Art + Social Studies
Sixth graders at John Jay Middle School began their study of the famous Paleolithic cave paintings in Lascaux, France about seventy-seven years to the day--September 12, 1940--that four teenagers stumbled upon the ancient artwork by following their dog into a cavern.
Each student had the opportunity to create their own cave drawing. The interdisciplinary project was led by Jean Capuano, art teacher, in collaboration with sixth grade social studies teachers.
Lascaux Cave Drawings are displayed in the front of John Jay Middle School.
Lascaux Cave Painting Project
an interdisciplinary project
“These amazing paintings depict horses, red deer, stags, bovines, felines, and what appear to be mythical creatures,” said Marcia Daley-Savo, social studies teacher at John Jay Middle School. “They are primary artifacts of the people of the Dordogne region of southwestern France from about twenty thousand years ago.”
"Not only were students able to learn about these historic paintings, they were able to understand the meaning of using imagery rather than words to tell a story," said Jean Capuano, art teacher at John Jay Middle School. "Students had the opportunity to think about what their story would be and how to illustrate it."
Other Interdisciplinary Lessons at John Jay Middle School
Children make pancakes with Home and Careers teacher Laura Woelfle as an enrichment to their study of ancient grains grown during the development of agriculture. Lesson designed by Kathy O’Neil.
"Think like an archaeologist" is taught by technology teacher Carolyn Kelly. Students study a variety of objects and make guesses as to what the object is and what it might have been used for. Some of the objects that they look at are a 3.5 floppy disk, stereoptic glasses from the late 1800’s,and a depression-era glass pen holder.
Lesson designed by Marcia Daley-Savo.