Jackson Pollock and The Secret Garden

Not Jackson Pollack and The secret Garden together, though thinking about it now that could of produced some lovely artwork!

Our weekly art group's theme this week was Jackson Pollock, L loves his artwork and enjoys painting in his style. The first few paintings were done at the art table,

 

they then cleared the floor and put down some large sheets of paper (poster size) and let the children paint there, the finished piece is huge!

We have been looking at the different biomes in our Monday group and they put together a mini lapbook, they rather loved the penguin drawing using a number 8 as the base, so we used their favourite ones to decorate their lapbooks.

One of my favourite childhood books is The secret Garden, ok one of many childhood favourites! I thought it would be a lovely one to share and create some beautiful art work to go along with it. As the story starts in India and talks lots about the heat, we used some chalk pastels to create sunsets, all but my own child who decided she would prefer to draw a cactus dessert.

We looked up India in our illustrated Maps book and they saw the peacocks, so again using chalk pastels they drew some peacock feathers.

Using this simple guide on how to draw a peacock, they drew their own ones.

With the story now taking us to the journey across the moors with the wind and the rain. I thought using pencils to create trees was a lovely way to try out different materials and also to show the contrast between the bright colourful start to the book and now the drab, dulling setting we were now travelling through in this chapter.

Then to contrast again, watercolours to show the secret garden coming alive and of course the robin that helped Mary to find the garden.

A Good Week

Last week we had small amount of snow and L managed to make the tiniest of snowmen on her own, perfect timing as we had been reading the Secret Seven when they make loads of snowmen in field and she has been really wanting to make one. My car passed its MOT, huge sigh of relief, adivsory was it needs some welding but my neighbour up the road says he can sort that out and as the car is getting older, he will put some sealant along to reduce the chance of more rust, so I am happy. The only downside this week is I have come down with a cold, tomorrow I am of to the hospital for some allergy testing, I've waited 7 months for this appointment and really worrying that they will say I am not well enough for the challenge. This is all down to the fact that when I had my last steroid injection I had a rather bad allergic reaction, we are assuming to some ingredient in the injection, so before I have anymore hospital treatment, I need to find out what I am allergic too, so fingers are crossed I will be ok.

M is now working very hard at her maths and has added in some more revision, I know she is struggling and will for various reasons find the exam setting hard, but she will of definitely tried her best and we have a few months to go yet. O has been told his maths grades are great, distinctions all the way, so he won't need to continue the maths part of his access course as he knows what he is doing, so proud Mum moment. L has learnt how to do the o'clocks and loves to set her clock and calendar most mornings, some days we forget but if we are doing some table phonics or maths work then she does her calendar as it is next to where she sits.

This week we spent some time looking at the UK in our book of Maps and I found some Uk flags on Twinkl. I then ended up printing out various flags from around the world for her to colour in while listening to the CD of Faraway Tree.

M and I have been watching A House Through Time fascinating is one word to say about it, the residents of the house were very varied and interesting, I love the fact that he follows up on their lives after they leave the house and move on. One of those programs that could spark many history projects. Can't wait to watch more, we are part the way through episode 3.

L.S. Lowry was one of the artists mentioned on in our Maps book, so we have been looking at some of his art work. I had a calendar I had saved with some of his paintings and L has loved choosing different ones to copy, fascinated with the different facial expressions and scenery.

Lots of jigsaws have been made this week, my minded one loves the peg board ones and does really well with them, must sort out the first jigsaws I have. She has enjoyed chatting with L about all the animals on Ls puzzles.

More colouring and story telling.

At the moment L is loving tales from these Enid Blyton nature books as well as listening to The Cherry Tree Farm, I am sure I read this as a child but haven't read it to my older children, so thoroughly enjoying rediscovering the story and loving the way Blyton manages to drop in some many animal facts within the story.

L has been busy with the rainbow archers and had a great time building a house for all her figures.

On a knitting front, 20 repeats done only another 10 to go, hoping to have it finished by next weekend, or at least that is the goal I have set myself.

Thank you Anna for your post on the Snow Bears documentary, L and I have enjoyed watching it.

As life is being more chaotic than peaceful, I think I am going to go with this quote :)

Linking up with Nicole at Frontier Dreams

Rainforest

After enjoying the Eco Kids magazine and the children's enthusiasm for the rainforest, we have enjoyed watching some clips of different rainforest animals, tigers, tapir and macaws, which seem to be the favourite at the moment. Then there was that wonderful moment when they came across a picture of an ocelot and the children realise that they aren't just something made up in minecraft but a real creature.  I've also made the most of my twinkl membership and have used various power points they have put together including this one, which is photos of various rainforest animals and this one on the rainforest habitat. This then led on to a discussion with M about deforestation and I came across this you tube video which worked well for all ages, not always easy to do when you are working with a wide age range. M has decided that next week she would like to look more at deforestation and it's impact, I've found a couple of videos to start her of with, this on the effect on the climate and the lungs of our planet, plus a recap of photosynthesis.

We've had the books out looking at the different layers of the rainforest and the children spent time painting their own rainforest and decorating them with some animal stickers.

Perfect time to introduce  Henri Rousseau, we based out art on Surprise! we'll be looking at some more of his art work next week.

I am hoping to use this power point with them next week as it goes over some of what we have already learnt, plus a bit more.

Weekend has been busy mainly with a lot of time spent at the allotment, planting out plants and more seeds, harvesting a few red currants, strawberries and golden raspberries. Also painted one side of my husbands shed, this is the side that will be seen in our secret garden, when we finish it but was the old chicken run, I've gone for a purple colour bright but not over powering! The rest of the fences I am leaving brown with all the climbers over, think painting it all purple would be too much and today we picked up some lovely butterfly solar lights.

This week

This week, I have started making a list of garden/allotment jobs that need to be done and thinking about a planting plan. Need to decide if the green house is repairable or not, I have no idea how old it is, it was second hand when we first got it and wasn't in a brilliant state then and it has been taken down and put together a couple of times too. But it has done us well for over 10 years but have reached the stage last year were the metal door was refusing to close and a couple of roof panes have slipped again and the seals are going or have gone, as well as few other problems. Jobs so far are

1. Order new seeds and buy seed potatoes, decided to try growing aubergines and peppers, we did peppers a few years ago and they were ok but need to start them of early.
2. Plan allotment planting
3. Sort green house, clean pots
4. Prune apple and pear trees
5. Prune grape vines
6. Plant onions, aubergine and early broccoli

Think that will do for starters!

Our second story from A Year Full of Stories was from Germany (have realised that 2 of the next 3 stories are also from Germany, had hoped for more country hopping, should of looked more closely first but enjoying the stories). Thought we would look at the work of the artist Franz Marc, he was born in Munich in 1880 and a key figure in the German expressionist movement. Now my girls love horses so his many varies paintings of horses went down well with them, they chose the Blue Horse to try and copy, create their own version of.

L loved all the colours, so decided to paint a multi coloured horse, she realised after she had finished painting she had got carried away with how many legs she had painted, luckily she found it rather amusing.

M went for a more literal interpretation but got rather stuck trying to recreate the horses legs.

One painted by one of my minded children.

L then decided to paint a caterpillar with hairy horns.

We spent yesterday exploring the woods.

L spotted some fungi growing on a fallen branch, really do wish I could identify at least some of the mushrooms and toadstools we find on our walks.

I have been sorting through my wool basket, or maybe that should be baskets and found I had enough pretty pink cotton to make a friends Granddaughter to be a cardigan and the left over ball into some dishcloths. Have been told they look to pretty to use for washing up dishes but sometimes I think it is nice to have something pretty to do a routine job.

Also enjoying reading Braiding Sweetgrass, just read a lovely chapter called The Gift of Strawberries, she talks about how the nature of an object changes depending on how it comes into our hands, a pair of socks bought in a store do not have the same feeling as a pair of socks knitted by your Nan, that sort of gift creates an ongoing relationship. The same goes for our food they are a gift from the earth and therefore create a relationship with it, when you grow your own food you have a different relationship to it than the food you buy in a store. You can see this in the faces of the children when we go and harvest our fruit and vegetables. It is so far proving to be wonderful book, full of interesting stories that are very thought provoking.

The other book is Self-Reg, I have an interest in sensory processing disorder and anxiety in children, so far he has talked about how easily babies and small children can be over stimulated, how for some children the classroom is just too much sensory stimulation for them. How the constant daily triggers, sensory input can lead quickly to full blown melt downs and how a quieter, calmer environment is better for them. I don't think I have learnt anything new yet but enjoying the way it is written and always good to go back over subject even if you think you know it well.

Tonight we had snow, was amazed it settled at all, as it had been raining steadily all afternoon but it did the girls spent a mad hour playing outside, don't think L can really remember the last time we had snow, they enjoyed a snowball fight. It has stopped snowing now and looks like it might be all gone by tomorrow much to their disappointment.

Linked with Yarn Along

A Year Full Of Stories

Been thinking over the last few weeks on changing or adding to the ways I have been doing things with L, she is wanting to learn her letters now, which I am happy to do, had planned to wait till she was older but she is eager so will be led by her. She is really curious about the world around, loves maps and animals so was really pleased when I came A Year Full of Stories, a story from around the world for every week of the year. Using the story and then looking at that country on our Maps book and depending on what she picks out, asks questions about will then lead us into whatever activities we do or don't do. We will just see how it goes we might do the whole year or change depending on interest. Will probably still carry on some theme planning as well, as that works well with all the children, mine and the minded ones.

So our first story was Father Frost a story from Russia. So we snuggled up and read the story and then sat and looked at Russia in the Maps book. L is interested in the reindeer, kandinsky and the Ural Mountains. So first stop we went searching for Kandinsky's paintings on the internet, thought we would start with Squares with Concentric circles first. Wassily Kandinsky was born in Moscow in 1866 and his style of painting was expressionism and abstract art. M and I have had some interesting discussions on what that means and looking at different artwork of that style, not her favourite art period, she loves the impressionists. 

M wanted to try to copy this painting using chalk pastels, L decided to do the same, this is their interpretation.

 We then spent some time looking at some of his other art work before then finding some you tube clips featuring reindeer, L is happy now that she knows what sound they make but not too impressed that her new animal book doesn't have anything on them!

The Starry Night

Over the last couple of days we've been talking about the night sky, what can you see in the sky, stars the moon, aeroplane lights and fireworks. This afternoon I showed them a picture of Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night and we looked at Katie and The Starry Night

I had this idea that if we used shaving foam and paint they could have fun and recreate some of the swirling images from the painting. It wasn't about recreating a perfect copy of the painting rather them exploring the movement and images. I did think about cutting out some houses etc for them to add to it, if I do it again when they are older I might add them, then again I might just wait and see what they want to add themselves, as it's always interesting seeing what they see and what they take from a painting.

 

As per usually here, once we had finished the planned activity they were let loose to do and create (within reason) whatever they wanted! Using a spatula they mixed the paint and foam together and created a lovely mint green.

Then they added more foam and used their hands to mix it in.

One then decided to use the spatula to paint with

and the finished spatula painting.

Then they asked for some more paper and decided to place the paper in the tray on top of the remaining foam, press it down and then lifting it out to see what they had created.

When I'm doing a theme, I always sort out a selection of relevant books and put them into a basket for the children. They have enjoyed looking at books on owls and reading some owl stories. I printed out laminated a tree and 5 owls to go with the 5 Little Owl rhyme, they have loved this counting rhyme and the owl pictures. We have sang the song and played with the owl pictures several times. Lots of counting done as well, as each time an owl flies away they are counting the owls left on the tree. Yes one owl is upside down, when I first put them on the tree, I pointed out one was upside down, I went to turn him the right way up but they said no and now every time they have to have one upside down owl!

5 Little Owls

5 little owls on a dark, dark night,

5 little owls are quite a sight,

5 little owls, are you keeping score?

1 flies away and that leaves 4.

4 little owls as happy as can be,

1 flew away and that leaves 3.

3 little owls calling "Who, who, who"

1 flew away and that leaves 2.

2 little owls having lots of fun,

1 flew away and that leaves 1.

1 little owl and we're almost done

He flies away and that leaves none.