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Apr 15

Art In Time For Summer

Posted on Sunday, April 15, 2012

I have a thing for art.

I’ve always had a thing for art, but sharing the experience with my kids through these homeschool years had increased my love exponentially.

Several days a week we find ourselves with sketchbooks and paints and sharpies during an assignment for Sketch Tuesday, an assignment from Artistic Pursuits, a project for art class in our little co-op, or just many hands sketching while I read.

This year the focus has been slightly narrowed down to drawing and watercolor skills, based on the Artistic Pursuit’s book were doing this year, and because the supplies for these mediums are so easy to grab and use. (We varied things up a bit more when we studied Van Gogh in the later winter/early spring).

A New Art Book

Recently my friend and local librarian sent me a recommendation for DK’s My Art Book: Amazing Art Projects Inspired by Masterpieces.

I’ve always enjoyed DK books and My Art Book contains all of the elements I expect to find in their books : crisp and colorful illustrations, step by step directions, and projects that look inviting and do-able.

Flipping through the pages got my hands itching to mix some paint with ashes and berries and make a cave painting.

Or work in 3d to create a sculptured African mask.

I wanted to think about portraits in a new way as I gazed at the work of Guiseppe Arcimboldo and imagined what we could do with food, some Legos, and a camera.

Along with the overly familiar VanGogh sunflowers(the image from the book cover, which incidentally, is not actually in the book) and Warhol pop art, here are the other artists in the book:

Guiseppe Arcimboldo
Katsushike Hokusai
Edgar Degas
Henri Rousseau
Wassily Kadinsky
Paul Klee
Deigo Rivera
Henry Moore
Kenojuak Ashevak

A Summer Art Plan

This is the perfect book for summer,” I thought to myself. “We can shoot for one project a week (that, of course will change, because summer never goes according to schedule) and even invite different friends over to join us.

Doing these kind of projects regularly at our house along with our daily school schedule, with four kids, including the newly curious three year old, would leave me flustered.  But after a year of trying to get the shadows and shading and realism just right, this looks like a great way to play with art this summer.

What are your favorite resources for art?

Aimee

 

Feb 14

Seriously Silly for Art

Posted on Tuesday, February 14, 2012

You might want to hop over to my other blog to check out our family’s experience with an online art class by the author of Drawing Lab.

Mar 2

Evan Moor Fairy Tale and Folktale Pockets: A Review

Posted on Wednesday, March 2, 2011

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Why I Chose the Evan Moor Folktale and Fairytale Pockets, Grades 2 and 3

With two middle elementary students in the house, I wanted to make sure that we didn’t forget to do some fun, younger activities for our kindergartener. He’s always tagging along with our school time, a little ahead of himself, and I wanted to dip back into the precious early years of learning. I also wanted to try matching him with his 8 year old sister for a project, and give our eldest a independent project.

We really enjoyed the Evan Moor Native American Pockets last year, and I’ve had my eye on the Folktale and Fairy Tale Pockets for a while.  We started them just after the New Year, as something different to spice up our learning time during the winter slump.

They have indeed spiced things up, and provided the magic that fairy tales bring, something I don’t ever want to lose in our home.  Our ten year old did her own project and then begged to sit down with us every day because she couldn’t stand to miss the fun. We let her, of course.  If you’re homeschooling multiple children, these pockets are quite a find, a nice break from balancing multiple projects with many children.  It’s easy to simplify for younger children and add in more challenging connections for your olders.

You can read more about what’s included in the pockets here.  I enjoyed the e-book, knowing that I could print just the right amount of copies for our family.

What We Liked

The selection of fairy tales included a handful of favorites and a handful of surprises.  Each story includes suggestions for extending the lessons and several hands on activities.  We enjoyed making finger puppets, a story mobile, paper doll elves, painting, and more.

What Needed Adjustment

As was true with our last Evan Moor Pockets, we needed library books to supplement each slim two page fairy tale that was included.  I also would have enjoyed more background information for my own preparation, such historical information on the folktales and fairytales along with a comparison of the two genres.

Because the focus of the activities involves a lot of cutting and coloring, we can only do these pockets once or twice a year.  My kids are not big on coloring, preferring to sketch and fill in their own designs. But for some reason, coloring becomes all the rage when we keep these types of activities rare.  If you’re doing these pockets with just one student, you might think about coloring along with your child or allowing him the choice of coloring or not.  Remember, coloring a picture in the lines is really an overrated skill!  You could also move beyond crayons and markers and try watercolors, acrylics, or pastels.

How We Organized the Pockets
As much as we loved the Native American Pockets, our hard work ended with a bulky, oversized, unstable product.  This time we made the pockets the right size for a three ring binder. Smaller projects were stored in the pocket, larger items(such as the printed fairy tale) were hole punched and added after the pocket.

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Suggestions for Extended Activities:

  • Write your own fairy tale.
  • Write a new ending to an already written tale.
  • Write a fairy tale from the perspective of a different character (the frog or the witch instead of the Princess, for example).
  • Ask an older child to adapt a fairy tale into a play for younger siblings.
  • Read a biography about The Grimm Brothers.

Here are some pictures from our learning time.

The Brave Little Tailor

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The Fisherman and His Wife

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This was an art project inspired here, not an Evan Moor activity.

Jack and the Beanstalk

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Measuring the beanstalk, an activity from the pockets.

The Elves and the Shoemaker

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The template for these elves is included, the background is courtesy of the American Girl Molly Paper Dolls.

The Frog Prince

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The Bremen Town Musicians

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This painting activity is inspired by a project in the pockets, but we based our illustrations on the style of Hans Fischer, shown below.

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Book and Video Suggestions:

Henny Penny

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  • Henny Penny by Jane Wattenberg
  • Chicken Little by Ed and Rebecca Emberley
  • Chicken Little on this Scholastic DVD Edition

The Brave Little Tailor

  • The Brave Little Seamstress by Mary Pope Osborne

The Fisherman and His Wife

The Elves and the Shoemaker

The Frog Prince

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  • The Frog Prince or Iron Henry by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Illustrated by Binette Schroeder
  • The Frog Prince Continued by Jon Sczeika

The Bremen Town Musicians

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The Bremen Town Musicians by Hans Fischer

Other Fun Read-Alouds or Older Child

  • The Magician’s Boy by Susan Cooper
  • The Sister’s Grimm: The Fairy Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley *

Videos

Into the Woods **

*Parents may want to preview this selection.

** The musical is a really fun twist on fairy tales and a nice way to wrap up your fairy tale pockets.  However, you’ll want to preview this video and decide if it’s right for your family.  We chose to watch only the first act (which is as long as a regular kids movie) as we liked the content of the second half less.  And we didn’t like the scene with the wolf (it will be rather obvious why), so we just skipped that scene.

Dec 4

Evan-Moor History Pockets, A Review

Posted on Friday, December 4, 2009

Each of our three school-aged children has expressed an interest in Indians. Following their interest, we set aside plans to finish Story of the World 1, and instead started a journey through the tribes of North America.

To help us explore, I purchased an Evan Moor product for the first time.  I’ve heard such positive reviews about their products from the ladies over at Homeschool Share for years.  Last week we started the Evan Moor History Pockets for Native Americans, grades 1-3.  I bought the ebook version so that I can print off only what we actually use.

I’ve enjoyed everything about this purchase.  I can’t say that about too many products out there, I usually spend half my time thinking of how to fill holes.

There are two activities per tribe and they are easy to accomplish but still fun.

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Nez Perce Decorations for the Appaloosa Horses

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Character Qualities of Chief Joseph from the Nez Perce Indians

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Tlingit Potlatch Masks

A map of the tribes along with picture cards to create a Native American dictionary are included.

My 4 1/2, 7, and 9 year old have all been engaged in this unit, an unexpected bonus for me.

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With the Evan Moore pockets, the only extra resource I recommend is the library.  But even if you don’t have that, a short booklet is included for each tribe(it’s helpful and will do the trick, but it’s not like having some great pictures and read-alouds.)  I’ll continue to update the book list at the end up this post, as we continue through the tribes.

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I truly haven’t looked for other supplements, though a few have walked into my email via rss feeds, like this igloo below.  And the new information we’ve been learning has inspired lots of creative play.  Think Inuit animals bundled in baby sister’s winter clothes and tied onto a ladder as a sleigh.

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Note: I purchased this product for our family homeschool, I received no money to review this product.

Suggested Booklist

The Inuits
Call me Ahnighito by Pam Conrad
The Year of Miss Agnes by Kirkpatrick Hill(CB)
The Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett

The Tlingit
The Tlingit by Raymond Bial
The Frog Princess Tlingit Legend from Alaska by Eric A Kimmel

Nez Perce
Thunder Rolling in the Mountians by Scott O’Dell(CB)*
The Nez Perce by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve
Chief Joseph Boy of the Nez Perce’ by Olive W. Burt(CB)*
The Nez Perce by Sharlene and Ted  Nelson

The Maidu
Home to Medicine Mountain by Chiori Santiago

Other Indian Read-Alouds
Caddy Woodlawn(CB)
Tree in the Trail by Holling C. Holling
Pocahontas by Ingri and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire

CB-Chapter Book
*This book was checked out by our family, by we didn’t get a chance to read it.