 Suggested Activities > Image Specific Activities
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“April's Fool”
Norman Rockwell enjoyed playing little jokes on TheSaturday Evening Post audience and it was yet another way he kept them involved in his work. Throughout his career, he created several paintings to celebrate April Fool’s Day. There are 45 mistakes in each of these paintings, and yet each tells its own special story.
The editors of TheSaturday Evening Post were deluged with mail the year this cover was published. Readers claimed that there were many more than 45 errors in this picture.
Published March 31, 1945 |
Students will:
- Use visual-thinking strategies to analyze the "April's Fool" image.
- List the mistakes in this picture.
- Create a drawing that shows at least 10 items incorrectly placed.
- Write a descriptive story about a funny event that has happened to you.
- Selected Rockwell image for students to view
- Art supplies (paper, colored pencils, etc.)
- Writing supplies
- Scanner or digital camera
Optional:
- drawing software
- word-processing software
- Use “A Teacher’s Guide to Looking at and Talking About Art” to introduce visual-thinking strategies to your class. Complete this activity with the following “Be an Art Detective” activity.
- Discuss April Fool’s Day and some of the tricks people play on this holiday. Is it alright to fool people?
- List all the mistakes in this picture. Compile the lists into one classroom list.
- Create an April Fool’s picture with at least 10 things “wrong”.
- Convert student work to digital format.
- Make an e-scrapbook.
- Write a silly poem.
- Learn how to draw cartoons. Use the student resources on "The Joke's On..." website.
K-2
• APRIL FOOLISHNESS. Teresa Bateman.
• MICHAEL LE SOUFFLE AND THE APRIL FOOL. Peter J. Welling.
• GOOFY JOKES AND GIGGLES. Charles Keller.
• THE CASE OF THE PERFECT PRANK: A JIGSAW JONES MYSTERY. James Preller.
3-5
• MUD FLAT APRIL FOOL. James Stevenson.
• JUST JOKING. Andy Griffiths.
• JOKELOPEDIA: THE BIGGEST, BEST, SILLIEST, DUMBEST JOKE BOOK EVER. Compiled by Ilana Weitzman, Eva Blank, and Rosanne Green.
• HA! HA! HA!: 1000+ JOKES, RIDDLES, FACTS AND MORE. Lyn Thomas. |
Family Learning Home Connection
- Draw a cartoon of someone playing an April Fool’s joke.
- Talk about the difference between a joke and lie.
- Play “I Spy.”
- What makes you laugh? Interview your family, too. Do they prefer funny movies, jokes, cartoons or something else?
- Look at family photographs. Do any make you laugh? Create a scrapbook of your funniest family photographs.
- What funny things have happened to you and your family?
K-2 checklist
3-5 story rubric
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© 1945 SEPS: Licensed by Curtis Publishing,
Indianapolis, IN - All rights reserved. www.curtispublishing.com |
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