A Spash of Red Book Activities for First Grade a Spash of Red Book Art Activities for First Grade

A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin

Written past Jen Bryant, Illustrated by Melissa Sugariness
Published by Alfred A. Knopf
ISBN: 978-0-375-86712-five

Grades i-five

Book Review

"Horace loved to draw. He loved the feel of the charcoal as information technology slid across the floor. He loved looking at something in the room and making it come live once again in forepart of him." Jen Bryant's film book biography, A Splash of Red,  describes the life of self-taught painter, Horace Pippin, who found inspiration from memories, stories, everyday life, and hardship. First with his childhood, A Splash of Red gives readers a chronological account of Pippin's life including his service in World War I and the bear on of getting shot during battle on his life as an creative person. What readers walk away with nearly is non Pippin's fine art itself, only rather, the sense of perseverance and commitment he demonstrated throughout his life. The book reminds readers young or quondam that beingness curious well-nigh and observant of the world are characteristics worth valuing. Melissa Sweet'south illustrations urge u.s.a. to wonder and dream as we move in and out of bold, bright colors, darkness, landscape scenes, and close-ups of Pippin himself. Jen Bryant and Melissa Sweet are a dynamic writing-artist team who captured readers with A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams, a Caldecott Honor winner. In A Splash of Ruddy they accept washed it again. An author's annotation provides additional information about Horace Pippin's life and the enquiry conducted by both the author and the illustrator to portray it.

Teaching Ideas and Invitations

• Theme Study: Perseverance. Read aloud A Splash of Red to the whole class, and have students identify moments in the text where Horace shows the conclusion to create despite great challenges. Consider having students create timelines of Pippin'due south life. Where are there moments of cracking struggle? Where are there moments of success? In what ways do other people in his life impact his journeying equally an artist? Create a duet text set up by comparison how Pippin demonstrates perseverance with how Helen Keller does in her life using Annie and Helen  andHelen's Big Globe . Using both the words and the illustrations, back up students to closely read and provide text evidence for their ideas. And so, take students retrieve about their own lives. When have they persevered? What were their obstacles? How did they overcome them? Who supported them?

• Words to Live By. Throughout the story there are quotes by Horace Pippin. They are also sourced in the dorsum of the volume:
  •  "Pictures just come to my listen…and I tell my heart to go ahead."
  • "I can never forget suffering and I will never forget sunset. I came home with all of it in my mind."
  • "If a homo knows null but hard times, he will paint them, for he must be true to himself."
  • "I go over that picture in my mind several times and when I am ready to paint it, I take all the details I demand."

Have students choose one of Horace's "words to live by" and explain why the quote is powerful for them. Students could and then enquiry quotes that have like messages or messages that resonate with their ain lives. Students could create their ain "Words to Live Past" notebooks or they could add them to a class bulletin board or compile them in a shared online site like Tumblr and comment on each other's choices.

• The Power of Pictures. This book has powerful pictures virtually an artist whose work had powerful messages. Equally such, this book invites us to illustration report. Starting time, have students cull one of the illustrations in the story to closely read. When we closely read, we reread with purpose. Begin by having students describe what's happening in the pic. Then, have students reread for what is of import in the film. What is the artist centering and for what reasons? Finally, have students reread for interpretation. Encourage students to notice the illustrators' techniques. What choices did Melissa Sweet make about colors, lines, and the space of the page? How do her choices add to the story and convey an thought about Horace Pippin? Subsequently closely reading the images in the text, have students closely read one of Horace Pippin's paintings using the aforementioned process (gist, importance, estimation). What do they notice nearly the subjects he paints, what he centers, and how he uses colors, lines, and the infinite of the sheet? The book is titled A Splash of Cherry-red. Where do we see ruddy in Pippin'due south work? What impact does information technology make?

• Thinking in Pictures. Equally he walked the streets of his hometown, Pippin drew the colors and textures he saw: lacy white curtains, carmine geraniums, a yellow true cat sprinting down an alley, light-green vines spiraling up a wall. Take a walk effectually the neighborhood with your students. Give them colored pencils, cartoon paper, and clipboards and have them use drawings and words to capture the colors and textures that pop out at them. Then, have them share their thinking near what they captured. Where do they discover dazzler in their walk? Use the prompt I discover to assistance them write about their shut observations of the world.

• Living the Life of a Researcher . When collaborating to write and illustrate the book, Jen Bryant and Melissa Sweet researched the life and art of Horace Pippin together. They drove through the back roads of eastern Pennsylvania where he was from. They spoke to curators who knew his work. They looked at his paintings and burnt-woods panels and visited his home. Support students to consider topics they are interested in and want to research within their own local communities. Help them brainstorm topics. Are in that location historical figures from their home area? Are there local leaders (both official and unofficial) within the community they tin can research and write about? Where can yous go to find out more? Who can you talk to? How do your students want to share their enquiry with the globe? With K-three classrooms this is oftentimes washed all-time equally a shared research project. With upper uncomplicated school students, you may be able to and so support them with individual or paired enquiry projects.

• Picture Book Biographies of Artists.  Form small groups of students to read well-nigh the lives of particular artists in a collaborative artist written report. Get together together a drove of picture book biographies of artistssuch every bitDave, the Potter, Marceau and Matisse, and Georgia O'Keefe (see the listing in our entry onDiego Rivera: His Earth and Ours and the text suggestions below for further suggestions). Read the books with your students and closely examine the choices that the biographers have made about text and illustration. Which aspects of their subjects' lives have the authors and illustrators chosen to highlight? Practise they focus more on the childhood or adult life of the artist? How are the artists' mentors, inspirations, commitments, and styles presented? When examining the illustrations, discuss how the fine art of the picture book biography enhances the readers' understandings of the artists' lives and work. You might detect information technology particularly interesting to annotation how the artists' works are depicted in the volume. Are they reproductions of the actual works or are they illustrators' representations?  Support students to describe, paint, or photo in the mode of their favorite artist from your shared written report.

• Writer/Illustrator Study : The author/illustrator human relationship can exist a powerful one. The author has to trust the illustrator to tell their story in pictures. Jen Bryant and Melissa Sweetness have worked together and separately to create some of the most compelling contemporary picture books in the last few years. Acquit an author/illustrator study of their work. Compare and dissimilarity the books they have created together with books they accept created with others. Students could work in pairs to become writer/illustrator partners and create a shared story. How does their collaboration create something improve than what they could take created alone?

Disquisitional Literacy

• Complexity of War . Horace decides at the beginning of World War I that he would serve his state and fight in France. In the volume we see images of state of war such as the American flag, a fighter plane, bombs firing, barbed wire fences, and Pippin getting shot. Accept students discuss how war impacted Pippin'due south life trajectory. There are several other motion-picture show books on the topic of war that help students build an understanding of the complexity of state of war from multiple perspectives. My Large Brother by Miriam Cohen tells the story of a big blood brother going off to state of war to pay for college. When the Horses Ride By by Eloise Greenfield is a collection of poems about different wars over time and their impact on the lives of children. The Librarian of Basra by Jeanette Winters tells the story of a librarian in Iraq who saves thousands of books from being destroyed during the Iraq War. Reading across these books, have students explicate the indicate of view the author has taken on the topic of war. Whose story is told? What is their perspective of state of war? How does war impact each of the characters' life trajectories? Reading across these books, what are the multiple perspectives people have about war based on their lived experience?

• Diversity in the Art World. Horace Pippin was an African American creative person. When we survey famous works of fine art, nosotros practice not see many artists of color or representations of people of color. Consider as part of an artist study having students problematize the lack of diversity in famous works of art. Consider building a drove of books about artists of colour to highlight the important works of artists from various races, ethnicities, and genders. In improver, Horace Pippin is considered a "folk" or " naïve " artist which both elevated and segregated his work. Consider having students inquiry how works of art are categorized and valued in different ways by viewing works of art online from different cultural institutions such as The American Folk Art Museum and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Further Explorations

Online Resources

Explore PA History site on Horace Pippin:

A cursory biography of Horace Pippin:

New York Times articles on Horace Pippin'southward Work:

Jen Bryant's website:

http://www.jenbryant.com/

Melissa Sweet's website:

http://melissasweet.internet

Books

Books well-nigh/inspired by artists:

Elachner, G.(2012). The Cat and the Bird: A Children's Volume Inspired by Paul Klee . New York, NY: Prestel Publishing.

Markel, Chiliad.(2012).The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau . New York, NY:Eerdmans Books for Young Readers.

Massenot, V.(2011).Journey on a Cloud: A Children'southward Volume Inspired by Marc Chagall . New York: Prestel Publishing.

Parker, M. B. (2012).Colorful Dreamer: The Story of Creative person Henri Matisse . New York, NY: Punch Books.

Venezia, M. Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists series.

SCROLL TO Proceed READING THIS POST

Visconti, Chiliad. & Landmann, B. (2000). The Genius of Leonardo. New York, NY: Barefoot Books.

Waldman, North. (1999).The Starry Dark. Honesdale, PA: Caroline House.

Filed under: Biography & Memoirs, Nonfiction Motion picture Books, Picture Books

Virtually Katie Cunningham

Katie is a Professor of Literacy and English Education at Manhattanville College. At that place she is too the Director of the Avant-garde Certificate Programme in Social and Emotional Learning and Whole Child Education. Her work focuses on children's literature, blithesome literacy methods, and literacy leadership. Katie is the writer of Story: Even so the Middle of Literacy Learning and co-author of Literacy Leadership in Changing Schools. Her book Start with Joy: Designing Literacy Learning for Pupil Happiness will be released September 2019. She is passionate about the power of stories to transform lives.

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Source: https://theclassroombookshelf.com/2013/10/14/a-splash-of-red-the-life-and-art-of-horace-pippin/

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