Today my young campers got a feel for Mexican fashion! We talked about Mexican Sombreros and they looked at lots of pictures and even took in a short clip of a Mariachi band! Of course we cannot ignore Frida’s epic style! Her fashion is just as famous as her art! The kids looked at several pictures of her colourful outfits and we observed her use of bold colours and large patterns! For our project today the boys decorated their own sombrero while the girls made Frida inspired necklaces out of clay!
0 Comments
The English fairy tale “Jack and the Beanstalk” first appeared in print in 1734. Some literature researchers think the oral version of the story has been around for over 5,000 years! It is an endearing story of a poor boy who buys magic beans that grow a beanstalk of gargantuan size. Jack climbs the beanstalk high into the sky and discovers that it leads to the home of a mean giant. Jack manages to steal some valuable treasures from the giant which causes the giant to become very angry. Before the giant shimmies down the beanstalk to get Jack, Jack cuts down the beanstalk. Now we discussed this little tale at great length and it turns out that your children have a very firm moral compass! Congrats! They were all able to discern some important lessons...
This is all of course while they were working on drawing and painting their bird's eye view of Jack climbing back down the bean stalk! This piece drew their attention to different aspect of perspective in art. So far we have done 1-point perspective (poui trees), atmospheric perspective (winter landscape) and now bird's eye. Who doesn’t know the story of "The Three Little Pigs"? Well all of my Doodlebugs could manage telling the story so instead of reading to them they took turns telling it to me, each adding a line as we went around the class! The main gist? One takes little time in building the home out of straw and spends the rest of his time playing and relaxing. A second pig builds a home out of sticks, which takes slightly longer, but he too values relaxation time. A third pig chooses to build a home out of bricks, which requires a great deal of time and effort. He values taking the time to build a home properly over relaxation and recreation. When the Big Bad Wolf comes to the homes, only the third pig's house of bricks stands up to the pressure applied by the wolf. When I asked for the moral of the story... well that was definitely the most entertaining (for me st least😂)
They stamped their brick walls, drew and cut out pigs and of course designed outfits fit for their smart little pig! Inside hulking Horton dwells the soul of a gentle, steadfast caretaker, and Seuss uses the elephant's immensity to make a point about taking care of those more vulnerable than ourselves. Horton is so huge that there are only a few scraps of blue sky showing. In contrast, the dust speck on the pink clover is bitty indeed. (And if their planet is this tiny, how microscopic are the Whos?) Gigantic-eared Horton hears them all along -- perhaps his compassionate soul acts as a cosmic hearing aid? In any case this book (like all Suess books in my opinion) really appeals to children and they are quick to cheer for the Whos and get stark raving mad at the Kangaroo! My Doodlebugs then set out to draw and paint Horton complete with our fuzzy ball of clover that holds the entire town of Whoville! If you find yourself at Lopinot on a rainy night, you might be face to face with the ghost of Charles Joseph de Loppinot de la Fresilliere – a French Count who came to Trinidad in 1800 – as he roams about his estate house located in the northern village named after him. They had to find out a bit about the history of this gorgeous little house but of course I added my two cents. This week we are going to try our hands at drawing this grand old house and next week we’ll paint. This one is a slow process... lots of details and as you can imagine quite a challenge for my artists, many of whom are trying a piece with this level of detail for the first time. But if it’s one thing I’ve learned in my time teaching art to kids is that they will go as far as you lead them. So I continue to push ever so slightly, but push we must! Plus... lessons of perseverance and hard work aren’t confined to the art room! 😉 |
Welcome!
Be a fly on the wall in our art room! Take a look at what we do, how we do it and the smiles that I get to see week after week :) Archives
February 2020
Categories
All
|