Name: "Chasing Vermeer" S.T.E.A.M. Activity Packet
SKU: 63dd5cc9fbffd1372e744b1b
Price: 39.99 USD
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About this resource

What's inside this resource

Influenced by the novel Chasing Vermeer, the S.T.E.A.M.-based activities included in this product focus on the content areas of math and art. Students will investigate Vermeer’s paintings, learn about pentominoes, complete a pentomino challenge, engage in an artist study, and mimic their style of art. Finally, students will integrate art and math using what they learned about pentominoes in combination with their knowledge regarding Vermeer’s artistic style to create a pixel art masterpiece.

⭐️This Resource Includes:⭐️

Math

Crack Calder’s Code: Uncover Calder’s code by studying the art and patterns in the odd numbered chapters of Chasing Vermeer. (Includes Answer Key)
What Are Pentominoes?: An explanation of what pentominoes are, a guided pentomino challenge, pentominoes that can be cut out, on cardstock, and used as manipulatives.

Art

Investigating Vermeer’s Artwork: Using Vermeer’s art, students will analyze, compare and contrast, and use art to inspire poetry.
Artist Study, Henri Matisse: Students will watch a video introducing the artist and his artistic style. Picture books are suggested for a read aloud to get to know more about the artist and their work. For the activity component, students will create a Matisse-inspired paper collage to represent an idea from the novel, Chasing Vermeer.

Math & Art Combined

Pixel Paintings: Students will synthesize what they have learned about Vermeer, his artistic style, and artwork in combination with their knowledge about pentominoes, to create a pixelated replica of one of Vermeer's famous paintings.

What's included

A "Read this first" teacher tips page advising that the activities are not meant for one day, that the illustrations should be projected under a document camera, and that printer settings be set to "Printable area"
A contents page grouping the activities under Math, Art, and Math & Art Combined
"Crack Calder's Code": students study the art in the odd-numbered chapters, note the pattern, and use Calder's code from page 57 of the novel to decode a message
An answer key explaining the code: each odd chapter hides one pentomino and one to three frogs, the frogs supplying the number, so a V pentomino with two frogs reads V:2 and gives the letter T
"What Are Pentominoes?": an explanation page with the two rules — a shape rotated or flipped to match another is not a new shape
A pentomino challenge asking how many different shapes five squares can make, with cut-out tiles and a reflection question
"Artist Study: Henri Matisse": three suggested introductory videos, three suggested picture books (Matisse the King of Color by Laurence Anholt, Henri's Scissors by Jeanette Winter, Drawing with Scissors by Jane O'Connor), and a cut-paper collage task
Five collage prompts drawn from the novel: symbolism, important plot events, setting, character analysis and theme
"Investigating Vermeer's Artwork": four linked research resources plus analysis question sets for A Lady Writing (1665-1666) and The Geographer (1668-1669)
A compare-and-contrast chart setting a Vermeer against Woman Reading Music by Henricus Anthonius van Meegeren (1935-1936)
A two-voice poem page with alternating lines, one painting per side of the page
"Pixel Art: Pentominoes & Paintings" with a materials list — reference images, graph paper in three sizes, pentomino cut-outs, markers or coloured pencils
Teacher and student examples of the finished pixel painting at the back of the packet

Resource types: Worksheets & Printables, Novel Studies, Activities, Projects

In the classroom

Teaching tips & learning objectives

Learning objectives

Identify a visual pattern across the illustrations of a novel and use a key from the text to decode a hidden message
Work out how many distinct pentominoes exist, treating rotations, reflections and slides of the same shape as one shape
Analyse a painting from close observation, answering what is noticed first, what the subject is doing, and what is unusual about it
Compare a genuine painting with a forgery, recording specific similarities and differences rather than general impressions
Represent an element of the novel — symbolism, plot, setting, character or theme — as a cut-paper collage in an artist's style

Teaching tips

The packet's own advice is to spread the activities across a week or more and to pick the ones that fit; the maths and art strands stand alone until the closing pixel painting, which needs both
Project the novel's illustrations under a document camera as the teacher tips page suggests — the code-cracking activity depends on students seeing the art clearly enough to spot the pentominoes and frogs
Print the three painting handouts in colour, laminate a set for shared use, and give students black-and-white copies to write on, which is exactly the workflow the packet recommends
The compare-and-contrast pairing is the strongest hook: one of the two paintings is by a forger rather than by Vermeer, which turns the exercise into a real question about how art is authenticated

Skills covered

Pattern recognition and decoding — students find the repeated pentomino-and-frog motif across the odd-numbered chapters and convert it to letters using the code printed on page 57 of the novel.
Geometric reasoning about congruence — the pentomino challenge asks how many distinct shapes five joined squares make, with rotations, reflections and slides ruled out as duplicates.
Close visual analysis — each painting comes with its own question set asking what is noticed first, what the subject is doing and wearing, and what is unusual.
Comparing an original with a forgery — a Vermeer and a Van Meegeren are set side by side in a similarities-and-differences chart.
Turning literary analysis into artwork — the Matisse collage asks students to express symbolism, plot, setting, character or theme from the novel through cut paper rather than in writing.

Good to know

Questions teachers ask about this resource

How does cracking Calder's code actually work?

Through the novel's illustrations. Each odd-numbered chapter hides one pentomino and between one and three frogs; the pentomino gives the letter shape and the frogs give the number, so a V pentomino with two frogs reads V:2, which maps to T on the code printed on page 57 of the book. Chapter three's V pentomino with one frog gives V:1 and the letter H.

Which paintings are used for the artwork analysis?

Three, and one of them is deliberately not a Vermeer. A Lady Writing (1665-1666) and The Geographer (1668-1669) each get their own analysis question set; Woman Reading Music by Henricus Anthonius van Meegeren (1935-1936) is the forgery used in the compare-and-contrast chart against a genuine Vermeer.

What is needed beyond the packet itself?

A copy of the novel, since the code activity depends on the illustrations and on the code table printed on page 57; a colour printer for the three painting handouts; scissors and paper for the collage and the pentomino tiles; and internet access for the suggested Matisse videos and the four linked Vermeer research resources. Graph paper is supplied in three sizes.