Our 5th grade students have been learning about the research process in library through our Famous Artist biography Project.

Claude Monet, photo by Nadar, 1899

 

In their art class with Mrs. Lustgarten, they learned about a variety of artists. Then in library, they chose an artist as the focus for their research. We got the idea for this project from Mr. Avery in Massachusetts. You can see some of his student videos here.

Students used books and websites to find out out the answers to these questions:

When and where was the artist born?
What interesting event happened during the artist’s childhood?
Did the person ever get married or have children?
Where did the artist live for most of his or her life?
What kind of art is the person known best for?
What other interesting story happened during the artist’s adult life?
What painting did the researcher like the most?

The last step of the project was to create something about the artist. The 6th grade classes made biography videos. Ms. Breier’s class wrote biography comments. We got that idea from a post Mrs. Yollis had on her blog. However, we did something different in  Mrs. Coffey’s class. They wrote poems about their artist using the website Instant Poem Maker. You can make your own poem here:

 

I chose this particular assignment to correlate with National Poetry Month. Inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, National Poetry Month is now held every April, when publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries, schools and poets around the country band together to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture.

Many students find writing poetry to be nerve-wrecking. They worry about syllables and accents and proper this and proper that. The rules get in the way of creativity. However, when you use Instant Poem Maker, the stress is gone, and the creativity can come shining through. All you do is select a type of poem. In this case, I selected a Biography Poem. Then these blanks come up for you to fill in as you can see below.

After you fill in the blank, you press And voila, you have a poem! Anyone can be a poet! You just have to try.

Claude Monet

Born in France
Child of Claude and Louise
Lived in Paris and Giverney
Studied how to paint outside using sunlight
Overcame father’s wish to become a grocer
Worked as an artist
Challenged by criticism of his work
Personal traits perseverance and creativity
Always stayed true to his artform
Never bowed under pressure to conform
Best known for Impressionist Art

 We hope you will enjoy our student poems! You will find them by clicking on the comment button. Each student has logged on as their artist and written a poem. We welcome comments from our readers!

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What famous person could you write a poem about?

Who is your favorite poet?

What is your favorite kind of poetry to read or write?

 

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