We read Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner and talked about lives of animals in winter. The artwork in this book is really nice, it shows very nicely how animals spend winter under the snow.
Showing posts with label art grade 1. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art grade 1. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Last days of winter
With all this warm weather (minus today's icy drizzle) spring is really in the air. There were a few of winter books though we had to finish. So we decided we'll squeeze in one more winter art project.
We read Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner and talked about lives of animals in winter. The artwork in this book is really nice, it shows very nicely how animals spend winter under the snow.
This book prompted us to talk about our winter, how we spent it (lots of fun times outside and inside). We decided to keep a "window" opened to winter with a special round drawing. The idea for this project came from Discovering Great Artists: Hands-on Art for Children in the Styles of the Great
by MaryAnn Kohl.
We drew a big circle on a white sheet of watercolor paper tracing a pot lid. D. cut out this circle and drew his favorite moment inside using oil pastels (sledding downhill with friends). We then glued our circle drawing on a piece of black construction paper, D. also added snowflakes around drawing.
We read Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner and talked about lives of animals in winter. The artwork in this book is really nice, it shows very nicely how animals spend winter under the snow.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Learning about Morocco- part 3
This week we read some more about Morocco.
"The Butter Man" by Elizabeth Alalou tells about a boy's childhood in Atlas Mountains in Morocco.
Zorah's Magic Carpet by Stefan Czernecki is a fairy tale about one curious woman and her desire to see the world.
My Father's Shop by Satomi Ichikawa tells a simple story about a boy playing in his father's carpet shop and playfully learning words from different languages from tourists.
We talked a little bit more about Morocco's culture, looked at photographs online and listened to the music. We also did a mosaic art project. The idea for the project can be found here.
D. drew a design of an archway and picked some colors for his mosaic. We did not have tiles so I just used paint chips from a home improvement store and cut them in small pieces. (Paint chips (as I discovered via pinterest) are awesome for children crafts- they are sturdier than construction paper and come in much wider variety of colors)
"The Butter Man" by Elizabeth Alalou tells about a boy's childhood in Atlas Mountains in Morocco.
My Father's Shop by Satomi Ichikawa tells a simple story about a boy playing in his father's carpet shop and playfully learning words from different languages from tourists.
We talked a little bit more about Morocco's culture, looked at photographs online and listened to the music. We also did a mosaic art project. The idea for the project can be found here.
D. drew a design of an archway and picked some colors for his mosaic. We did not have tiles so I just used paint chips from a home improvement store and cut them in small pieces. (Paint chips (as I discovered via pinterest) are awesome for children crafts- they are sturdier than construction paper and come in much wider variety of colors)
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Learning about Morocco -part 2
This time we learned all about Sahara desert and people and animals that inhibit it. We talked about Tuareg people and read One night by Christine Kessler. This lovely illustrated book talks about life of a Tuareg boy. The story is about deep connection within a family and with surrounding nature.
We also read The Storytellers by Ted Lewine to repeat all that we learned about Morocco last week.
D. drew a picture of a camel crossing desert. We ate some couscous that I made and drank mint tea just like people of the desert.
We also read The Storytellers by Ted Lewine to repeat all that we learned about Morocco last week.
D. drew a picture of a camel crossing desert. We ate some couscous that I made and drank mint tea just like people of the desert.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Snowy evening
Today we woke up and found spectacular snowfall outside. D. had wonderful time shoveling snow on the patio and we enjoyed some hot cocoa in the afternoon.
One of my New Year's Resolutions is to read more poetry, especially to kids, so today we read Stopping by the Woods on the Snowy Evening by Robert Frost. After reading and discussing the poem we did a little art project. The inspiration came from a handout for art teachers my mom brought for me from Motherland.
Here's the process
1.Child paints winter evening background on a wet paper with watercolors. D. used blue and some purple.
2. Fold a piece of card stock and draw half a tree on the fold. Carefully cut the tree out creating a stencil.
3. We used Faber-Castell gel sticks and gouache paint, but I think kid's paint will work fine too if not too diluted to stencil trees. We used black for trees standing further away (higher on the sheet), blue for those in the middle and brown for the closest trees. We added accents with metallic colored gel sticks and white paint.We also added falling snow.
Fun and simple art project.
One of my New Year's Resolutions is to read more poetry, especially to kids, so today we read Stopping by the Woods on the Snowy Evening by Robert Frost. After reading and discussing the poem we did a little art project. The inspiration came from a handout for art teachers my mom brought for me from Motherland.
Here's the process
1.Child paints winter evening background on a wet paper with watercolors. D. used blue and some purple.
2. Fold a piece of card stock and draw half a tree on the fold. Carefully cut the tree out creating a stencil.
3. We used Faber-Castell gel sticks and gouache paint, but I think kid's paint will work fine too if not too diluted to stencil trees. We used black for trees standing further away (higher on the sheet), blue for those in the middle and brown for the closest trees. We added accents with metallic colored gel sticks and white paint.We also added falling snow.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Learning about Morocco- part 1
Second half of the first grade has started. A little bit slow too.
This month we are learning all about Morocco.
Today's lesson was a brief introduction to the country:
-we found it on the map and learned basic facts such as capital, official language and flag. We also learned some fun facts from Not for Parents Travel Book
.
-we looked through Mirror by Jeannie Baker (I write more about this book in my new children books blog)
-D. made a Hamsa the Good Luck Charm art (inspired by a project found here).
This month we are learning all about Morocco.
Today's lesson was a brief introduction to the country:
-we found it on the map and learned basic facts such as capital, official language and flag. We also learned some fun facts from Not for Parents Travel Book
-we looked through Mirror by Jeannie Baker (I write more about this book in my new children books blog)
-D. made a Hamsa the Good Luck Charm art (inspired by a project found here).
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Last fall artwork for this year
We are done with fall. We had been so blessed with prolonged "season of golden trees" this year, but the wind the other night blew the last of the leaves away. I know the winter is not coming for people here is US until December 22, but for us December 1st is the official beginning. So this will be our last fall craft this year.
We wanted to do a leaf rubbing craft with crayons and watercolors. However our paper turned out to be too thick for that, and thin paper could not support amounts of watercolor without breaking apart. So, we just covered the whole sheet of failed leaves rubbings with colors of the fall, and cut trees out of the scrapbook paper. We made each tree out of two different pages, glued it on, traced with oil pastels and voila! I think it's very pretty.
We are now looking forward to the festivities of holiday season :)
Soundtrack for today: November Woods - Live to Dance
We wanted to do a leaf rubbing craft with crayons and watercolors. However our paper turned out to be too thick for that, and thin paper could not support amounts of watercolor without breaking apart. So, we just covered the whole sheet of failed leaves rubbings with colors of the fall, and cut trees out of the scrapbook paper. We made each tree out of two different pages, glued it on, traced with oil pastels and voila! I think it's very pretty.
 | |
| Goodbye fall! |
Soundtrack for today: November Woods - Live to Dance
Thursday, November 24, 2011
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
So many things to be thankful for this year- family, friends, we are truly blessed! Delightful meal is ready and we will sit down to it in a few minutes.
We had a lovely peaceful day, warm and sunny. D. took a bike ride-he's getting so good at it! We read
And made a Thanksgiving collage-D. pasted a little note of what he's thankful for, a little thanksgiving song, some fall leaves on brighly painted background. We sealed the whole thing with the mod podge and it made a lovely centerpiece for our table. :)
We had a lovely peaceful day, warm and sunny. D. took a bike ride-he's getting so good at it! We read
And made a Thanksgiving collage-D. pasted a little note of what he's thankful for, a little thanksgiving song, some fall leaves on brighly painted background. We sealed the whole thing with the mod podge and it made a lovely centerpiece for our table. :)
Blessings to all friends and visitors!
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Science Sunday-The Planets
Last week we started to learn about Space. The first lesson- The Sun went quite well and D. were impatient to learn more.
Throughout the week we talked about what we already know and finally today we sat down and talked about different planets.
The Planets
by Gail Gibbons was a great help.
We read about half of it and decided to return to planets beyond Earth next week :)
We made felted model of Solar System mobile (something I was dying to do for a while now and,boy, was it a pain to put together as a mobile :D). There is this great tutorial, I, however, totally forgot to even look for a solar system kit, so we had to improvise. :D Initially it was planned as a wet-felted solar system, but since we have never wet-felted before it did not go quite as planned.
We used wool stuffing as a core for all planets (except for the smallest ones) and put colorful wool on top. D. wet-felted it all into balls in the sink and I added some needle felting after planets were semi-dry (we really wanted to hang the whole thing today :D). We attached it with some wire to a wicker wreath (no easy task I tell you) and voila! It's not to scale of course and Jupiter is almost upon the Earth now :D
Some extra stuff on topic of planets study :
Solar System at NASA
Solar System at Kids astronomy
Solar System 101 video
Solar System coloring book via A to Z Home's Cool Homeschooling's great page with many links
Throughout the week we talked about what we already know and finally today we sat down and talked about different planets.
The Planets
We made felted model of Solar System mobile (something I was dying to do for a while now and,boy, was it a pain to put together as a mobile :D). There is this great tutorial, I, however, totally forgot to even look for a solar system kit, so we had to improvise. :D Initially it was planned as a wet-felted solar system, but since we have never wet-felted before it did not go quite as planned.
We used wool stuffing as a core for all planets (except for the smallest ones) and put colorful wool on top. D. wet-felted it all into balls in the sink and I added some needle felting after planets were semi-dry (we really wanted to hang the whole thing today :D). We attached it with some wire to a wicker wreath (no easy task I tell you) and voila! It's not to scale of course and Jupiter is almost upon the Earth now :D
Some extra stuff on topic of planets study :
Solar System at NASA
Solar System at Kids astronomy
Solar System 101 video
Friday, November 18, 2011
change of seasons
As much as we miss California we really appreciate the change of seasons here.
Yesterday was a gorgeous late autumn day- clear skies with a few fluffy clouds, warm breeze...It's hard to believe that it could change overnight (having had a couple of heavy snowfalls this year already we are prepared:)), and yet the snow on the ground will be welcome.
Today -slightly colder, but still bright sun and fairly warm outside. We decided to talk again about seasons changing and what it means for plants and animals.
The book that helped us do it is Four Seasons:Uncovering Nature by Annie Jones - a beautiful present from friends. The book contains loads of information and is beautifully illustrated.
Another book we enjoyed is Autumn Story ( Brambly Hedge) by Jill Barklem. Sweet story and gorgeous illustrations.
After reading we did an art project , inspired by this picture I found on pinterest. This project took us two days to finish.
Day one: We sketched a forest scene on a large sheet of paper- some trees, animals. Second step was separating sheet vertically into four equal parts- one for each season (initially it was done in pencil, when D. was ready to color I erased pencil and traced a line with a white crayon). Day Two: D. traced outlines with crayons using appropriate colors for each season (bright green for fresh grass, gray-blue for snowy ground, dark brownish-green for autumn grass, etc.). The forth step is painting each part with watercolors. Add some outlining with oil pastels and glitter accents and voila!
Happy Weekend to All!
Yesterday was a gorgeous late autumn day- clear skies with a few fluffy clouds, warm breeze...It's hard to believe that it could change overnight (having had a couple of heavy snowfalls this year already we are prepared:)), and yet the snow on the ground will be welcome.
Today -slightly colder, but still bright sun and fairly warm outside. We decided to talk again about seasons changing and what it means for plants and animals.
The book that helped us do it is Four Seasons:Uncovering Nature by Annie Jones - a beautiful present from friends. The book contains loads of information and is beautifully illustrated.
Another book we enjoyed is Autumn Story ( Brambly Hedge) by Jill Barklem. Sweet story and gorgeous illustrations.
After reading we did an art project , inspired by this picture I found on pinterest. This project took us two days to finish.
Day one: We sketched a forest scene on a large sheet of paper- some trees, animals. Second step was separating sheet vertically into four equal parts- one for each season (initially it was done in pencil, when D. was ready to color I erased pencil and traced a line with a white crayon). Day Two: D. traced outlines with crayons using appropriate colors for each season (bright green for fresh grass, gray-blue for snowy ground, dark brownish-green for autumn grass, etc.). The forth step is painting each part with watercolors. Add some outlining with oil pastels and glitter accents and voila!
Happy Weekend to All!
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Denver Center for the Performing Arts field trip+poster artwork
We had the most interesting field trip today, thanks again to our co-op. Just two weeks ago we saw The Lion King at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts and today we got the chance to see what's going on backstage (not for this particular show) and to visit "the kitchen" of the theater so to say. Unfortunately, my camera died on me in the very beginning of the tour, so no pictures apart from those on my phone :( and the quality is terrible.
The tours are open to the public, more info found here.
The tour was great indeed. We learned a few curious facts about the facility which comprises several venues- each has its own purpose, one of this facts is that it is the world’s largest performance facility under one roof. We visited two stages at Bonfils theatre- one of which was The Space theatre- theatre in-the-round (Tom Sawyer is the current prodiction) , I've never seen stages like this before and I'm most curious to see a play there. D. was very impressed with decorations for The Christmas Carol play.
We also visited Ellie Caulkins Opera House, which is lyric theatre. We saw both the stage and dressing rooms.
The most exciting part of our visit was a tour of costume and props workshops. One truly starts to appreciate how much effort goes into creating the magic of a play. All these rooms full of fabric, prop parts, the creative process of designing of stage lightning- absolutely fascinating. We had a discussion later of the whole new world of theatre professions that was open to us today.
Incredibly grateful for the visit and planning to see more shows at this wonderful place.
We decided to try and stage a small play at home one day, and for starters D. has created a poster for his upcoming play. It is based on a Russian folk tale Kolobok (English text can be found here).
The tours are open to the public, more info found here.
The tour was great indeed. We learned a few curious facts about the facility which comprises several venues- each has its own purpose, one of this facts is that it is the world’s largest performance facility under one roof. We visited two stages at Bonfils theatre- one of which was The Space theatre- theatre in-the-round (Tom Sawyer is the current prodiction) , I've never seen stages like this before and I'm most curious to see a play there. D. was very impressed with decorations for The Christmas Carol play.
We also visited Ellie Caulkins Opera House, which is lyric theatre. We saw both the stage and dressing rooms.
The most exciting part of our visit was a tour of costume and props workshops. One truly starts to appreciate how much effort goes into creating the magic of a play. All these rooms full of fabric, prop parts, the creative process of designing of stage lightning- absolutely fascinating. We had a discussion later of the whole new world of theatre professions that was open to us today.
Incredibly grateful for the visit and planning to see more shows at this wonderful place.
We decided to try and stage a small play at home one day, and for starters D. has created a poster for his upcoming play. It is based on a Russian folk tale Kolobok (English text can be found here).
Monday, November 14, 2011
Brazil round-up
Part one of our studies was dedicated to geography and basic information about the country. We made a destination card, traced the map of Brazil instead of cutting one out of magazine. Description of our first lesson can be found here.
Part two was dedicated to the rich culture of the country and Carnival in particular. We did a drawing/collage of a carnival participant. Description of the lesson can be found here.
The third part was dedicated to the Amazon rainforest and its unique ecosystem. We read The Great Kapok Tree by Lynn Cherry which is a great book to introduce a child to the biodiversity of and Amazon forest and explain the impact a man makes on the forest. We also looked through the rainforest page in Nature Cross-sections book by Richard Orr. We also watched video about Brazil's nature that we got from the library as well as How Children live in Brazil (which was not very interesting as it is focused on similarities of the lifestyle instead of interesting cultural moments). The art project of the day was the Rainforest Scene. The idea for this project is taken from a great book called My Art Book. First we painted a background of a forest complete with a river. Then, using different paper, we drew and cut out trees, flowers and animals (we used cardstock, construction paper, brightly colored post its and just painted animals with watercolors) adding interesting details with oil pastels and wax crayons (such as shades on leaves). Finally, we glued out animals and plants on the large paper with painted background.
We watched lots of videos on youtube, listened (and continue listening) to a lot of music. I picked up one of Jorge Amado's books that I was intending to read for ages and while I'm still in process of reading I thoroughly enjoy. D. is fascinated with capoeira and I'm looking for lessons for all of us in the future.
Books about Brazil that we enjoyed:
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Science Sunday- The Star named Sun + field trip
As much as I love doing science with kiddos, I must confess it is not my usual favorite subject to plan (being a liberal arts major all my life (and being told by "kind" teachers that science is not my thing all my life)). However this year I'm thoroughly enjoying it. September and October were dedicated to animals in general, and Colorado animals in particular. The November and December are going to be all about Space.
We had a great start learning about the Sun and having most amazing field trip to the Fiske Planetarium and Sommers-Bausch Observatory in Boulder.
The trip was organized by our amazing co-op -we saw the show about Sun's influence on the Earth at the Planetarium and got an incredibly interesting observatory tour. It was a lot of information for us to process afterwards, but D. was absolutely charmed by being given a chance to look at the sun and two stars (all that is visible in the daylight) through the huge telescopes.
I had no idea that there is such a great place not so far away from us and now I believe we will visit both planetarium and the observatory quite often. The observatory has open house events which allow general public to do some stargazing every Friday during semester.
Before going to the planetarium we read about our Sun and talked about its importance to all that is alive.
Our reading material this week included our favorite encyclopedia- Universe from DK publishing ( as I have written before the latest editions come with handy posters that look great on our wall)
This book is always fun for little ones :
Another source of information is a book that we found on NASA webpage (some info is still beyond D.'s comprehension, but he got a good idea of what sun does)
Super Star meets the plucky planet storybook
The teacher's guide on NASA webpage is most helpful as well:
NASA'a teacher resources about Earth and Sun connection .pdf
The Sun images gallery is this way .
Great video about Sun:
The answer to the question how big is the sun and earth was provided by this image and video:
Our craft was quite simple- D. simply cut out a shape of sun and colored it with oil pastels- now it warms up our art display
Another great thing? Why, the Sun songs of course :)
We had a great start learning about the Sun and having most amazing field trip to the Fiske Planetarium and Sommers-Bausch Observatory in Boulder.
The trip was organized by our amazing co-op -we saw the show about Sun's influence on the Earth at the Planetarium and got an incredibly interesting observatory tour. It was a lot of information for us to process afterwards, but D. was absolutely charmed by being given a chance to look at the sun and two stars (all that is visible in the daylight) through the huge telescopes.
 |
| looking for Venus |
I had no idea that there is such a great place not so far away from us and now I believe we will visit both planetarium and the observatory quite often. The observatory has open house events which allow general public to do some stargazing every Friday during semester.
Before going to the planetarium we read about our Sun and talked about its importance to all that is alive.
Our reading material this week included our favorite encyclopedia- Universe from DK publishing ( as I have written before the latest editions come with handy posters that look great on our wall)
Another source of information is a book that we found on NASA webpage (some info is still beyond D.'s comprehension, but he got a good idea of what sun does)
Super Star meets the plucky planet storybook
The teacher's guide on NASA webpage is most helpful as well:
NASA'a teacher resources about Earth and Sun connection .pdf
The Sun images gallery is this way .
Great video about Sun:
The answer to the question how big is the sun and earth was provided by this image and video:
Our craft was quite simple- D. simply cut out a shape of sun and colored it with oil pastels- now it warms up our art display
Friday, November 11, 2011
Autumn...
Our autumn was especially beautiful this year. Now all the gold is almost gone from the trees, but I still want to share it here.
We did a window display again. Last year we did the most beautiful watercolor leaves out of coffee filters for our window. This year we decided to use tracing paper and wax crayons for more "cartoonish" effect. The result is a very cheerful window :)
Happy Friday to friends and visitors!
We did a window display again. Last year we did the most beautiful watercolor leaves out of coffee filters for our window. This year we decided to use tracing paper and wax crayons for more "cartoonish" effect. The result is a very cheerful window :)
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