BRAVERY STANDS

TALL (WASHINGTON
CROSSING THE
DELAWARE)

Grade 5
Erica Klaus

LESSON SUMMARY
Students will VTS Emanuel Leutzes piece, Washington Crossing the Delaware.
More specific focus will be put on the mood in the painting and what about the
painting creates that mood.
Students will discuss the historical context of what is being depicted in the piece and
how the Hessians might have felt seeing the image.
Students will create their own pieces of work that convey a character trait they feel is
important. Students will make specific choices about media and images portrayed in
order to convey their message.
Students will create an artists statement that they will present to the group about
why they made specific choices in their work.
In writing workshop, students can either use the Crossing the Delaware painting or
their own piece. They will write a narrative using specific, sensory language from the
perspective of someone seeing either piece in real life. They will describe what they
are seeing and how it makes them feel.

INTEGRATED SUBJECT
AREAS
1. Visual Art (Inspiration Artist: Emanuel Leutze)
2. Literacy
3. US History

KEY CONCEPTS
1. Visual Art:
Connect visual art to history and cultures
Analyze how an artist portrays a message in a piece
2. Literacy:
Use words that are specific and use sensory language
3. US History
Analyze different perspectives in the Revolutionary war

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
What feeling is evoked from this piece?
What about the painting creates this feeling?
What do we hypothesize is being portrayed by Leutzes piece?
How can we write so our readers feel as if they are present?

LESSON OBJECTIVES
1. Visual Art: The students will be able to describe in the form of an artists
statement what specific choices they made when creating their piece using
artistic language.
2. Literacy: The students will be able to use sensory language to create a
descriptive narrative.
3. US History: The students will be able to use the piece to analyze what
might have happened as Washington crossed the Delaware and hypothesize
how the Hessians might have felt.

ANTICIPATORY SET
Today we are going to take a look at a piece by Emanuel Leutze to see what
conclusions we can draw. We will then make our own works of art and write
a story during writing workshop.

SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT
Listen to each students artists statements to be sure all made specific
choices in their pieces. Read all of the students writing pieces and look for
sensory language and how they describe the external features of specific
character traits.