Everyday Easels

Includes: 75+ Printable Unit Studies
Age/Grade: Elementary – Middle School

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How to Use This Course

SchoolhouseTeachers.com’s Everyday Easels presents art in the context of other subjects to help those students whose interest in art may only be piqued by understanding the story behind the art or by approaching the art from another direction entirely. There are 5-day and 10-day unit studies presented, and these can be further broken down to fit the student’s schedule. Everyday Easels begins each unit with a brief study of the art itself. Then, it approaches the art from different angles including history, vocabulary, geography, writing, Bible, and science. This course truly gives an overview of the art in many different areas, including hands-on activities to inspire students to become involved in the art and not simply be a spectator. Transcript information for the classes is given in detail on the Course Details tab, however, a .5 high school credit can be earned by following the transcript instructions given. As always, please check your own state’s academic requirements.

Course Introduction

Everyday Easels is a collection of more than 75 art studies. There are two different formats of unit studies, 5-day unit studies and 10-day unit studies. Below you’ll find a description of what is included in each type. Enjoy!

5-Day Everyday Easels Unit Studies

This feature leads your family in studying a different work of art each week. Day One introduces the work of art, gives you a link to where you can view it online, and begins your study. Days Two-Four provide different questions and activities approaching the featured work of art from many different angles—including history, vocabulary, geography, writing, and science. Each week concludes with hands-on activities broken into grade levels, providing students of all ages a fun way to experiment with what they have learned.

10-Day Everyday Easels Unit Studies

Every two weeks, we will begin a study of a new work of art. Day One will contain a thorough look at the piece of art and the artist. Subsequent days will explore Bible, history/geography, English, math, science, physical education/health, and home economics through our study of the painting. The unit will conclude with a notebooking page and a final day of hands-on activities for your family to try.

You may use Day One’s material for one day, or you may decide to break it up into sections and explore some art with each day’s material. Choose the method that works best for you and your family.

Course Outline

Five-Day Unit Studies

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat
A Young Girl Reading, oil on canvas by Jean-Honore Fragonard
Acropolis, ancient Greece
American Barque “Jane Tudor,” Conway Bay, photograph by David Johnson
Ascension of Christ, oil on canvas by Benjamin West
Boys in a Dory, watercolor over graphite on paper by Winslow Homer
Breezing Up, oil on canvas by Winslow Homer
Byzantine Floor Mosaic
Calder’s Circus, made of various items by Alexander Calder
Children of the World by Greg Olsen
Children Playing on the Beach, oil on canvas by Mary Cassatt
Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee, oil on canvas by Rembrandt
Daniel Boone Sitting at the Door of His Cabin on the Great Osage Lake, oil on canvas, by Thomas Cole
Dust Bowl photograph
First Footprints on the Moon, photograph by NASA
Hand with a Reflecting Sphere, lithograph by M.C. Escher
Last Supper, mural painted by Leonardo da Vinci
Lunch Atop a Skyscraper, photograph taken by Charles C. Ebbets
Milkmaid (a/k/a The Kitchen Maid), oil on canvas by Johannes Vermeer
Mount Rushmore
Nation Makers, oil on canvas by Howard Pyle
Necklace with Pendant Designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany
Noon Recess, wood engraving by Winslow Homer
Portrait of a Pig by James Wyeth
Red Mobile, wire sculpture by Alexander Calder
Rocket Ship by Norman Rockwell, lithograph on paper
St. Joseph the Carpenter, oil on canvas by Georges de La Tour
Stonehenge, near Salisbury, England
Stove, pottery by David II Pfau
Striding Lion Panels of Babylon
Terra Cotta Army in China
White cross-lined ware beaker with hippos (from Ancient Egypt)
Windmill at Wijk-bij-Duurstede oil on canvas, by Ruisdael
Young Mother Sewing, oil on canvas by Mary Cassatt

10-Day Unit Studies

99 Cent, a photograph by Andreas Gursky
After the Prom, an illustration by Norman Rockwell
A Path Among the Rocks, oil on wood by Théodore Rousseau
Apple Butter Making, oil on pressed wood by Grandma Moses
Basket Dance (The), bronze sculpture by Glenna Goodacre
Bayeux Tapestry, embroidery
Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript
Cape Cod Afternoon, by Edward Hopper
Central Park in Winter, hand-colored lithograph by Currier & Ives
Composition in Red, Blue, and Yellow, by Piet Mondrian
Cottage Children (The Wood Gatherers), oil on canvas, by Thomas Gainsborough
Crucifixion (The), oil on canvas by Bartolomé Estebán Murillo
Esther before Ahasuerus, oil on canvas by Pompeo Girolamo Batoni
Everyday Easels: Passport Series (travel to 8 famous landmarks over 16 weeks)
Frank Lloyd Wright Room
Grazing Horse, Chinese calligraphy, ink on paper by Xu Beihong
Great Sphinx of Giza
Harvesters (The), by Pieter Bruegel, the Elder
I and the Village, oil on canvas by Marc Chagall
Irish Brigade Monument at Gettysburg National Park
Little Sister, pastel by Carol Theroux
Pavement School in Jaipur, India, a photograph by Henri Cartier-Bresson
Petra
Presentation of Christ in the Temple, tempera and gold on wood by Giovanni di Paolo
Spray of Leaves, paper cut out by Henri Matisse
Statue of Liberty
Tetons and the Snake River, a photograph by Ansel Adams
Threshold pavement slab from Ninevah (Assyrian)
Thriller (The) by Hal Lasko
Titan’s Goblet (The), oil on canvas by Thomas Cole
Tree of Jesse, stained glass window from Swabia, Germany
Two Young Girls at the Piano, oil on canvas by Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Washington Crossing the Delaware, oil on canvas by Emmanuel Leutze
Waterfall, lithograph, by M.C. Escher
Xiao and Xiang Rivers, ink on silk by Dong Yuan
York Boat on Lake Winnipeg, colour woodcut on paper by Walter Joseph Phillips

Transcript Information

A .5 high school credit for Everyday Easels is based on a student investing an hour a day for 70 days, completing 7 10-day unit studies. Some studies are more intense than others, so please use your judgment in determining when this requirement has been fulfilled.

*Please be informed of your state’s academic requirements.

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