Week 20 Day 2

Book choices for today:

Vincent’s Colors   Metropolitan Museum of Art
Vincent Van Gogh: Sunflowers and Swirly Stars   Joan Holub
Touch the Art: Make Van Gogh’s Bed   Julie Appel
Katie and the Sunflowers   James Mayhew
Shadow Graphs Anyone Can Make   Running Press
Shadows are About   Ann Whitford Paul

Artist: (first circle)

Need for lesson – Van Gogh artist set.

Art 14

We have learned about many different famous artist. Can you tell me the name of some? Today we will talk about another artist and his name was Vincent Van Gogh. Van Gogh was born in 1853, a very long time ago, in The Netherlands. His family were art dealers, they bought and sold art paintings. When he was older, he moved to London to work for his family there. He liked living there and visited many art galleries. He didn’t like the job with his families art business, so he became a teacher. When he was finished being a teacher he started to do drawings of people that he met. Then one day his cousin gave him his first set of watercolor paints. His first masterpiece painting was called The Potato Eaters. Van Gogh decided to move to Paris and focus on painting. He made many beautiful paintings.

Van Gogh Paintings (MontessoriPrintShop.com)
Van Gogh Paintings (MontessoriPrintShop.com)

Additional Works:

Van Gogh Water Coloring – This is from the book ‘Masterpieces to Color’.

Sunflowers Still Life Painting – Set up a vase on the art table and the children can paint a still life of the sunflowers, as Van Gogh! Remind them of the still life fruit painting they made when we learned about Cezanne from Week 12 Day 4. You can also set up different flowers for a still life or use a different arrangement of sunflowers from the one used with the artist Monet. Ask the children if they remember painting sunflowers before and that artist name.

Fork Scrape Painting – Using forks children can twirl lines onto their paintings.

Water Color
Water Color
Sunflower Still Life Painting
Sunflower Still Life Painting
Van Gogh Art Idea
Van Gogh Art Idea

Science: (second circle)

Need for lesson – Shadow matching work, two or three pictures or paintings that show shadows, and a flashlight or other light source.

Science 46

What is a shadow? Where can we find shadows? Shadows are created when light from a light source, such as the sun, or a light bulb, is blocked by a solid object. The light can’t get through, and the dark area that is we see is the shadow of the object. Shadows can change shape and size. As the sun moves in the sky, the shadows made will change. When we go outside, look to see what size and shape your shadow is. Then when we go for the last playtime of the day, look at your shadow again, to see if it changes or stay the same. We can even find shadows in art. Artist will paint or draw shadows in their pictures. Let’s look for them in these pictures.

Let’s try to make shadows. I have a light source for us to use. We will turn off the lights and use this wall to take turns using our hands to make shadows. Think about which hand shapes you are going to use while you wait for your turn. Sometimes hand shape shadows can look like animals.

Matching Cards
Matching Cards

Additional Works:

Silhouettes – Trace each child’s side view of their head to make a silhouette picture.

Silhouettes
Silhouettes
Reverse Silhouettes
Reverse Silhouettes

For a real easy silhouette idea, I did some ‘reverse’ ones. Take and print out each child’s photo. Cut out photos and paste them upside down on a black paper.

Reverse Silhouettes
Reverse Silhouettes
I found plain wood frames at a craft store. The children painted them and added glitter. I cut out their photos and traced them onto black card stock, which I then cut out,  ready to be added to a piece of white card stock and then this was glued onto the painted black frame.
I found plain wood frames at a craft store. The children painted them and added glitter. I cut out their photos and traced them onto black card stock, which I then cut out, ready to be added to a piece of white card stock and then this was glued onto the painted black frame.

Shadow Man – This is character that my husband helped me to make. It is made with foil and masking tape. I used it on a sunny day with the children to make shadow man pictures. We posed him in a way to see his shadow appear on the paper and then traced around the shadow.

Shadow Man
Shadow Man (my husband shaped tin foil to cast a shadow)

Songs/Poems:

My Shadow (Poems to Grow On)
Sometimes I think my shadow
Plays a funny game:
He is forever changing
While I remain the same.

In the early morning,
He’s long as he can be,
Long and lean and lanky,
And twice as tall as me.

All morning, he keeps shrinking
Til he is short and round.
At noon, he lies beneath my feet-
A puddle on the ground.

And then, he starts to stretch again,
Until by five or six,
He’s lanky, lean, and long again.
I wish I knew his tricks.

Song (cd) choices for today:

Van Gogh   Famous Artist
Shadow Dancing   Kids in Motion