A Little Monet in the Morning Does the Body Good
Alex's Monet Impression
When we visited the Jacksonville Arboretum and Gardens earlier this week, I was really impressed with the pond entirely covered in lily pads. I’ve seen one or two on a pond, but hundreds? It was pretty interesting. It reminded me of a beautiful painting by the French artist Monet and I had to look it up online when we got home. Later that evening, as I delved into a new review book about a homeschooling family, I read about the heroine’s sister’s children doing Monet impressions in their ritzy Dallas private school. My four kids won’t be going to a $20,000 per year school (or we won’t be able to afford food, shelter, and clothing and no one wants to see that 
… but we could definitely incorporate a little Monet into our morning! Plus it tied in perfectly to our nature walk. Here are the results!
To begin our lesson, I read to the kids about Monet’s life and we looked through lots of his art on the Ipad. I loaded our lily pad portrait and told the kids we would be recreating it. I didn’t care at all what medium they used and it didn’t have to look exactly like the painting. We would use Monet’s masterpiece for inspiration and add our own personal flair.
This is what we were trying to accomplish
Seven-year-old Alex is quite an artist and got completely absorbed in her project. She used charcoal, paint, crayons, glue, and tissue paper to create her own masterpiece. She worked on it for 1 1/2 hours in the morning, a few hours in the evening, and then finished it today! I was completely blown away with her results. She’s so amazingly creative. She crimped her tissue paper to make lovely lily flowers. How original! She was so proud of her work that we framed it and put it on display in the living room!
During art time yesterday, Alex was so slow and careful with her work that in 1 1/2 hours she had only pasted 8-10 green tissue squares on her page. In other words, 95% of the page was still empty. I told my mom and she said, “You know, you can’t rush art.” Whew, self. Patience. I need to work on that.I know deep down that it doesn’t matter if a project takes 30 minutes or 30 days… but in the mean time can it have a general time frame?
Ethan did really well too. He drew his picture with pencil, then colored it with crayon. He was very proud of himself too.
I love watching my kids express themselves. They are so proud of themselves when they create something interesting and new. Plus, it keeps them occupied for a very long time.
Now we can sound fancy too. Yes, my children created Monet impressions during art time today. Or they drew the lily pads we saw at the Arboretum. Or…. they made green splotches on their construction paper for no apparent reason and had a good time doing so! Art is fun and freeing and can be so beautiful. I hope the kids will learn to appreciate it as they grow and recognize some of the more famous pieces throughout history. I happen to think that a little Monet in the morning does the body good.
Alex's Monet Impression
Alex’s Adventures in Art! Today’s Lesson: Shadowing
Every Friday afternoon, the children all gather around our dining room table for an art lesson. Last week we drew geometric animals, turning basic shapes like circles and triangles into birds and caterpillars. Today the boys practiced drawing shapes on their drawing pads and Alex moved on to something more advanced: shadowing.
We’re working through the text Art Basics for Kids- The ABC’s of Art by Sharon Jeffus and really like it. I wasn’t sure how to help the children take their drawing to the next level and this really helps guide the way. Today’s lesson was A is for Apple. We transformed a basic circle into an apple, learning how to shadow with a basic pencil to add shape and depth. Alex drew numerous apples and honed her shadowing skills on her drawing pad. Then, when she was ready, we got out a piece of construction paper for today’s challenge: draw an apple on a table and add shadowing to bring the picture to life.
This is what we got:
Alex's Apple on a Table
I was beyond thrilled with the results and Alex was too. She drew numerous other pictures throughout the evening, experimenting with shadowing in new and exciting ways. Hubby was really impressed with Alex’s drawing when he came home from work. She’s only 7 and can already draw better than him. Now… does that mean she’s good or he’s really bad?
Ten Apples Up On Top! This Week’s Pre-School Theme: Apples!
Derek is Excited For This Week's Theme!
Our pre-school/ kindergarten theme this week is apples. Don’t apples make you think of Fall? Crisp Red Delicious apples fresh from Washington, cool air, and sweaters put me in the Autumn mood. We won’t be wearing sweaters any time soon in Florida, but we will be learning a lot about different types of apples, apple trees, plant growth, harvest, and more.
A fun and challenging part about teaching multiple grade levels is incorporating different ability-levels into a common theme that everyone can enjoy. Here are our goals for today:
Tuesday
THEME: Apples
Circle Discussion: Apple Trees
-Types of apples (red, yellow, green) (Red Delicious, Fuji, McIntosh, Cameo, Rome Beauty, etc)
-Apples have been around since ancient times
-Apple trees grow in orchards and ripen in the fall; Apple trees may live more than 100 years
-Read about harvest and plant growth from “What Your Kindergartener Needs to Know “
-An apple tree may live for more than one hundred years, but a mature tree revisits the same seasonal cycle year after year. In summer tiny buds appear on the branches. The buds develop and grow a protective covering in the fall. During the winter the buds are dormant, protected from the cold by a fuzzy coat. In the spring buds explode into green leaves and little flower buds appear. Insects pollinate the apples flowers, which give way to developing apples. Every apple contains seeds that can begin the process again. Use the poster to reinforce these concepts (From Scholastic website).
Literacy Activities: Read “10 Apples Up On Top,” Tracing A’s for Derek, A-word Word Search for Ethan. The Letter of the week is A.
Songs and Fingerplays: Apple Theme
All Around The Apple Tree
Sung to: “Mulberry Bush”
Here we go round the apple tree, the apple tree, the apple tree
Here we go around the apple tree
On a frosty morning.
This is the way we climb the ladder
-pick the apples
-wash the apples
-peel the apples
-cook the apples
Ten Red Apples
(Both hands high) Ten red apples grow on a tree
(Dangle one hand and then the other) Five for you and five for me.
(Shake body) Let us shake the tree just so
(Hands fall) And ten red apples will fall below
(Count ea. finger) 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10.
Apple Poem
Apples big,
Apples small.
Guess what?
I like them all.
Art: Color Apple Tree Pictures
Number Sense: Workbooks and IXL.com
Large Motor Skills: “Apple Picking” and “Apple Balancing Fun”
For apple picking, see dramatic play.
Apple Balancing Fun: Balance beanbags on head to simulate apple balancing from book “Ten Apples Up On Top.” This can be done in circle time.
Fine Motor Development: Writing/ Tracing- See art and literacy sections
Dramatic Play: Pretend Farm
Pretend Apple Picking:
Wake Up! We’re going apple picking today! (Yawn, stretch, pretend to hope out of bed)
Let’s drive to the farm. (Pretend to steer car).
Get your basket. (Pretend to get basket).
Wow! Look at all the apples! Let’s pick some! (Pick apples off tree)
Put them in your basket. (Bend down, place in basket)
These apples are really high! Let’s climb! (Pretend to climb tree)
Wow! Our basket is really full! (Pretend to lift heavy basket)
Let’s pay for our apples. (Pretend to give money).
Let’s drive home, that was fun! (Pretend to steer car).
Science and Discovery: Learn About Apple Trees and Farms (circle time)
As you can see, many of these important developmental goals overlap. We should have a really fun day ahead of us. Later this week, we look forward to some apple tasting experiments and baking an apple pie. This week will be a blast!
What are some of your favorite Fall learning activities?
Jacksonville’s Gem: Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens
If you ever travel through Jacksonville, you absolutely must check out the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens at 829 Riverside Avenue. Located along the St. Johns River, the museum was built on the site of a historic Jacksonville mansion and houses a fantastic art collection, has two acres of spectacular, walk-able gardens (one Italian Renaissance garden, one traditional British garden), and boasts an amazing children’s art center. We’ve spent many mornings at the Cummer this summer and won’t tire of it any time soon.
Wednesdays are field trip days at our house, so after two hours of the basics (math and reading), we loaded everyone up in the trusty Sienna and headed out on the town. Our first stop was the library, a weekly favorite. This is the last week of the Jacksonville Public Library’s Summer Reading Program and the kids were excited to turn in their reading logs and get a prize. They each got a new book to keep and loaded up their library bags with new treasures to borrow as well. My kids are serious about their books and check out at least 30 new titles a week. Even Bella chooses her own books now!
Our next stop was the Cummer for some hands-on art before lunch. We made self-portraits and built sculptures. We painted amazing original paintings (and printed them!) and read books in the little lounge. We explored shapes, colors, and textures, and searched for our favorite pieces of art. Alex and Ethan made postcards with self-drawn pictures of Florida to send to Grandma and Grandma. All the kids rediscovered the wonders of mixing paints to create new colors and danced in the dark room where their colorful, moving images appeared on a projector screen in front of them. Bella showed more interest in the touchable art that she ever has before, walking slowly along the display and carefully examining and touching piece.
We only spent an hour there today, but came away with three self-portraits, two post cards, and 6 “original masterpieces” for the refrigerator! We also grabbed a flier about their weekly art classes and look forward to trying them out this fall. The kids are all sleeping peacefully now, their brains tired and their tummies full from a special Chick-fil-a lunch on the town. Hopefully they wake up nice and refreshed for some afternoon reading time and a few more at-home learning adventures.
