glossary mary cassatt vincent van gogh - cloud object … · 2012-12-21 · it leaves readers...

Reading Objectives• Comprehension: Evaluate fact and

opinion; Identify cause and effect• Tier Two Vocabulary: See book’s

Glossary• Word study: Adjectives• Analyze the genre• Respond to and interpret texts• Make text-to-text connections• Fluency: Read with appropriate pauses

Writing Objectives• Writer’s tools: Strong ending• Write an art review using writing-

process steps

Related Resources• Comprehension Question Card• Comprehension Power Tool Flip Chart• Using Genre Models to Teach Writing• Frans Hals, Johannes Vermeer;

Rembrandt van Rijn (Level W/60)

Teacher’s Guide: reviews

Claude Monet

Edgar Degas

Mary Cassatt

Vincent van Gogh

Unit-at-a-Glance

Day 1 Prepare to Read

Day 2 Read “Claude Monet” and “Edgar Degas”*

Day 3 Read “Mary Cassatt” and “Vincent van Gogh”*

Day 4 Reread “Vincent van Gogh”*

Day 5 Literature Circle Discussion/Reinforce Skills*

Days 6–15 Write an art review using the process writing steps on page 10.

Level V/60

While you are meeting with small groups, other students can:• read independently from your classroom library• reflect on their learning in reading response

journals• engage in literacy workstations

B e n c h m a r k e d u c a t i o n c o m p a n y®

™

we will come back to this anchor chart. We will look for these features in each art review we read.

• Ask students to turn to pages 5–7. Say: Over the centuries, people have created new styles of art. In its time, each style was revolutionary and subject to rejection by the ruling artists of the day. Let’s read about a style of painting called Impressionism.

• Have a student read aloud the background information while others follow along.

• Say: Impressionist artists were not discouraged by ridicule or rejection. What can you infer, or tell, from this? Allow responses. Prompt students to understand that the Impressionists believed in the beauty and integrity of their art.

Introduce the Tools for Readers and Writers: Strong Ending• Read aloud “Strong Ending” on page 4. • Say: Nonfiction writers know the importance of

writing a strong ending. Using this technique helps them leave readers with a favorable impression of the topic. Each art review in this book has a strong ending that evaluates the artist’s works and sums up his or her importance. Let’s practice identifying the characteristics of strong endings so we can recognize them in the reviews we read.

• Distribute BLM 1 (Strong Ending). Read aloud ending A with students.

• Model Identifying a Strong Ending: The first sentence praises Leonardo da Vinci, but the second sentence summarizes important facts about his style, ideas, and impact on the world. The last sentence is intended to convince readers that they would enjoy seeing his work. This type of ending makes an impression on readers and helps shape their opinions. It leaves readers intrigued about da Vinci’s genius and ready to admire his work.

• Ask students to work with partners or in small groups to analyze the characteristics of ending B and write their own strong ending for an art review.

• Bring the groups together to share their findings. Point out that strong endings will vary, but most sum up the reviewer’s major points.

• Ask the groups to read one of the endings they wrote. Use the example to build their understanding of how and why writers use strong endings. Remind students that a strong ending should focus ideas for readers and influence their desire to view the art.

• Ask groups to hand in their endings. Transfer student-written endings to chart paper, title the page “Strong Ending,” and post it as an anchor chart.

REVIEWS OF IMPRESSIONIST ARTISTS AND THEIR WORK

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Prepare to ReadBuild Genre Background• Write the word genre on chart paper. Ask: Who

can explain what the word genre means? (Allow responses.) The word genre means “a kind of something.” Some painters like to use watercolors. Other painters prefer to work in oils. Watercolors and oils are two media that artists can use to create paintings. Each medium has its own characteristics that we can use to identify it. In the same way, we can identify each genre of literature by its characteristics. As readers, we use genres to help us comprehend and to know what to expect. As writers, we use genres to help us develop and organize our ideas before and during writing.

• Ask: Who can name some literary genres? Let’s make a list. Allow responses. Post the list on the classroom wall as an anchor chart.

• Draw a concept web on chart paper or the chalkboard. Write Art Review in the center circle of the web.

• Say: Art reviews are one example of a literary genre. Think of any art reviews you know. How would you define what an art review is?

• Turn and Talk. Ask students to turn and talk to a classmate and jot down any features of an art review they can think of. Then bring students together and ask them to share their ideas. Record them on the group web. Reinforce the concept that all art reviews have certain common features.

Introduce the Book• Distribute the book to each student. Read the title

aloud. Ask students to tell what they see on the cover and table of contents.

• Ask students to turn to pages 2–3. Say: This week we are going to read art reviews that will help us learn about this genre. First we’re going to focus on this genre as readers. Then we’re going to study art reviews from a writer’s perspective. Our goal this week is to really understand this genre.

• Ask a student to read aloud the text on pages 2–3 while others follow along. Invite a different student to read the web on page 3.

• Point to your art review web on chart paper. Say: Let’s compare our initial ideas about art reviews with what we just read. What new features of this genre did you learn? Allow responses. Add new information to the class web.

• Post this chart in your classroom during your art reviews unit. Say: As we read art reviews this week,

Day 1

©2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC. All rights reserved. Teachers may photocopy the reproducible pages for classroom use. No other part of the guide may be reproduced or transmitted in whole or in part in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.ISBN: 978-1-4509-3051-2

3REVIEWS OF IMPRESSIONIST ARTISTS AND THEIR WORK

©2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC

Reflect and Review • Turn and Talk. Write one or more of the following

questions on chart paper. What is a literary genre, and why do readers and

writers separate literature into genres? What did you learn today about art reviews? How can you recognize a strong ending in a review? Ask partners or small groups to discuss their ideas

and report them back to the whole group as a way to summarize the day’s learning.

Day 2

Management Tips• Throughout the week, you may wish to use

some of the reflect and review questions as prompts for reader response journal entries in addition to turn and talk activities.

• Have students create genre study folders. Keep blackline masters, notes, small-group writing, and checklists in the folders.

• Create anchor charts by writing whole-group discussion notes and mini-lessons on chart paper. Hang charts in the room where students can see them.

Days 6–15

©2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLCREVIEWS OF IMPRESSIONIST ARTISTS AND THEIR WORK

BLM 1

Name _________________________________________________ Date ___________________

Strong EndingDirections: Following are endings to two art reviews. Highlight the sentence that

sums up the main idea. Underline the sentence that suggests readers would enjoy the artist’s work.

A. Unique to the end of his sixty-seven years of life, Leonardo da Vinci was the greatest master of his age, or perhaps any age. His genius, like his subtle, shadowed style, was ahead of its time, but it helped move civilization and art out of superstition and ignorance toward reason and learning. Today, millions still flock to admire The Last Supper and The Mona Lisa, arguably the most famous painting of all time.

B. Michelangelo is one of only a handful of artists so well-known that we only need hear his first name to think of the artist and his incomparable works of art. If you are fortunate, you may get to visit the Sistine Chapel. If you do, look up at the ceiling Michelangelo painted from 1508 to 1512. You will understand why a friend and fellow artist called him “the greatest sculptor, painter, and draughtsman that has ever lived.”

Directions: Think about an artist or a kind of art you like. Imagine you have written a review of the art. Write your own strong ending for your review.

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Before ReadingIntroduce “Claude Monet” and “Edgar Degas”• Reread the art review anchor chart or the web on

page 3 to review the features of an art review.• Ask students to turn to page 8 and page 12. Ask:

Based on the titles and artwork, what can you predict about the artists? Allow responses.

• Invite students to scan the text and look for the boldfaced words (dazzling, extraordinary, blurry, fascinating, powerful, luscious). Say: As you read, pay attention to the bold words. If you don’t know what they mean, try to use clues in the surrounding text to help you define them. We’ll come back to these words after we read.

Set a Purpose for Reading• Ask students to read the art reviews, focusing on

the genre elements they noted on their anchor chart. They should also look for strong endings and think about how the author’s use of strong endings helps them understand the main points of the reviews and helps them form their own opinions about the art and artist.

Read “Claude Monet” and Edgar Degas”• Place students in groups based on their reading

levels. Ask students to read the art reviews silently, whisper-read, or read with a partner.

• Confer briefly with individual students to monitor their understanding of the text and their use of fix-up strategies.

Management TipAsk students to place self-stick notes in the margins where they notice descriptions or judgments of art, information about artists, or other features of the genre.

After ReadingBuild Comprehension: Evaluate Fact and Opinion• Lead a student discussion using the “Analyze

the Reviews of Artists’ Work” and “Focus on Comprehension” questions on pages 16–17. Then, use the following steps to provide explicit modeling of how to evaluate fact and opinion in an art review.

• Explain: We learned yesterday that an art review provides information and makes judgments about an artist and his or her work. When you read an art review, it is important to distinguish

the author’s opinions (which cannot be proven) from facts (which others can prove through observation or research). Considering how well the facts support the author’s opinions helps you determine whether or not you agree with them. Evaluating the facts and opinions can also help you decide whether you want to see the art or help you confirm or rethink your own impressions of the work.

• Distribute copies of BLM 2 (Evaluate Fact and Opinion) and/or draw a chart like the one below.

• Model: In “Claude Monet,” the reviewer states that Monet did an extraordinary thing when he painted the bay and that the whole effect is mesmerizing. The words extraordinary and mesmerizing indicate that this is an opinion. Some of the techniques Monet used were short brushstrokes that make the water look choppy and creating a blurry scene. These are facts that others can confirm by viewing the painting. As a reader, I can evaluate these facts and determine whether I agree or disagree with the author’s judgments, leading to an overall evaluation of the work.

• Guide Practice: Work with students to evaluate facts and opinions in the art reviews. Help them identify the author’s opinions and search for facts that support each opinion. Point out that readers should always be willing to verify facts in reliable resources rather than blindly accepting their accuracy. Finally, have students evaluate whether the opinions are well supported and convincing.

• Have students keep BLM 2 in their genre studies folder.


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Practice Text Comprehension Strategies for ELA Assessment• Remind students that when they answer questions

on standardized assessments, they must be able to support their answers with facts or clues and evidence directly from the text.

• Use the Comprehension Question Card with small groups of students to practice answering text-dependent comprehension questions.

• Say: Today I will help you learn how to answer Find It! questions. The answer to a Find It! question is right in the book. You can find the answer in one place in the text.

• Model: Read the second Find It! question. Say: When I read the question, I look for important words that tell me what to look for in the book. What words in this question do you think will help me? (Allow responses.) Yes, I’m looking for the word Degas and the phrase in the 1880s. On page 15, I read, “In the 1880s, Degas began to lose his eyesight.” This sentence answers the question.

• Guide Practice: Use the Flip Chart to help you develop other Find It! questions.

Focus on Vocabulary: Adjectives• Explain/Model: Read aloud “Adjectives” on page 4.

Say: Adjectives are useful in art reviews because they create mental pictures of the artworks and reveal the author’s or reviewers’ feelings. For example, the author says the Impression, Sunrise painting has a blurriness that makes the harbor look alive. The adjective alive helps readers visualize the artist’s strokes and understand their effect on the reviewer.

• Practice. Ask students to find adjectives in the art reviews, such as charming, short, choppy, mesmerizing, stifling, and fluffy. List the words on the board. Discuss whether the adjectives appeal to readers’ senses or emotions.

• Say: Let’s find the boldfaced words in these art reviews. What can you do if you don’t know what these words mean? (Allow responses.) Besides looking up the word in the glossary or a dictionary, you can look for clues in the text to help you define the unfamiliar word. First identify the word that the adjective describes and the sense or emotion to which the adjective appeals. Then figure out what the adjective helps you understand about the person, place, or thing it describes.

• Ask students to work with a partner to complete the “Focus on Words” activity on page 17 using BLM 3 (Focus on Adjectives). Explain that they should read the sentences around the boldfaced word and decide whether the adjective appeals to readers’ sight or appeals to emotion. Then they should identify the word the adjective describes.

• Transfer Through Oral Language. Ask groups of students to share their findings. Then challenge

Day 2 (cont.)

Opinions Facts That Support Opinions

Claude Monet

Monet did an extraordinary thing when he painted the bay . . . the whole effect is mesmerizing.

Short brushstrokes make the water look choppy and “splashy.” This technique makes the painting look blurry.

This [Haystacks (Effect of Snow and Sun)] is a much more interesting painting.

Snow and air are icy blue. Fifteen of these paintings were shown . . . and all sold within days.

It [Rouen Cathedral series] is much more interesting than the Haystacks series.

He studied how light and weather reflected off the façade. He moved to painting with the light.

Edgar Degas

His paintings were filled with fascinating details.

The Cotton Exchange at New Orleans shows men checking cotton, reading a newspaper, doing paperwork, polishing glasses, and resting in a window.

A Woman Ironing is one of Degas’ most powerful works.

The central figure is in a shadow, bent over, hard at work. Light mixes with steam to convey a sense of stifling conditions.

One of his most interesting sculptures is the Little Dancer of Fourteen Years.

The figure is modeled in wax and wears a real costume. The face is realistic.



Before ReadingIntroduce “Mary Cassatt” and “Vincent van Gogh” • Ask students to turn to page 18 and page 22.

Say: Today we are going to read “Mary Cassatt” and “Vincent van Gogh.” The second art review is written in a different format from the other reviews we read. Notice how in the margins there are notes to you, the reader. The first time we read the texts, we will read to understand the reviews, focusing on information about the artists and their art and the reviewer’s opinions. Tomorrow, we will read the second review like a writer and think about the notes in the margin as a model for how we can write our own art review.

• Say: Let’s look at the titles and artwork in these reviews. What can you predict about the authors from viewing the art? Give students time to share their predictions.

• Ask students to scan the text and look for the boldfaced words (stern, vibrant, touching, dingy, unsettling, traditional, swirling). Ask: What do you notice about these words? Why do you think they appear in boldfaced type? Allow responses. Encourage students to notice that all of these words are adjectives that describe emotions or appeal to the sense of sight.

• Say: As you read, try to figure out the meanings of these words. Look for clues in the text and think about how each adjective helps you see or feel what the reviewer saw and felt. After we read, we will talk about how you used sense and emotion cues and other context clues provided by the author.

Set a Purpose for Reading• Ask students to read the art reviews, focusing

on how the reviewer describes and evaluates the works of each artist. Encourage students to notice how the author uses a strong ending to complete each review.

Read “Mary Cassatt” and “Vincent van Gogh”• Place students in groups based on their reading

levels. Ask students to read the art reviews silently, whisper-read, or read with a partner.

• Confer briefly with individual students to monitor their understanding of the text and their use of fix-up strategies.

After ReadingBuild Comprehension: Evaluate Fact and Opinion• Say: Yesterday we evaluated facts and opinions

in “Claude Monet” and Edgar Degas.” We identified the author’s opinions about the artists

Day 3individual students to use the adjectives in new sentences to describe people, places, or things. Ask other students to listen carefully and explain how the adjectives help them visualize or feel what the adjectives describe.

• Ask students to save their work in their genre studies folders to continue on Days 3 and 4.

Note Regarding This Teacher’s GuideEach book provides an opportunity for students to focus on an additional comprehension strategy that is typically assessed on state standards. The strategy is introduced on page 4 (the third item in the “Tools for Readers and Writers” section) with text-specific follow-up questions found on the Reread pages. Some Reread sections also introduce an advanced language arts concept or comprehension strategy, such as protagonist/antagonist, perspective, or subtitles, because students at this level should be able to consider more than one comprehension strategy per text.

Page AdjectiveSight or Emotion Adjective

What Word Is the Adjective Describing?

8 dazzling sight colors

10 extraordinary emotion thing (that Monet did)

10 blurry sight effect

13 fascinating emotion details

14 powerful emotion works

15 luscious sight green

Reflect and Review • Turn and Talk. Ask partners or small groups to

reread the “Features of an Art Review” web on page 3 and decide whether all of these features are present in “Claude Monet” and “Edgar Degas.” Ask groups to share and support their findings.

Fluency: Read with Appropriate Pauses• You may wish to have students reread the art

reviews with a partner during independent reading time, focusing on reading with appropriate pauses. Remind them to avoid running words and sentences together, which can make their meaning unclear. Review the punctuation marks that indicate pauses: full stops for periods, question marks, or exclamation points and short pauses for commas, semicolons, dashes, colons, and ellipses. Read aloud the paragraph on page 8 to demonstrate the different kinds of pauses. Then have students choose another paragraph to read aloud using pauses to help their reading make sense.


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(Allow responses.) Yes, I’m looking for what caused Mary Cassatt to be unique among the Impressionists. On page 18, I read that Mary Cassatt was unique. The next sentence explains the reasons: She was an American, and she was one of the few female painters of her time. I have found the answer in the book. I looked in more than one sentence to find the answer.

• Guide Practice. Use the Flip Chart to help you develop other Look Closer! questions.

Focus on Vocabulary: Adjectives• Ask students to work with a partner to complete the

“Focus on Words” activity on page 29 using BLM 3, which they started on Day 2. Have groups of students share their findings.

• Transfer Through Oral Language. Invite partners to discuss what each adjective-noun pair makes them visualize and how it makes them feel. For example, swirling brushstrokes might call up an image of spinning colored circles and a feeling of excitement, while stern woman might call up an image of a frowning woman and an anxious feeling.

Reflect and Review • Turn and Talk. Ask partners or small groups to

discuss the following questions and report their ideas to the whole group. Both Cassatt and van Gogh had a great impact on the art world. Which artist so you think had the greater influence during his or her lifetime? Which has greater influence today?

Have you ever had your ideas rejected because people thought they were too different from traditionally-accepted views? How did you feel? How can you connect to the artists’ feelings?

and artworks and evaluated them by assessing the facts the author used to support her opinions. Today’s reviews also include opinions supported by facts. What key words help you identify opinions about Mary Cassatt or Vincent van Gogh? How can you recognize the supporting facts? Allow responses. As students share their analyses, synthesize their responses into a whole-group chart.

Day 3 (cont.)

• Discuss Facts and Opinions Across Text. Lead a discussion using the following questions. Do you think the reviewer bases most of her opinions on research or on her own observations of the artworks? Why do you think so?

What does the reviewer think makes the work of each artist unique? How does information about an artist’s life help you understand his or her work?

How do the strong endings help you better understand the reviews and make your own judgments about the art?

Practice Text Comprehension Strategies for ELA Assessment • Use the Comprehension Question Card with small

groups of students to practice answering text-dependent questions.

• Say: Today I will help you learn how to answer Look Closer! questions. The answer to a Look Closer! question is in the book. You have to look in more than one place, though. You find the different parts of the answer. Then you put the parts together to answer the question.

• Model. Read the first Look Closer! question. Say: I will show you how I answer a Look Closer! question. This question asks me to identify cause and effect. I know because it has the clue word why. Now I need to look for other important information to find in the book. What information do you think will help me?



19 stern sight woman

20 vibrant sight it (garden)

21 touching emotion painting

23 dingy sight room

23 unsettling emotion painting

25 traditional sight portrait

26 swirling sight brushstrokes


Mary Cassatt

Cassatt does a wonderful job of capturing this stern, proper woman . . . The painting of Mrs. Riddle is interesting for another reason.

It shows the influence of Japanese woodcuts, which seem flat because of solid colors, silhouettes, and outlines. Cassatt made Mrs. Riddle’s dress seem flat to make her face and tea set stand out.

Another amazing portrait by Cassatt is also one of her saddest. (Lydia Crocheting in the Garden at Marly)

Free brushstrokes make the garden seem vibrant and alive. Lydia’s pale, ghostly face contrasts the bright sunlight.

It was an honor this great American artist deserved for her unique contribution to the world of art.

Toward the end of her life, she was an advisor for some major art collectors. France decorated her with the National Order of the Legion of Honor for her work and efforts.

Fluency: Read with Appropriate Pauses• You may wish to have students reread the art reviews

with a partner during independent reading time. Have them focus on using punctuation as a guide to reading with appropriate pauses. Remind them that end marks indicate full stops while punctuation within sentences indicates shorter pauses. Ask students to select and copy a paragraph, highlight the punctuation marks, and then read it aloud pausing at the appropriate locations for the appropriate amounts of time.

©2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC REVIEWS OF IMPRESSIONIST ARTISTS AND THEIR WORK

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Before ReadingSet a Purpose for Rereading• Have students turn to page 22. Say: Until now,

we have been thinking about art reviews from the perspective of the reader. Learning the features of art reviews has helped us be critical readers. Now we are going to put on a different hat. We are going to reread “Vincent van Gogh” and think like writers. We’re going to pay attention to the annotations in the margins. These annotations will help us understand what the author did and why she did it.

Reread “Vincent van Gogh”• Place students in groups based on their reading

levels. Ask students to read the art review silently or whisper-read.

• Confer briefly with individual students to monitor their understanding of the text and of the annotations.

After ReadingAnalyze the Mentor Text• Explain to students that the text they have just read

is a mentor text. A mentor text is a text that teaches. This text is designed to help them understand what writers do to write an art review and why they do it.

• Read and discuss each mentor annotation with students. Encourage them to comment on the writer’s style, selection of facts to support opinions, and use of literary techniques such as strong ending.

Practice Text Comprehension Strategies for ELA Assessment • Use the Comprehension Question Card with small

groups of students to practice answering text-dependent questions.

• Say: Today I will help you learn how to answer Prove It! questions. The answer to a Prove It! question is not stated in the book. You have to look for clues and evidence to prove the answer.

• Model: Read the first Prove It! question. Say: I will show you how I answer a Prove It! question. This question asks me to analyze character. I know because I must find a clue about Cassatt’s family’s feelings. Now I need to look for other important information in the question. What information do you think will help me? (Allow responses.) Yes, I need to read about the family’s reaction to Cassatt’s painting on page 18. I read that Cassatt’s parents did not approve of their daughter’s being a painter, but they did eventually allow her to study at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. I have located the clue I need.

• Guide Practice: Use the Flip Chart to help you develop other Prove It! questions.

Analyze the Writer’s Craft• Ask students to turn to page 30. Explain: In the

next few days, you will have the opportunity to write your own art review. First, let’s think about how the author wrote “Vincent van Gogh.” When she developed this art review, she followed certain steps. You can follow these same steps as you write your own art review.

• Read steps 1 and 2. Say: The first thing you’ll do is choose an artist and one or more artworks to write about. Next, you’ll identify the audience for your review—people who might be curious about the art or artist. The reviews we read focused on Impressionist artists who worked in the nineteenth century. Because these artists are universally admired, the audience includes people who have an interest in art. What artist or artwork would you like to review? Who might your audience be? Allow responses. Write down students’ ideas on chart paper.

• Read step 3. Say: Each review we read includes descriptions of several artworks. For example, A Woman Ironing shows a woman in shadow, bent over, hard at work in a room filled with stifling steam and light. The description supports Degas’ intent for the painting—to show compassion for struggling workers. Choose one of the artworks the class has brainstormed, and work as a group to write a brief description of it.

• Read step 4. Say: People read art reviews to decide if they want to see the work or to better understand art they have already seen. Because of this, the reviewer’s opinions about the artworks’ strengths and weaknesses are very important. For example, the reviewer says that Cassatt’s Lady at the Tea Table is admirable because of its skillful use of flat space within a three-dimensional figure, but she points out that some people criticize the piece because of the woman’s nose. Work as a group to write judgments about the artwork that the class described before.

Build Comprehension: Identify Cause and Effect• Explain: Art reviews describe details of artworks

and summarize the overall effect of these details. They also describe incidents that cause the artist to take a certain path or develop a certain style. For example, Monet’s parents expected him to join the family grocery business. His refusal to join the business and his great love of painting, however, eventually caused his parents to change their minds and permit him to go to Paris to study art. As readers, identifying causes and effects helps us appreciate the artists’ struggles, options, and decisions.

Day 4

Analyze & SynthesizePractice Text Comprehension Strategies for ELA Assessment • Use the Comprehension Question Card with

small groups of students to practice answering text-dependent questions.

• Say: Today I will help you learn how to answer Take It Apart! questions. To figure out the answer to a Take It Apart! question, think like the author.

• Model: Read the first Take It Apart! question. Say: This question asks me to evaluate the author’s purpose. I know because I must explain why the reviewer included a particular quote. Now I need to look for other important information in the question. What information do you think will help me? (Allow responses.) Yes, I need to read the quote on page 23. In the quote, van Gogh explains why he painted a particular picture. I think the reviewer used the quote to tell how van Gogh felt about his painting. Thinking about the author’s purpose helped me figure out the answer.

• Guide Practice. Use the Flip Chart to help you develop other Take It Apart! questions.

Summarize & Make Connections Across Texts• Engage students in a discussion about the art reviews

in this book. Invite a different student to summarize each review. Encourage other students to add details and their reactions to the reviews.

• Ask students to turn to the inside back cover of the book. Say: Good readers think about how literary works are related. We know, for example, that all of these art reviews share certain features. They all give information about an artist. They all include descriptions of an artist’s work. What else do they have in common? (Allow responses.) Today we will think about the similarities between and differences among these artists. We will also think about how the reviewer’s opinions of the artists and their work are alike and different and how well the reviewer supported her opinions.

• Ask students to work individually or in small groups to complete BLM 4 (Make Connections Across Texts).

• Class Discussion or Literature Circles. Facilitate a whole-class discussion or keep students in their small groups for a literature circle discussion. If you choose to conduct literature circles, share the rules for good discussion. Each group should discuss and be prepared to share its ideas about these prompts. Name two artists whose work and lives are very different. What are some differences? Which artist do you think is most relevant and important to society today? Why? Which artist do you find most puzzling? Which do you find most appealing? Why?

• Model: In “Claude Monet,” the author tells how Monet loved to capture natural light on canvas. This desire caused him to paint mostly outdoors—an unusual undertaking in the mid-1800s. Why did most artists paint indoors? Before 1841, hand-mixed pigments were stored in leather pouches and were hard to transport. Then, the paint tube was invented. As a result, artists could work outdoors more easily, so working in direct light became more common. Identifying these causes and effects helps readers better understand artists’ behavior and trends in art.

• Guide Practice. Invite students to work in small groups to find causes and effects in each of the reviews. Challenge them to find causes that have multiple effects and effects that have multiple causes. Invite the groups to create flowcharts to illustrate the causes and effects.

Reflect and Review • Ask and discuss the following questions.

How is thinking about an art review as a reader different from thinking about an art review as a writer? How is it similar? What new words have you added to your vocabulary this week? Which is your favorite? Why? Which of the author’s opinions do you agree with most strongly? Why? How can you use adjectives and a strong ending to improve your writing?

Fluency: Read with Appropriate Pauses• You may wish to have students reread the art review

with a partner during independent reading time, focusing on reading with appropriate pauses. Remind them that they can express the author’s ideas more clearly if they avoid running words and sentences together. Ask students to explain and model the kinds of pauses signaled by different punctuation marks. Then, invite them to take turns choosing and reading aloud paragraphs using appropriate pauses to make the meaning clear.


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Day 4 (cont.) Day 5

• Continue until all pairs have acted out a phrase. Then have students add up their points.

Reread for Fluency: Oral Reading Performance• Ask students to find passages in the reviews that

describe dramatic events in the artist’s life or suggest strong emotional responses.

• Say: All of the artists experienced difficulties during their lives. Sometimes the public responded negatively to their work, too. For example, viewers reacted to Degas’ Little Dancer of Fourteen Years with astonishment and dislike. When you read the art reviews aloud, you can demonstrate your understanding of these events through your expression. This helps your listeners understand what the artists’ lives were like.

• Invite individual students to read a section of one of the art reviews with expression that helps dramatize the emotions or difficulty of a situation.

• Encourage students to have fun with their readings and to make them as dramatic as possible.

• As a whole class, discuss each reader’s interpretation. Think about alternate ways to interpret the excerpts.

Review Writer’s Tools: Strong Ending• Ask students to look for other examples of

strong endings in nonfiction titles from your classroom library or the school’s library. Each student should select one title at his or her independent reading level. Ask students to read pages specifically to find an example of a strong ending.

• Invite students to share their examples with the class. Encourage them to discuss how the endings focus the main points of the text and create emotions or interest. Point out that they should have found examples in the books they chose because a strong ending is an important tool for nonfiction writers.

• Tell students that at the end of their discussion, you will ask them to share their important text-to-text, text-to-world, and text-to-self connections.

• While each small group of students discusses the book, confer with individuals or small groups. You may wish to revisit elements of the genre, take running records, or model fluent reading skills.



Rules for Good Discussion• Pay attention to the person who is talking and do

not interrupt him or her.• Think about what others are saying so you can

respond and add to their ideas.• Allow and encourage everyone in the group to speak.• Be respectful of everyone’s ideas.

Reinforce SkillsIf time permits, choose from the following activities to reinforce vocabulary and fluency.

Reinforce Vocabulary: Show Me• Write the target words with the nouns they modify

on the board.• Have pairs take turns choosing a phrase to act out.

For example, for dingy room, the pair might act out entering a room, touching something, and wiping the dirt off their hands. The audience should write down the phrase the pair acts out. When the actors reveal their phrase, audience members give themselves a point if they wrote down the correct phrase.

ArtistSubjects Painted

Painting StylePainting Titles

Reviewer’s Opinion

Claude Monet

landscapes; buildings

painted outdoors; painted the same thing in different seasons, times of day, and weather; short brushstrokes

Water Lilies; Stacks of Wheat; Haystacks; Impression, Sunrise; Cathedral Series

loves most of his work; a few works boring or repetetive

Edgar Degas

theater performers; hardworking men and women; ordinary life

captured natural poses and lighter side of life; focused on the mood

The Cotton Exchange at New Orleans; A Woman Ironing; The Dance Class

loves his work; brings Paris of Degas’ day to life; powerful; interesting

Mary Cassatt

portraits of women and children in their homes or gardens

used bright colors and short brushstrokes; combined flat and round perspective

Lady at the Tea Table; Lydia Crocheting in the Garden at Marly

amazing and soothing; technically expert; shows family bonds

Day 5 (cont.)

Write an Art Review• Use the suggested daily schedule to guide students

through the steps of process writing. Allow approximately 45 to 60 minutes per day. As students work independently, circulate around the room and monitor student progress. Confer with individual students to discuss their ideas and help them move forward. Use the explicit mini-lessons, conferencing strategies, and assessment rubrics in Using Genre Models to Teach Writing for additional support.

• Before students begin planning their art reviews, pass out copies of BLM 5 (Art Review Checklist). Review the characteristics and conventions of writing that will be assessed. Tell students that they will use this checklist when they complete their drafts.

• This daily plan incorporates the generally accepted six traits of writing as they pertain to art reviews.

Days 6–7: Plan • Ask students to use BLM 6 (Art Review Planning

Guide) to brainstorm the artist, artworks, audience, descriptions, and strengths and weaknesses before they draft their reviews.

• Encourage students to refer to the “Features of an Art Review” web on page 3 and to the steps in “The Writer’s Craft” on pages 30–31 of the book.

• Confer with individual students and focus on their ideas. Did students begin their art reviews with judgments of specific artworks in mind? Did students include descriptions and facts to support their judgments?

Days 8–9: Draft • Tell students that they will be using their completed

Art Review Planning Guides to begin drafting. • Say: Remember that when writers draft their ideas,

they focus on getting their ideas on paper. They can cross things out. They can make mistakes in spelling. What’s important is to focus on developing your opinions and judgments and providing evidence to support them. You will have an opportunity to make corrections and improvements later.

• Confer with students as they complete their drafts. Use the Art Review Checklist to draw students’ attention to characteristics of the art review genre that they may have overlooked. Focus on how students have organized their ideas and the voice of the writer. Did students tell about the artist at the beginning of the review? Did they provide brief descriptions for the artworks? Did they support their judgments? Does the art review have a strong voice? Will the voice keep readers interested?

• Pair students for peer conferencing.

Days 10–11: Edit and Revise • Based on your observations of students’ writing,

select appropriate mini-lessons from Using Genre Models to Teach Writing.

• Remind students to use the Art Review Checklist as they edit and revise their art reviews independently.

• Confer with students, focusing on sentence fluency, word choice, and conventions. Did students include both long sentences and short ones? Do the sentences read smoothly? Have students used interesting and vivid words and phrases? Did they include a strong ending? Did they use appropriate spelling, punctuation, and grammar?

• You may want students to continue their editing and revision at home.

Days 12–13: Create Final Draft and Illustrations • Ask students to rewrite or type final drafts.• Invite students to illustrate their final drafts with one

or more photographs of the artworks or drawings that depict important influences on the artist.

• Confer with students about their publishing plans and deadlines.

Days 14–15: Publish and Share• Explain: Authors work long and hard to develop

their works. You have worked very hard. And one of the great joys of writing is when you can share it with others. Authors do this in many ways. They publish their books so that people can buy them. They make their work available on the Internet. They hold readings. We can share our writing, too.

• Use one or more of the ideas below for sharing students’ work: Make a class display of students’ completed art reviews. Hold a class reading in which students can read their reviews to one another and/or to parents. Create a binder of all the reviews and loan it to the library so that other students can read them. Create a binder of the reviews for your classroom library.


©2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC10

Days 6–15


©2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLCBLM 5

Features of the Genre Checklist Yes No1. My art review follows a pattern. 2. My art review includes a written description of the art. 3. My art review includes information about the artist. 4. My art review includes a copy of the art. 5. My art review evaluates the effectiveness of the art

identifying strengths and weaknesses. 6. My art review identifies the intended audience. 7. My art review has a strong ending that sums up the

art and the artist. 8. My art review shows my voice.

Quality Writing Checklist Yes No I looked for and corrected . . .

• run-on sentences • sentence fragments • subject/verb agreement • verb tense • punctuation • capitalization • spelling • indented paragraphs

Name _________________________________________________ Date ___________________

Art Review Checklist

Title ________________________________________________________________________ ______



Art Review Planning Guide

Name _________________________________________________ Date ___________________

Directions: Use the steps below to plan your own art review.

1. Choose a painting, sculpture, or several works by one artist to write about.

2. Identify the audience for the review.

3. Provide a brief description.

4. Identify and give examples of strengths and weaknesses.

Strengths Supporting Evidence

Weaknesses Supporting Evidence.


BLM 1

Name _________________________________________________ Date ___________________

Strong EndingDirections: Following are endings to two art reviews. Highlight the sentence that

sums up the main idea. Underline the sentence that suggests readers would enjoy the artist’s work. Print your answers for your teacher.

A. Unique to the end of his sixty-seven years of life, Leonardo da Vinci was the greatest master of his age, or perhaps any age. His genius, like his subtle, shadowed style, was ahead of its time, but it helped move civilization and art out of superstition and ignorance toward reason and learning. Today, millions still flock to admire The Last Supper and The Mona Lisa, arguably the most famous painting of all time.

B. Michelangelo is one of only a handful of artists so well-known that we only need hear his first name to think of the artist and his incomparable works of art. If you are fortunate, you may get to visit the Sistine Chapel. If you do, look up at the ceiling Michelangelo painted from 1508 to 1512. You will understand why a friend and fellow artist called him “the greatest sculptor, painter, and draughtsman that has ever lived.”

Directions: Think about an artist or a kind of art you like. Imagine you have written a review of the art. Write your own strong ending for your review.

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________



Evaluate Fact and Opinion

Name _________________________________________________ Date ___________________

Directions: Use the chart below to evaluate facts and opinions in the art reviews.

BLM 2


Claude Monet

Edgar Degas

Mary Cassatt

Vincent van Gogh

Name _________________________________________________ Date ___________________

Focus on AdjectivesDirections: Reread each art review. Decide if the words below are sight or emotion

adjectives, and tell what word they describe in the review.





8 dazzling

10 extraordinary

10 blurry

13 fascinating

14 powerful

15 luscious

19 stern

20 vibrant

21 touching

23 dingy

23 unsettling

25 traditional

26 swirling

Make Connections Across Texts

Name _________________________________________________ Date ___________________

Directions: Fill in the chart. Use it to compare and contrast the artists and the reviewer’s opinion of each artist’s work.



Artist Subjects Painted

Painting Style

Painting Titles

Reviewer’s Opinion

Claude Monet

Edgar Degas

Mary Cassatt

Vincent van Gogh



Features of the Genre Checklist Yes No

1. My art review follows a pattern. 2. My art review includes a written description of the art. 3. My art review includes information about the artist. 4. My art review includes a copy of the art. 5. My art review evaluates the effectiveness of the art

identifying strengths and weaknesses. 6. My art review identifies the intended audience. 7. My art review has a strong ending that sums up the

art and the artist. 8. My art review shows my voice.

Quality Writing Checklist Yes No

I looked for and corrected . . .

• run-on sentences • sentence fragments • subject/verb agreement • verb tense • punctuation • capitalization • spelling • indented paragraphs

Name _________________________________________________ Date ___________________

Art Review Checklist

Title ________________________________________________________________________ ______



Art Review Planning Guide

Name _________________________________________________ Date ___________________

Directions: Use the steps below to plan your own art review.

1. Choose a painting, sculpture, or several works by one artist to write about.

2. Identify the audience for the review.

3. Provide a brief description.

4. Identify and give examples of strengths and weaknesses.

Strengths Supporting Evidence

Weaknesses Supporting Evidence.

glossary mary cassatt vincent van gogh - cloud object … · 2012-12-21 · it leaves readers...

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