Eye Opener to Any Subject with The Gibbes Museum of Art

Eye opener

ANY GRADE LEVEL AND ANY SUBJECT! Your needs and wants translate into an interactive format based on looking at and responding to art in different ways. Four major concepts with so many possibilities!

  • “TAKE A GOOD LOOK” (Grades 3–7 Social Studies, Science and ELA) Students learn how to look and respond, analyze what they’ve seen, organize, and then write it down. “Take a Good Look” makes writing fun. Example 3rd Grade: “Antebellum S.C. Who are you?” Using a personal diary, each student compares his life with that of a South Carolinian in 1860. Then, they create a self-portrait reflecting their heritage. Example 4th Grade: “The Colonies, the Revolution, and the Civil War” Students review history and respond with themed writing exercises and with personal diaries. Example 7th Grade: “Biomes & Ecosystems “Students explore different biomes and ecosystems through images, then create a pop-up book and a poem inspired by one of the Gibbes landscapes.
  • “SETTING THE SCENE” (Grades 3–8 Social Studies and ELA) Students get into the works of art with costumes and props. Example 4th Grade: “The Civil War” Students re-create Civil War daguerreotypes and paintings using costumes and props. Example 4th Grade: “Revolution and the Egg” Students become Revolutionary War re-enactors using costumes and props.
  • “THE TIME MACHINE” (Grades 3–8 Social Studies and ELA) Students, using props and costumes, interact with each other in historical context and create music and videos starring themselves. Example 5th Grade: “The Great Migration: The Charleston vs the Harlem Renaissance” If you were a poor share-cropper in SC, would you consider going to Harlem for a new life? Example 4th grade: “Community in Colonial Times” What would your day be like in Colonial America?
  • “MATH & ART” (Grades 3–5 Math) Using works of art by Picasso, Klee, Mondrian, & Warhol, students explore the relationship between math and art. Example 3rd grade: “Klee Math” In response to a painting by Paul Klee, students work with multiplication, division, and percentages. Example 4th grade: “One Soup Can, Gotta have more…” Inspired by a Warhol image, students create individual images of soup cans and create equations to match different assortments by combining their images in different ways. Music included.

Click here for a print out of these sample lessons