Mondrian's Art
10 min
Narrative
The purpose of this Warm-up is to elicit the idea that the paintings of Piet Mondrian are composed of rectangles of various sizes, which will be useful when students create their own Mondrian-inspired artwork in a later activity. While students may notice and wonder many things about this image, the attributes of the rectangles used in Mondrian's artwork are the important discussion points.
To show students additional artwork by Mondrian, consider visiting a virtual installation of Piet Mondrian's work on the website of Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) or visiting the website of the Tate Gallery.
This is the first time students experience the Notice and Wonder routine in IM Grade 4. Students are familiar with this routine from a previous grade, however, they may benefit from a brief review of the steps involved.
Launch
- Groups of 2
- Display the images.
- “What do you notice? What do you wonder?”
- 1 minute: quiet think time
Teacher Instructions
- “Discuss your thinking with your partner.”
- 1 minute: partner discussion
- Share and record responses.
Student Task
What do you notice? What do you wonder?
Sample Response
Student may notice:
- There are lots of rectangles.
- The rectangles are all different sizes.
- There are only 3 or 4 colors.
- There are black lines around all the rectangles.
Student may wonder:
- Are any of the rectangles the same size?
- What is the area of the white rectangles?
- Which colors fill more space on the paintings?
Activity Synthesis (Teacher Notes)
- “These are digital copies of famous paintings by a Dutch artist named Piet Mondrian. He lived from 1872 to 1944. A little more than 100 years ago, he became known for painting in a style that relates to the math we have been studying. Many of his paintings hang in museums all around the world.”
- “How do you think his art connects with what we’ve been studying? Why are we looking at it during math class?” (He used a lot of rectangles. His art looks very precise. He seemed to have planned for the rectangles to have certain side lengths.)
- If not mentioned by students, highlight that some of the lines in his art go from edge to edge of the painting while others are shorter, and that some rectangles seem to have the same area.
- Consider showing students additional artwork by Mondrian.
Standards
- 4.OA.4·Find all factor pairs for a whole number in the range 1—100. Recognize that a whole number is a multiple of each of its factors. Determine whether a given whole number in the range 1—100 is a multiple of a given one-digit number. Determine whether a given whole number in the range 1—100 is prime or composite.
- 4.OA.B.4·Find all factor pairs for a whole number in the range 1–100. Recognize that a whole number is a multiple of each of its factors. Determine whether a given whole number in the range 1–100 is a multiple of a given one-digit number. Determine whether a given whole number in the range 1–100 is prime or composite.
25 min
15 min
Knowledge Components
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Mondrian's Art
10 min
Narrative
The purpose of this Warm-up is to elicit the idea that the paintings of Piet Mondrian are composed of rectangles of various sizes, which will be useful when students create their own Mondrian-inspired artwork in a later activity. While students may notice and wonder many things about this image, the attributes of the rectangles used in Mondrian's artwork are the important discussion points.
To show students additional artwork by Mondrian, consider visiting a virtual installation of Piet Mondrian's work on the website of Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) or visiting the website of the Tate Gallery.
This is the first time students experience the Notice and Wonder routine in IM Grade 4. Students are familiar with this routine from a previous grade, however, they may benefit from a brief review of the steps involved.
Launch
- Groups of 2
- Display the images.
- “What do you notice? What do you wonder?”
- 1 minute: quiet think time
Teacher Instructions
- “Discuss your thinking with your partner.”
- 1 minute: partner discussion
- Share and record responses.
Student Task
What do you notice? What do you wonder?
Sample Response
Student may notice:
- There are lots of rectangles.
- The rectangles are all different sizes.
- There are only 3 or 4 colors.
- There are black lines around all the rectangles.
Student may wonder:
- Are any of the rectangles the same size?
- What is the area of the white rectangles?
- Which colors fill more space on the paintings?
Activity Synthesis (Teacher Notes)
- “These are digital copies of famous paintings by a Dutch artist named Piet Mondrian. He lived from 1872 to 1944. A little more than 100 years ago, he became known for painting in a style that relates to the math we have been studying. Many of his paintings hang in museums all around the world.”
- “How do you think his art connects with what we’ve been studying? Why are we looking at it during math class?” (He used a lot of rectangles. His art looks very precise. He seemed to have planned for the rectangles to have certain side lengths.)
- If not mentioned by students, highlight that some of the lines in his art go from edge to edge of the painting while others are shorter, and that some rectangles seem to have the same area.
- Consider showing students additional artwork by Mondrian.
Standards
- 4.OA.4·Find all factor pairs for a whole number in the range 1—100. Recognize that a whole number is a multiple of each of its factors. Determine whether a given whole number in the range 1—100 is a multiple of a given one-digit number. Determine whether a given whole number in the range 1—100 is prime or composite.
- 4.OA.B.4·Find all factor pairs for a whole number in the range 1–100. Recognize that a whole number is a multiple of each of its factors. Determine whether a given whole number in the range 1–100 is a multiple of a given one-digit number. Determine whether a given whole number in the range 1–100 is prime or composite.