Ella's uncle ChaCha visited our class today and shared a wonderful art lesson with the children. ChaCha is a retired art teacher who worked in the Philadelphia schools for many years teaching children art. He was accompanied by Ella's Auntie Ann, and her Dad Kim.
Having heard that we are studying art and nature ChaCha prepared a thoughtful lesson connecting art and nature and used several art books of Vincent Van Gogh to introduce the concept of landscapes. He first asked , " What does a landscape picture include?" Some of the responses were, " Trees, leaves, grass sunsets, flowers, sun and sky." In small groups, the children looked through the books of Van Gogh paintings that depicted landscapes and trees and the children were asked to think about what they learned simply by looking at the picture. For example looking at the pictures the children were asked to identify the season and describe how the artist created the feeling of a particular season.
ChaCha demonstrated the technique of leaf rubbings and showed how the rubbings could be turned into bare trees. The children practiced making their own rubbings by using a dry, flatten leaf and a crayon. The children were encouraged to darken areas of the rubbing which created the image of a bare tree. Once this step was completed , the children had the opportunity to add leaves , buds and flowers to the branches. The greatest joy was watching each child take their own creativity to a different level by adding their own details creating a landscape scene.
Ella loved having her extended family join in our learning and supporting the connections of home and school experiences are so very important in the lives of our children.
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