Alma Thomas: Communicate in Color

Using descriptive language and prepositional phrases to write about the paintings of Alma Thomas.

SKILL: As writers, we will use creative comparisons and build prepositional phrases to create descriptions of artworks.

CONTENT: Descriptive language, including similes, metaphors and prepositional phrases, invites readers to imagine something in a more dynamic, interesting way.

PROTOCOL: Artist Alma Thomas found beauty all around her. In fact, she invented a new way of painting, which she called “Alma’s Stripes,” when she saw the shadows from her holly bush moving along the wall one day. Using her work as a point of reference, students will practice parts of speech and exercise their descriptive language.

There is a support resource with example writings and word pools here. For younger students, consider focusing more on the descriptive words than the parts of speech.

Activities 1 & 4 facilitate whole class discussion. Activities 2 & 3 and the Formative Assessment can be completed by students in small groups using the worksheets provided within this collection. The Summative Assessment gives students the opportunity to produce an individual creative response to what they've learned.