Lesson 1 - LearningThroughMuseums

● Assessment
Ask students to make a guide of how to “read” a sculpture, painting, or poem. Their explanation
should include a comparison of how the “readings” of each art form are alike, as well as how
each one requires the “reader” to look out for specific characteristics.
● Expansion Activities
• VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT: Ask students to make a glossary of terms related to
sculpture. Their glossary should include many terms that also would be found in a glossary
about reading a painting, but should include additional terms such as three-dimensional.
• WRITING: Ask students to write about the scene in The Bronco Buster from the point of view
of the cowboy. They should tell what he was feeling and how difficult the work was.
• RESEARCH: Have students conduct research about the West and write a paragraph about what
they have learned. Students can share their paragraph with the class. To guide the research,
make a K-W-L chart: list what students know; list topics they want to learn more about; then
when they finish their research and write their paragraphs, they share it with the class
(for the L).
• SCIENCE: Ask students to create sketches of different environments like those included in this
lesson. For example, they could make a sketch of the tundra or a rainforest. Encourage them
to use things like line, color, form, and scale to help communicate both their knowledge of and
feelings about the environment.
• FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS: When possible, provide concrete examples of
vocabulary words (pictures or actual examples) and allow them to use drawn images to
represent vocabulary words as well.
• FOR STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS: Partner or group students, varying performance
and skill level, and collaborate on activities.
56 • Lesson 3: People and Environments of the American West