During World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt delivered a State of the Union speech in which he spoke of four basic freedoms he dreamed of being available to everyone in the world. Artist Norman Rockwell interpreted these freedoms in a series of popular paintings published by the Saturday Evening Post in 1943. This lesson plan challenges students to consider the concept of freedom: what it meant to a president, an artist and what it means to them today.

Grade Level: 3 – 6, 8