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Literature Unit
A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin
by Jen Bryant, illustrated by Melissa Sweet
This unit on the biography of an African American artist provides an array of experiences, including cross curricular, with literary nonfiction text.
• Vocabulary
• Before, During, and After Reading Activities
• Discussion points
• Setting and character traits
• Writing: journal, informational, mechanics
• Write using mentor text
• Art and Social Studies connections
Includes:
• Teacher instructions
• 3 student pages
Grades 1-6
English Language Learners
A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin
by Jen Bryant, illustrated by Melissa Sweet
Teacher Instructions
DIFFERENTIATION:
• Choose activities appropriate to your grade level and student needs.
• Vary groupings to provide needed support.
VOCABULARY
Pre-teach the vocabulary or teach through context, depending upon the needs of your students. These 9 words are important to story and/or beneficial words to know.
mend, charcoal, scene, trench, suffering, injured, texture, grasp, admire
Use the notes below as talking points to build understanding.
• Mend – What are some things that we mend? (3-5 things)
• Charcoal – Write 3-5 words that describe charcoal.
• Scene – Write 5 things you would see in a classroom scene.
• Trench – What can a trench be used for? (3 uses)
• Suffering – What might make you suffer? (3-5 things)
• Injured – What are 5 kinds of injuries?
• Texture – Write 3 things in this room that have a texture.
• Grasp – Why would you grasp something? (3 reasons)
• Admire – Who are 3 people that you admire?
Review and reuse the words to help students make them their own.
BEFORE READING
What is your special talent? What do you like to sing, draw, write … etc about? Here is an opportunity to do a class chart if desired.
How would you feel if you couldn’t do it?
Handy Work: Trace your hands: Write ten things that you do with your hands. On one hand write things you do to help at home. On the other hand, write 5 things you do for enjoyment. Grades 1-2. (This is also an option for after reading.)
Book Walk-Through:
Title: What do you think “A Splash of Red” means?
Setting: 1888 – To provide background information, do a “Walk-Through.” Page through the book and use the illustrations to glean information about the times: what life was like for kids and for African Americans. For example – notice the horse and wagon delivering milk.
Genre: biography – What is it? What can we learn from a biography? Introduce or review the term “character trait”.
DURING READING
(Pages are denoted by illustration as there are no page numbers.)
Read aloud the story, demonstrating “think aloud” strategies that connect and check for comprehension. Some suggestions follow: (choose ideas that are appropriate to your grade level)
[map] Locate his birthplace on a U.S. map.
[staircase] What does it mean when the neighbors say, “He’ll be a giant someday?”
Why do you think Grandma’s hands were scarred?
What does it mean when Grandma says, “The biggest part of you… is inside, where no one can see.”
VOC: mending
[house] Character: At this point, you can start to gather information about Horace’s character traits.
What do you know about Horace? (hard worker, helpful)
[drawing] What else do you know about Horace? (loves to draw, artistic)
VOC: charcoal
[school] Why was the teacher angry about his drawings on his spelling list?
What else do we know about Horace? (has many friends)
[mind pictures] Read the words in the illustration – what does that mean?
[contest] Do you think he will win?
[paints] What does “everyday scenes” mean?
VOC: scene
[left school] Why did Horace stop going to school?
Use the illustrations to clarify the actions he did with his hands.
[paintings in crates] How do other people feel about Horace’s artwork?
[ship crosses ocean] Why do you think he joined the army?
[plane] What do the words at the bottom of the page mean?
[he’s shot – two pages] What happened to Horace?
Make a prediction – What do you think will happen to him?
[marries] words at bottom – What will he do with all the pictures in his mind now?
VOC: suffering
[delivering clothes]
VOC: injured
[Geraniums] What does it mean when the author writes, “his fingers itched to
draw all the colors and textures he saw?”
VOC: textures
[sitting by fire] make a prediction – What do you think he will do?
[using fire poker] What do you think scorched means? (reread top paragraph
and use context)
VOC: grasped
[painting war scene] 3 years! Wow! What kind of person is Horace?
What is another character trait? (patient, determined)
Discuss the meaning of “he must be true to himself”.
[Horace thinking of ideas] It sounds like Horace thinks about his idea before he
draws it. He makes a plan. Why do you think he does that?
[shoe shop] I wonder why no one bought his paintings?
VOC: admired
[Wyeth looking at paintings] How did Horace feel when the famous artist was
looking at his paintings? How do you know?
[handshake] What do you think exhibition means? Reread the first sentence on
the page to use context.
End: Why do you think people liked Horace Pippin’s drawings?
AFTER READING
Choose from the following activities depending upon your objectives and what is appropriate for the level of your class:
View: Look at some of his paintings at this site:
This site, also listed in the back of the book, provides a narration on one of his paintings:
Discuss: Return to the words of his Grandmother in the beginning of the book:
“He’ll be a giant someday.”
“The biggest part of you,” she told him, “is inside, where no one can see.”
Can you understand these words in a different way after reading the book? Think, Pair, Share.
LITERARY ELEMENTS
Setting – How does the setting affect the story?
How was life different 100 years ago? Use the Venn Diagram: “Setting - Then and Now.” Compare and contrast life in in Horace Pippin’s time with our lives today.
This can be a whole class activity, small group activity or a center activity in which information is added by each rotation. When completed, discuss: What kinds of things change? What stays the same? Do you think Horace’s life might be different if he lived today? (How did the setting affect the story?)
Optional journal entry: What do you think he would draw if he were alive today?
Character Traits – Using Textual Evidence
Center activity, small group, or whole class – Using the book, page through or reread to find evidence of Horace’s character traits. Use the student printable “What Kind of Person Was Horace Pippin?” to record what you find. The first one has been done. As a center activity, each rotation may contribute one or more traits with evidence on a group chart. If you have already talked about it during your initial “think aloud,” the students will be able to draw from the pictures as well as the text to complete the activity. A list of character traits to use as a reference would be helpful.
CROSS-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
Here are several great opportunities to integrate art class and language arts:
Art: This website, which is listed in the back of the book, contains an art lesson on the “Art of Looking”.
Art: Go back through the book and notice the “splash of red” in each picture. Generate a class list of “everyday scenes.” Choose one to create your own everyday scene. Picture it in your mind. Plan your picture. Use a splash of red.
Art: Use charcoal to draw an everyday scene.
5th Grade Social Studies Connection: Extension for higher level students.
Research John Brown, Abraham Lincoln.
WRITING AND GRAMMAR
Writing: Journal entry
You can take a look at the artist’s journals and notebooks on this website:
WRITING PROMPT: Did you ever enter a contest? What happened? OR What kind of contest would you like to enter? Why? What is good or bad about a contest?
Writing and Media Literacy with Informational Text
Headlines – Media Literacy: Look at a newspaper and identify the various features. Read the headlines and discuss their purpose.
Then look at the headlines about Horace Pippin on the page near the end of the book. What do these headlines mean? Use a dictionary or thesaurus to look up unfamiliar words. These headlines use idioms and require a higher level of thinking.
Writing Informational Text: Imagine that you grow up and become famous for your special talent. Write a headline and article about yourself in the future. You may choose to have students include other features such as a picture and a caption.
Writing - Punctuation: commas in a series
Let the author’s sentences teach - as “mentor sentences.” [Teacher/author Jeff Anderson has wonderful books on this method.]
Just as artists have to learn to look at the world with special eyes, writers need to learn to look at authors’ writing with special eyes. (Refer to the special way that Horace sees things, paying attention to details and picturing them in his mind before drawing.)
Use mentor text as a model for student descriptive writing. You can work with the grammatical features explicitly or in more general terms. This lesson is also an opportunity to encourage the students to “see as an artist.” “Teacher talk” is provided for the higher level sentence.
• Here are some sentences to use as models:
Inside Horace found colored pencils, a pair of brushes, and a box of
paints.
How he’d loved those colored pencils, those brushes, and his first real box
of paints!
He used gray, black, and white…
• A higher level mentor sentence with teacher talk:
[geranium page] (I have taken the liberty of using the latter part of the sentence in the text and capitalizing “he” to avoid bringing in additional issues.)
“He saw: lacy white curtains billowing in the windows, a splash of red
geraniums blooming on a step, a yellow cat sprinting down an alley, deep green vines spiraling up a wall.”
Teacher: Let’s talk about this sentence. Let’s look at the words to make sure we understand them. Then let’s see what kinds of things you notice about this author’s writing.
• Go over unfamiliar vocabulary. Talk about the words billowing, blooming, sprinting, spiraling.
• SKILL: Using Powerful Verbs. (Display this sentence to compare with the original.) He saw lacy white curtains moving, a splash of red geraniums growing on a step, a yellow cat running down an alley, deep green vines going up a wall.
• Read both sentences and ask the students to look to see what is different.
They should notice the change in verbs. Talk about the meanings of the verbs. How is it different when you read it? Guide students to understand that the author’s words are more interesting. The author chose great verbs.
• Which one do you prefer to read? We should also use great verbs when we write.
• Now go back to the original sentence and see what they can “notice.” Discuss their observations and work with whatever they notice. Guide them to notice at least one feature appropriate to the level of the class.
o Guide them to notice punctuation – the colon and the commas – and understand that we use these for a list. You can point out that usually we use AND before the last item. What effect does it have without it?
o Another feature to notice is that each item in the list uses a color word to describe. Why? (artists notice color)
o They may notice that for each item the author tells where. There is a prepositional phrase for each item. If you have or would like to use this example to teach prepositional phrases, teach the terminology. Otherwise, just let them notice that there are words that tell “where”.
o They may notice the pattern of ING on the verbs. Here they are noticing parallel construction. This is the highest level, and you may choose to delete this feature in your instruction.
• Now it’s time to use the author’s sentence as a model for your own writing. Decide which features you want the students to reproduce – a series/list using punctuation, color words, great verbs, verbs with ING.
• Look around the room. Together discover 4 things that the students would like to describe. You may want to use a copy of the student page “Write Like an Author” as a group to familiarize the students with it prior to using it themselves.
• Add a color word to each one.
• Add a verb for each item. This is an opportunity to use the thesaurus.
• Add a WHERE phrase for each item.
• Change the beginning of the sentence to be about your class. (We)
• Now put it all together! Celebrate your amazing sentence!
• Students work together in small groups to create an amazing sentence like the author’s model. If you don’t have a window in your room, take a “field trip” with clipboards to a spot where they can view an outdoor scene. Use the writing page “Write Like an Author!” Share and check to see if the features you discussed were used.
o Differentiation: Keep it simple by having each group do one clause to add to the class sentence.
Watch for and celebrate future writing that uses the features you discussed. Consider making these skills one of your “Targeted Writing Skills” in a future piece of writing.
What Kind of Person Was Horace Pippin?
Our actions tell other people a lot about us. Use the book A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin to determine some of Horace Pippin’s character traits. Look at what he did in his life. Then decide what that shows about him. Write the trait and evidence in the chart.
|Character Trait |Textual Evidence – How Do I Know? |
| |He helped his mother with the laundry, took care of his brother, and held the horse. |
|helpful | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
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| | |
Setting - Then and Now
Compare life in Horace Pippin’s time with our lives today. What are the differences? What are the similarities? Use the book A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin to help you complete the Venn diagram.
Write Like an Author!
Work with your group to create another amazing sentence like the author’s. Look out the window and choose 4 interesting things to use in your sentence. Look at the boxes with numbers to see what to do first.
|Color word |Things you see |Action word |Where? |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
Now create your amazing sentence!
We saw: ____________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
-----------------------
1.
Today
Horace Pippin’s time
2.
3.
4.
Similarities
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