To support the Art activities you can show your kids drawings, pictures, photos,… or print some and display them in your house. In the classroom, I like to have a corner with any “Inspiring Art” creation and any “Inspiring person”.

March 5th:

2. Kindergarten

Keep going on our Unit, “How we organize ourselves”, these two last weeks we are learning what is a community helper. One of the most popular community helper among the kids is the policeman. And what can policeman do that we can relate to art? Finger prints, of course because policemen take finger prints at work. So I related this to pointillism. I hope you like it!

“George Seurat was a French Post-Impressionist painter. Post-Impressionists used vivid colours, thick paint, and real-life subject matter like the Impressionists, but these artists put more emphasis on geometric forms and sometimes unnatural or random colours. Seurat is most well-known for his use of pointillism, the practice of applying small strokes or dots of contrasting colours to a surface so that from a distance they blend together. Below you can see a video about him that kids can understand”.

To do something special with your kids you can:

1. Watch the following video.
2. Search some pictures in internet like the ones we have below.
3. Paint: Do the activity suggested below.
4. Share your creations with me!

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Next activity is from The Crafty Classroom:

1. Choose a picture.
2. Prepare supplies (acrylic paint: primary colours and white, cardboard plates to mix the paintings and pencils). Find some pencils that have brand new erasers. You want a nice flat top for easy stamping. 
3. Use the lids of your paints, there will be plenty! Dip your erase into the paint, very gently!
4. Hold the pencil vertical and make a dot on your paper! The amount of paint will determine the size of the dot. You can try for uniform dots or use this knowledge to add character to your project.
5. When you want to change colours use a wipe or a wet paper towel to wipe your eraser.

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Of course you can use any picture your kids want. I am offering you this policeman to colour it using the pointillism technique, because we are working on community helpers. To complete the activity you can do a Thinking Routine. Thinking Routines loosely guide learners’ thought processes. They are short, easy-to-learn mini-strategies that extend and deepen students’ thinking and become part of the fabric of everyday classroom life (Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education).

Thinking Routine: See-Think-Wonder.

This routine encourages students to make careful observations and thoughtful interpretations. It helps
stimulate curiosity and sets the stage for inquiry.

Ask your child to make some observations about the picture (What can you see? A girl and a man or policeman) and follow up with what they think might be going on or what they think these observations might be (What do you think is going on? The girl is talking or asking something to the policeman). Encourage your child to back up their interpretation with reasons. Ask students to think about what this makes them wonder about the picture (I’m wondering if the girl is asking for help, maybe he has seen someone trying to steal another person).

2. Pre-K:

If your child is smaller, then you can keep watching the video of George Seurat you can find above. My suggestion is to show or print and display the creations of this artist. For children to have them within reach and familiarize themselves with images, colours, shapes, etc. After that you can try the the activity you can find below. Your kids will love this printable activity where they will explore mixing the primary colours.

February, 13th:

1. Kindergarten

Right now, the unit of inquiry we are working on is “How we organize ourselves”, and we want to talk about jobs in our community… First, we are going to learn about doctors and nurses because of our situation in China. When talking about doctors and how to be safe and healthy, we can talk about fruits and foods that make us stronger. What can we do in art? We can talk about Giuseppe Arcimboldo. This is the line of thinking that helps me to plan lessons.

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