Objective: to introduce students to the work of Henri Matisse, to create rhythms and harmonies through pattern and color, and to make a beautiful card for Mother's Day. Grades: 3RD to 5TH

Materials: construction paper in a full range of colors in sizes 9" x 12" and 4 'A" x 6" sizes, and thin strips of green for stems. Crayola Construction Paper crayons or cray-pas. Deco~Puffs or small (5"x) tissue in flower colors. Scissors and glue or glue-sticks.

The Lesson: this card is related to other Matisse project on the Web but I've changed it a lot. The inspiration is Matisse's layering of pattern and color in his early work..

I show students repros of Matisse's paintings of the period-"Open Window" ('05), "The Red Room" ('08), "Fruit and Bronze" ('10), "Interior with Eggplants" ('11), etc., while describing his career and his importance to modern art. I discuss creating rhythms using a loose grid to make regular patterns.

I then show the students Mother's Day cards I've made and examples of the three components. After choosing their different colors~the 9" x 12" piece, folded in half (9" x 6") for the card/wallpaper background and two 4 1/2" x 6" pieces, one to be cut to a round or square table shape and the other to be cut to the shape of a vase, I help them make loose repeating patterns in pencil and crayon on the three pieces. After coloring, cutting and gluing the three parts, the students add short stems of green construction paper and crumple two Deco-Puff tissue pieces per flower. After the glue dries, any excess tissue can be cut away.