
Students will be observed and questioned during the activity to determine their understanding of the concept of measuring length. Results will be recorded on a running records sheet. Poetry will be evaluated to see if students followed the poetry pattern.
PROCEDURES
What teachings and learning experiences will equip students to demonstrate the targeted understandings?
Materials:
Oil Pastels or Chalk Pastels
Construction paper assorted sizes
Flipchart on the S Drive about Georgia O’Keeffe
  • SET: (State the objective, make it relevant to learner, involve the learner, review previously learned information/connect it to old information.)
Show students some of the flowers that Georgia O'Keeffe painted. Read them this quote from Ms. O'Keeffe.
Nobody sees a flower, really, it is so small. We haven't time - and to see takes time like to have a friend takes time.
If I could paint the flower exactly as I see it no one would see what I see because I would paint it small like the flower is small. So I said to myself - I'll paint what I see - what the flower is to me but I'll paint it big and they will be surprised into taking time to look at it - I will make even busy New Yorkers take time to see what I see of flowers.
...Well, I made you take time to look at what I saw and when you took time to really notice my flower you hung all your own associations with flowers on my flower and you write about my flower as if I think and see what you think and see of the flower - and I don't.
- Georgia O'Keeffe
Share some background information about Georgia O’Keeffe.
Georgia Totto O'Keeffe was born in Sun Valley, Wisconsin on November 15, 1887. Education for women was a family tradition. By the age of 16, she had five years of private art lessons. O'Keeffe attended the Art Institute of Chicago in 1905, but contracted Typhoid Fever after the first year. When she recovered from her illness, she chose to study at the Art Students League in New York instead of returning to Chicago. O'Keeffe became discouraged with her work and left school in 1908 to work as a commercial artist in Chicago. During this time, she did not pick up a brush and claimed that the smell of turpentine made her sick.
From 1912 to 1917, O'Keeffe taught art at various colleges and universities. In April of 1916, Alfred Stieglitz, a photographer and art gallery owner, exhibited 10 of O'Keeffe's drawings... O'Keeffe learned about the exhibit through an acquaintance. She confronted Stieglitz, but eventually conceded to letting them hang. Her first solo exhibition took place a year later in his gallery. In 1923, Stieglitz exhibited 100 of O'Keeffe's paintings, and she married him the following year.
It was during the long winter months in New York that O'Keeffe first began to paint very large flowers, which are what she is most well-known for today. She completed her first enormous flower painting in 1924, and completed a total of over 200 flower paintings in her lifetime. The giant flower paintings were first exhibited in 1925.
O'Keeffe made her first visit to New Mexico in the summer of 1929. She loved New Mexico, and visited every summer until she moved there in 1949 after Stieglitz's death. It was in 1971 that O'Keeffe first became aware that she was losing her eyesight. At the age of 84 she was gradually losing her central vision, an irreversible degenerative eye condition. She stopped painting in 1972, but remained artistically inspired until her death in 1986 at the age of 98.
During her lifetime, O'Keeffe was honored with many awards. She was the recipient of the Gold Medal of Painting from the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1970. In 1977 President Gerald Ford presented her with the nation's highest civilian honor, the United States Medal of Freedom. President Ronald Reagan presented her with the National Medal of Arts in 1985. This information was taken from
MATERIALS: Georgia O’Keeffe Prints, oil pastels, black paper
  • T20 TEACH TO THE OBJECTIVE(DEARQ Give good directions, Explanations, Activities, Responds to the learner, Questioning)
Introductory Event (Large Group):
1. Tell the students that some of Georgia O’Keeffe paintings are a yard wide. They are very famous and hanging in many famous art museums. Use the flipchart on the S Drive to introduce Georgia O’Keefe.) You can use the print to do a See, Think and Wonder thinking routine.
2. Show students a yard stick and explain to them that this is used to measure long distances just like the foot is used.
3. If possible, allow students to measure some of the parts of Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings in inches.
4. Provide black bulletin board or large construction paper and oil pastels for students to create a replica of one of Georgia O'Keeffe's flowers.
5. Each student will measure their flower to find the width and height. (A display idea would be for each student to put the measurement of the flower on the steam and write a description using color words.)
6. Discuss some of the various types of poetry. Allow students to write a sentence using color words.
Students could also write a poem about their flowers.
Lantern Poem;
This is a poem that is a number of words on each line.
1st line = 1 word
2nd line = 2 words
3rd line = 2 words
4th line = 3 words
5th line = 1 word
Haiku Poem:
5 syllables
7 syllables
5 syllables
Limerick Poem:
You will write a poem with an AABBA (33223) scheme. Your first tro lines will have 3 definite syllables. Your next two will have 2 and the last one will have 3. For example:
Mrs. Judy went to the store
She didn’t close the door
She came out and screamed
And had a bad dream
And woke up early the next morn.
Alliteration Poem:
Use one letter of the alphabet and make a tongue twister! Example; Peter Piper picked a peck of picked peppers…..
Acrostic Poem:
Choose a word. Use the individual letters of this word to create the first word of each line of the poem.
Character Poem:
Choose any item and pretend to be that item. You must act like you are living a day in the life of that thing. For example:
Light
I am turned on and off each day.
They never give me a break.
I can be bright or dim.
Whatever their whim.
Their work to do they can see.
Just by flipping a switch for me.
  • CLOSURE
Ask students to tell you about the artist we used to pattern our flowers. Ask the students why it is important to know how to measure accurately.
Use the flowers and poetry to create an art display to reinforce the concept of measurement.
Extension:
Discuss plants and living things with students to provide a science extension to this lesson. Plant real seeds and measure the growth of the plants.

AnnClaire Bennett & Ann Nelson