Johann Sebastian Bach
Posted by Cindy on January 26, 2009
Our Bach study…
December Artist and Composer Studies
Posted by Cindy on December 1, 2008
Thanks to the ladies at the CM Artist Study group, I’ve found a wonderful site for various nativity scenes that we’ll use for art study this month.
Each week, we’ll observe ALL of the paintings noticing different things each time like:
- realism
- colors
- feelings
- which ones capture the reverence best, or the joy best, etc
- the number of people
- who is consistently in each painting and why
- what style pleases them most
- what style pleases them least
Since we’re working on a daily scrapbook page to go along with the Names of Jesus unit and we’re frequently crafting this month, I doubt we’ll do any additional art besides the picture study.
Our composer of the month is – who else – George Frederick Handel. And we’ll be listening to – what else -the “Messiah”.
The biography will come mostly from Classics for Kids, and I may choose an activity or two from Cindy Downes free unit.
As for the “Messiah”, here is a nice explanation of the musical story. We own the “Messiah” on CD, but you can listen to parts of it online here.
Homer and Hayden
Posted by Cindy on November 19, 2008
We continued studying Winslow Homer this week during art. Using this Winslow Homer online lesson, we took special note of the water prints. The kids tried their hand at creating a water landscape and practicing perspective with an up close boat and far away island.
Continuing our study of Hayden, we used parts of this Classics For Kids lesson plan. The rhythm section was particularly helpful for my 3rd grader who is just beginning to start piano and music theory lessons.
And finally, to round out our Fine Arts Tuesday, nature study focused on clouds. We had a snow system that was moving out and new clouds moving in. Observing the various types of clouds in the sky was fascinating. We used a couple of activities and a nature notebooking page from:
Degas and Tchaikovsky
Posted by Cindy on November 11, 2008
For the last few weeks, we’ve been studying Degas and Tchaikovsky during our artist and composer time. For the study of Degas, we spent some time each Tuesday either reading a book about him, observing his artwork or doing an art project related to him. In studying Tchaikovsky, we took some time each week to listen to his story at Classics For Kids or listen to some of his more famous pieces online.
I found several ideas and pictures to study Degas at the following websites:
Last week’s studies included listening toTchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. (The week before we listened to the 1812 Overture.) For Degas, we studied a few of the non-ballerina pieces found here. (The past few weeks have all seemed to focus on Degas’ ballerina paintings and sculpture.)
Since both of my big kids love horses, they latched onto Racehorses at Longchamp, Jockeys in the Rain, and Race Horses right away. After studying each of the paintings a bit, I let the kiddos try their hand at placing a horse within a landscape. Drawing a horse is pretty hard work. Add that to drawing a horse inside a landscape and you’ve got quite a task for 3rd and 6th graders. I love their finished products, though.
This week, we’re starting Winslow Homer and Franz Joseph Hayden!
Fall Treescapes, Degas and Tchaikovsky, and 4-H
Posted by Cindy on October 15, 2008
Yesterday was Tuesday and that means another busy, but very rich day of learning in our house. After a bit of Bible and math, we went outside for nature study from a distance. Instead of observing God’s creation up-close and personal, we took time to view the beautiful autumn trees as they grow in groupings. All the greens, yellows, organges and reds together are just breath-taking!
To record nature study today, we created sponge painted treescapes (a very easy and fun activity.) Take a cheap sponge (I found a bag full of 15-20 sponges at the Dollar Tree the other day) and let your child cut it into various odd shaped pieces. You’ll need a little piece per paint color. Squirt several fall colored tempera or acrylic paints onto a “pallet”.
We started by using a few different blues and a white paint to make the sky. Then we moved on to the ground by using a couple of greens and a gold. Using a thin paintbrush and a couple different colors of brown, we just went along the ground/sky line painting in several tree trunks. Then using reds, yellow, orange and the green paints, we dabbed the edges of the sponges into the colors and gently dabbed onto the paper to create leaves. My explanation probably makes this sound harder than it was! At any rate, the finished product was lovely.
This week started new artist and composer studies. Keeping with the theme of Impressionistic artists, we began studying Edgar Degas.
Since Degas painted so many ballerinas, it just seemed fitting to teach Tchaikovsky at the same time. I found a wonderful site for composers called Classics For Kids. Where have I been, right??? We were able to listen to a couple of biographical stories about Tchaikovsky and hear some of his famous Nutcracker.
And finally, after our tea time and a history activity we headed to the first 4-H meeting of the year. Our homeschool 4-H club is designed mostly as a service-oriented club. The kids packed snack bags for needy children in the area, then worked on fall-themed thank you magnets for our local hospital workers.
Like I said – busy, but wonderful!
