Art History | EDSITEment

Romare Bearden's "The Dove"—A Meeting of Vision and Sound

By examining The Dove by artist Romare Bearden, students will learn to appreciate the artistic and intellectual achievement of Black artists in America in the first half of the 20th century. By listening to music, students will see how art and music intersect to tell us a story. They will relate that story to their own lives.

Norman Rockwell, Freedom of Speech—Know It When You See It

This lesson plan highlights the importance of First Amendment rights by examining Norman Rockwell’s painting of The Four Freedoms. Students discover the First Amendment in action as they explore their own community and country through newspapers, art, and role playing.

Thomas Hart Benton — The Sources of Country Music

Thomas Hart Benton (1889—1975), The Sources of Country Music, 1975. Acrylic on canvas, 72 x 120 in. (182.9 x 304.8 cm.).

By analyzing The Sources of Country Music, students will discover the musical legacy of Thomas Hart Benton’s story of America and learn how the processes of modernity changed American life in the early decades of the twentieth century. By listening to country music, they will understand how advances in audio recording both captured and changed folk music.

Lesson Plans: Grades 3-5

Curriculum Unit

What Happens in the White House? (3 Lessons)

Tools

Overview

"At the White House, President Truman Announces Japan's Surrender." Abbie Rowe, Washington, DC, August 14, 1945.

Credit: Image courtesy of the National Archives.

The “President's House,” built under George Washington's personal supervision, was the finest residence in the land and possibly the largest. In a nation of wooden houses, it was built of stone and ornamented with understated stone flourishes. It did not fit everyone's concept for the home of the leader of the young democracy. Abigail Adams found it cold; Thomas Jefferson thought it too big and impractical. He added gardens, a cooking stove, and storage.

Whatever one's opinion of the original design, our nation is now inseparably associated with the White House. There, the essential business of the land is conducted every day. There, our history has been made and reflected.

In this unit, students take a close look at the White House in recent times and throughout our history.

Note: This lesson may be taught either as a stand-alone lesson or as a complement to the EDSITEment curriculum unit From the White House of Yesterday to the White House of Today.

Guiding Questions

What functions does our presidential residence serve?
How has the White House been touched by the great events of our nation's history?

Learning Objectives

List activities that take place at the White House.
Create a chronology of important events that have occurred at or directly affected the White House.

Preparation Instructions

Review the lesson plans. Locate and bookmark suggested materials and other useful websites. Download and print out documents you will use and duplicate copies as necessary for student viewing.
Download the Master PDF. Print out and make an appropriate number of copies of any handouts you plan to use in class.
Download and make one copy each of the archival images for the activities. Many images have been selected to facilitate flexibility. Use as many or as few as appropriate. Assign them to groups as best suits your class. Keep some aside, for example, for groups that finish more quickly, or use all of them to make groups as small as possible.
Prepare a place in the classroom for a History of the White House Timeline, on which you will post the images. You or your students with technical expertise may wish to create an html document with links to relevant images.
Extensive background information on every aspect of the White House is available from the White House Historical Association, a link from the EDSITEment resource Explore DC.

The Lessons

Lesson 1: What Is the Purpose of the White House?

Ask students where the President lives. Ask where the President does most of his work. Working at home is quite common now, but Presidents have worked and lived in the White House since November 1, 1800.

Lesson 2: What Has Happened in the White House?

Introduce the following scenario. Tell students to imagine that a previously unknown cache of images, documents, and photographs has just been discovered during some minor repairs of the White House. Because the documents were carefully wrapped and stored in the White House, we suspect that each image is related to an important or interesting event in American history that affected the White House in some way.

Lesson 3: What Happens in the White House? A Timeline

Call up each student group in chronological order. Students should describe their image, briefly tell the class about what their research revealed, read their caption, and post the image on your History of the White House Timeline. If desired, challenge students to find other events appropriate for the timeline.

The Basics

Grade Level

3-5

Subject Areas

Art and Culture > Medium > Architecture
History and Social Studies
Art and Culture > Subject Matter > Art History
History and Social Studies > Themes > Culture
History and Social Studies > Place > The Americas
History and Social Studies > U.S. History

Skills

Analysis
Cultural analysis
Gathering, classifying and interpreting written, oral and visual information
Historical analysis
Making inferences and drawing conclusions
Oral Communication
Oral presentation skills
Representing ideas and information orally, graphically and in writing
Summarizing
Synthesis
Using primary sources

Reference Shelf

EDSITEment Image Gallery

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