Creating an Art Narrative

Grade: First

Time: Museum: 45 minutes; Classroom time: 30 minutes to finish up

Budget: For this art experience we will need to have funds for travel to and from the museum.
We will have to check with our school to find out what resources are available or if we will need
to come up with funds for travel on our own.

Objective: Students will look at a piece of artwork and write a piece about what the artwork is
communicating. They can also use other materials to express a story the piece is displaying.

Standards:

Common Core
o

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3

Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key

details.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.7

Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or

events.

Missouri Early Learning Standards

o

V. Writing

1. Uses writing as a means of expression/communication

Uses a variety of resources to facilitate writing.

may ask others for help in writing

attempts to copy letters or words from the environment

(e.g., cereal box, names, public signs, logos, books, etc.).

National Art Standards

o

Visual Arts- Creating

VA:Cr1.1.1a

Engage collaboratively in exploration and imaginative play with

materials.

Summary: Students will visit an art museum for the first portion of the lesson. The teacher will
lead a VTS session with the students participating in the discussion. Once the VTS session is
over the students will briefly practice taking notes on the assigned worksheet. Students will then
be able to freely observe various art pieces with open minds unaware of what they will be doing
to ensure they can benefit from the artistic experience. After the students have had a chance to
observe multiple pieces of work they will choose a piece of art to develop a narrative or
multimodal story. The students will record notes on their specific piece of artwork and will create
the story during the second portion of the lesson which will take place in the classroom.

Vocabulary/key terms: Since students are choosing their own pieces for this lesson, there will
not be a certain vocabulary words we discuss. However, as we walk around and discuss the
pieces with students we might introduce new terms. These terms could include: contrast,

emphasis, carving, canvas, etc. We want to make sure our students understand the terms artist
and museum before this lesson.
Materials:

In the museum:
o

Paper

Pencil

ipad

Out of the museum:

o

computer

paper

pencil

ipad

scissors

construction paper

any other materials the student(s) feels they need

Prior Knowledge and Experiences: This will be at least the second time students have created a
narrative piece. We will have had previous VTS experiences in our class with some of the pieces
they will see in the museum. Multimodal writing is something we have used in our classroom
and the students have had experience with.
Procedures:
1. When students enter the museum the teacher will conduct a normal VTS session with a
piece of artwork.

2. Students will then complete the brief note taking form they will use on their own and fill
it out over the piece that was VTS. This will give students an opportunity to familiarize
themselves with the form before being instructed to do it on their own.
3. After completing the VTS session and note taking form students will be allowed to freely
explore the museum and carefully observe pieces of artwork. While the students are
looking at the artwork, the teacher will tell the students to imagine what is happening in
the piece, to think of who the important characters are, and to think of what the characters
are feeling or thinking.
4. Once the students have had a chance to observe the artwork with clear minds the teacher
will pull the students together and explain that they will be creating a narrative piece
about one of the pieces of artwork they observed. The teacher will let the students explore
once again to choose their pieces. Students will be given the opportunity to work in pairs
if they wish to use the same piece of artwork.
5. After choosing the piece the students will analyze the details and think of ideas for a
narrative piece of literature. The students will then work in pairs to brainstorm their ideas
and how they will be completing this piece. Students will complete a brief note taking
form to ensure they have all of the information they need when they get back to the
classroom. The form will include: the title of the piece, the creator, important details
about the piece to remember, and the students initial ideas for the narrative piece.
6. Once the students arrive back to the classroom they will be then given the opportunity to
work on the narrative piece while they are still thinking of what they have observed.
Teacher support will be given whenever needed and students will be given the
opportunity to write a traditional narrative piece or create a multimodal narrative piece.

Indicators of Success: Students will be able to create an original story or piece based on the
artwork. The length of the writing is not as important as the representation of the artwork in the
finished writing piece or product. It should be evident in the product how the piece of writing
was inspired by the artwork observed. When presenting students should be able to identify
specific elements of the piece to the artwork such as colors, characters, and other elements used.

Accommodations: Students will be able to use whatever tools or materials necessary to be able
to create their narrative piece about the artwork. The freedom to create a multimodel piece of
writing gives students the opportunities to use materials for them to be successful in conveying
their understanding. Students will also have the choice to work in pairs allowing
accommodations for students who may require additional guidance or peer support.

Follow-up: Students will take a classmate's story and using the art and the narrative created,
write a second part to the story to expand/continue the story.

Documents Needed:
Name(s)__________________
Art Museum Note Taking
Title of the piece:
______________________________________________________________________________
Creator of the piece:
______________________________________________________________________________
What is it made out of:
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Important details about the artwork to remember:
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Ideas for your story:
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
___________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________