Picture This: A Trip to Ancient Pompeii

Grades 1-6:  Journey with us to this ancient city --
We’ll learn about the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius and the destruction it caused, then create some Roman-inspired mosaics.
(Note: some material might be too intense for some 1st & 2nd graders.)

• Display: Titles below plus books on Ancient Rome & Pompeii (937), Roman Gods & Goddesses (292) , mosaics (738.5) - The Mosaic Idea Book by Rosalind Watts (738.5 WAT) is particularly nice, I Survived the Destruction of Pompeii (J Fiction Tarshis)
• Optional: DVD: Digging for the Truth vol. 1. Pompeii section (can have this going while kids arrive, then continue after they are making mosaics – note, while fascinating, it shows plaster casts of adults, children, and chained dog…somewhat intense, would like to find a milder option.)
• Read: Pompeii: Lost & Found by Mary Pope Osborne – kids particularly loved learning about the dormouse house & that dormice were great “delicacies” (discussed in Eyewitness Ancient Rome too) and the communal bathrooms.  (other possibilities: Escape from Pompeii – Balit,  You Wouldn’t Want to Live in Pompeii 937.7 MAL or Mt. Vesuvius and the Destruction of Pompeii 937.7 ROB)
• Show mosaics from: Eye Wonder: Ancient Rome 937 MAC p.17, 20, 22, 25,26,33,36, I Wonder Why Romans Wore Togas 937 MAC p.12, 19, 30, Ancient Romans 937 SHU cover, Ancient Rome 709.37 CHR p.27, 32-33, Eyewitness Ancient Rome 937 JAM p.24, 37, Ancient Roman Art 709.37 HOD p.8, 13-15 instructions, show pictures from Ancient Rome Adult Folio 937 LIB, Life in Ancient Rome (Adult 937.06 ROD ) plus PowerPoint (quickly made from Internet pictures from an image search for “Roman Mosaics”).  Tell kids now it is their turn, can be geometric pattern, animals or plants, gods or battles or anything they want to make.

• Make mosaics (materials: 12x18 tagboard, pencils, gluesticks --  chop construction paper and/or magazine pages into ¼ to ½ in. squares to make really nice mosaic pieces (recycling too!) 

• More ideas: Great Art Adventure 701.1 KNO unnumbered, My Art Book (DK) (J745.5 MY) p.58-65, Projects about Ancient Rome 937 FRA p.30-31, Roman Art/Pompei Start with Art: People (J704.942 LAC) p. 24 Mosaics (also Start with Art: Animals)
• Could have ancient Roman music playing while they craft: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPtBnpd5gxc

9.2011, 2.2015

Mosaic above from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Roman_Baths,_Bath_-_Sea_Horse_Mosaic.jpg

Picture This – Art Exploration for Kids: Tut, Tut: Mummies & Hieroglyphics: Celebrating Ancient Egyptian Art & Civilization

Picture This – Art Exploration for Kids:

Tut, Tut: Mummies & Hieroglyphics: Celebrating Ancient Egyptian Art & Civilization

Kindergarten through 5^th grade.

“Explore an ancient civilization and head back in time to pharaohs, mummies, hieroglyphics and more!”

· Open:  kids browse books about ancient Egyptian Art & Tutankhamen

· Show: Reading Rainbow: Mummies Made in Egypt – Aliki (the book through clay reconstruction of face segment)

· Read I am the Mummy Heb-Nefert (Picture Book Bunting) (in 2014), Ms. Frizzle's adventures : ancient Egypt (932 Cole) (in 2016 – would skip reading next time and just do the Reading Rainbow segment)

· Project areas (stations):

· Create Egyptian Mural (Supplies: bulletin board paper, markers, crayons and/or pastels, pictures of Egyptian Gods from Mummies Made in Egypt – Aliki plus assorted Egyptian Art books

· Cartouche—Hieroglyphic Name door hangers/bookmarks/gift tags: Fun with Hieroglyphs: 24 Rubber Stamps, Hieroglyph Guidebook, Ink Pad (Box Set) (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)  -- interesting “L” & “R” map to the same symbol, as do several vowel sounds.

(Used to use photocopies hieroglyphic letters from Ancient Egyptian Art (J709.32 HOD) p.10 – very simple hieroglyphic alphabet, Cartouches SRC p.215-216 or Pyramids 50 Hands on Activities (J932 HAR) p. 60 – more elaborate alphabet for kids to cut out and paste on die-cut door hangers.)

· Create their own necklace/collar – cut out rim of paper plate, decorate with markers, sequins, etc.

· Color Mummy Masks (http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/ancient-egypt-colouring-pages)

· Make your own “mummy” – wrap a clothespin or  pipe cleaner “person” with paper towel strips & masking tape, decorate mummy wrappings. (can also make a sarcophagus out of a toilet paper tube and decorate that.)

· Additional Resources: Start with Art: People (J704.942 LAC) p. 8 painting on a clay surface
 
May 2007 (King Tut at Philadelphia Museum of Art) 
Sept 2014
Nov 2016 – pictures below depict: clothespin mummies (and decorated collar), name stamping bookmarks with hieroglyphs, mural-making, making a tomb for the mummy

Picture This – Art Exploration for Kids: “Frozen in Time: Exploring Prehistoric Art”

Picture This – Art Exploration for Kids: “Frozen in Time: Exploring Prehistoric Art”

Kindergarten through 5^th grade.

“Join us as we travel back in time 32,000 years to see
some of the earliest examples of art ever created!
Then help us create our very own cave paintings.”

· Open with atmospheric music (and play this while kids cave painting): Dream Catcher by Kevin Locke (616 LOCK) or other Native American instrumentals. 
Kids browse:  Mystery of the Lascaux Cave (J709.01 PAT), Dawn of Art (A759.0112 CHA), Prehistoric Art ( J709.01 HOD) plus the ones below, The Mud Family (Picture Book James)

· Read aloud: First Painter (Picture book Lasky) atmospheric imagining of a young girl cave painter trying to bring rain to her people.

· Show pictures from Painters of the Caves (J759.01 LAU) Point out how difficult the caves would be to spot on cliffs under overhanging vegetation – so that new caves with paintings are still being discovered (the most recent in 1994). Mention that the first cave paintings were discovered around 130 years ago by an eight year old Maria De Sautuola (JBiog Sautola).

· Read aloud: Quennu & the Cave Bear (Picture Book Day)  (2016, planned to substitute The Secret Cave: Discovering Lascaux by Emily Arnold McCully J709.01 MCC, but kids eager to start art – next time start with this book)

· Hang brown Kraft paper on the walls (we used a dim stage area) and have kids use chalk, crayons, &/or pastels to create “cave paintings.” (I found the chalk pastels at Michaels -- $4.99 for a pkg.of 48 – worked great but are somewhat messy – left a chalk residue on carpet when kids were coloring enthusiastically!)  Also cut out brown paper “bison hides” for who wanted to color individually (offered both chalk pastels & markers for this.) Resource: Animal Magic My Art Book (DK) (J745.5 MY) p.6-11

9.06, 6.16 

Dig it Up – Outrageous Archaelology: Past/Present/Future

Discover how large and small things are in the universe, then travel through time to the year 4022 when archeologists excavate The Motel of the Mysteries. Help us imagine what someone from a different planet or a different time would decide the objects in your house might have been used for!”  Geared for grades 2-6.

Resources:

Internet Videos:  Powers of Ten – Charles & Ray Eames http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0 & Cosmic Voyage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxXf7AJZ73A

PowerPoint slide show based on Book: The Motel of the Mysteries by David Macauley (contact clevin@sclibnj.org for a copy)

• Display (Kids read as others entering): Books about King Tut, Ancient Egypt archeology
• Introduction: In 1976 (Bicentennial) Air & Space Museum opened in D.C. – included was the film Powers of Ten.  About the same time, a big King Tut exhibit opened across the mall in another Smithsonian museum.  Today, we are going on a similar journey through space and time, different ways of looking at things.
• Show video: Powers of Ten (and the relative size of things in the universe) – Charles & Ray Eames http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0
•     
• Question: What is archaelogy?  Familiar with Tutankhamen?
• Introduce book:  Author/Illus David Macauley asked “What if someone excavated something from our time?  How would they interpret their discoveries?”  The result was The Motel of the Mysteries.
• Show PowerPoint slide show based on Book: The Motel of the Mysteries by David Macauley including items: “Internal component Enclosure”(Ice Bucket), “The Sacred Collar” (Toilet Seat), “Musical Instruments”(Shower Heads and Toilet Plungers), “The Great Altar”(TV Set) , “The Sacred Urn” (Toilet) 
•  …now their turn!  Kids (in teams if they wish) write a description of an object in their house as if someone from another time/planet has found it and is guessing what it would be used for. 
• Guessing Game: As each description is read aloud, the others try to figure out what the object actually is.
• Finished with Cosmic Voyage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxXf7AJZ73A (more recent IMAX version of Powers of Ten)

"Awesome!" -- comment by several kids at the end of this program.

8/2013