We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter/Passover holiday! The past few weeks we have been discussing Spring Rain and Easter. We've been learning about how the rain helps all the summer flowers grow. MAnyWe've been reading "There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Chick." This book is wonderful for young children as it is a rhyming book. Rhyming books are very helpful to young children as an early literacy tool. Children have an easier time remembering the words from read to read and start to associate the verbal word with the written word. The children loved reciting the words with our teachers during circle time as we read the book together.
Our next theme as we come back from Spring Break will be Earth Week. The children will be learning about the importance of recycling. They will even be bringing in their own recycling items to separate in our recycling bins. Many of our projects this week will use recyclable materials as the key elements. We can't wait!
0 Comments
We all know that art in the classroom is vital to children's creativity and learning. It allows children to process the themes of our week by representing them visually and provides a hands-on approach to teaching. So what better theme for our little kiddos than to teach them about the masters of Art. This is a theme that I have done for all the years I've been teaching and while you would think it would be "too mature" for preschoolers and toddlers, it has never let me down as the student's favorite theme of the year. |
Monet's WaterliliesOur first artist of the week was my personal favorite, Claude Monet. The children learned that Monet loved painting gardens so much he created his very own so he always had a place to paint. They also learned that he didn't paint with crisp lines but instead blended colors to create his beautiful gardens. |
Andy Warhol-The Marilyn DiptychThe kids had a LOT of fun with this one. We learned that Mr. Warhol enjoyed creating his art based on things that were popular at the time. His art was called "Pop Art" and featured famous people and everyday objects, like a Campbells Soup Can. They thought that was very funny. They really loved doing these colorful projects. |
Van Gogh's Starry Night
Oh, Mr. Van Gogh, what a strange man with his "broken ear" (as one of our kiddo's called it). The children really focused on the swirls and spirals in this painting. They used a new technique to create their own swirls by mixing paint on top of shaving cream and then pressing their paper into it. The results were very subtle and yet, very cool.
Jackson PollockThe children really took to this artist. His artwork and his story stood out to them and they waited paitently all week to learn more about him. Mr. Pollock developed a new form of painting called "Action Painting." He would drip and throw paint onto the canvas to create his masterpieces. Mr. Pollock preferred to paint when he was angry because he thought his paintings came out better. The kids LOVED dripping and splattering the paint on their canvases during this project. |
We would love for you to continue this learning at home. Below are a list of great children's books to help your little budding artists learn all about the masters (click the title for a link to amazon) Don't forget Netflix has all the seasons of Little Einsteins which features not only beautiful artwork and their artists but also famous composers and their works of art. The children really enjoyed picking out Monet and Van Gogh's painting during our special movie day episode.