My Montessori Journey

October Artist Study: Vincent Van Gogh

This month we are studying about Vincent Van Gogh.  The painting we have learned by Vincent is shown below, "Vase with Twelve Sunflowers."  After learning a little bit about Vincent, I set up this art activity for the children so they could draw their own sunflowers.  I have read a little bit from the book Sunflowers and Swirly Stars  so the children could learn about Vincent.  Then, I got two real sunflowers and placed them into a vase with the painting hanging nearby.  It has been fun to see the many variations of sunflower drawings that have resulted from this activity.  A few are shown below.

 

 

 

 

 

Fall Tree Project

This week I put out a new craft project on my art shelf.  These little trees are turning out so cute!  Below you can see how I have it set up on the shelf.  To do this work the child takes the brown tray to a table.  All the materials they need are on the tray.

 

On the tray is a little napkin holder (thrifted) with some pre-traced "tree crowns" on green construction paper, a basket with Crayola Twistable Slick Stix Crayons (these are SO AWESOME! and show up really well on darker paper), a pair of scissors, two pin-punching tools (one is THIS ONE from Montessori Services and one is a regular push pin in the little bowl), and a pin-punching pad (also from Montessori Services).  First the child uses the crayons to draw fall leaves or apples or whatever they want on their tree.  Then they may choose to either cut out the tree or pin-punch it depending upon their preferences and skills.

 

Once their tree crown is ready, they go back to the art shelf and get a little tree trunk.  I prepped these ahead of time by rolling 4 inch wide strips of construction paper, stapling the ends, and cutting two small slits across from each other on one end.  The tree crown is inserted into the slits and that completes the project.

Below you can see a little forest of trees that were created one morning in our classroom.

 
 

Paul Klee Artist Study & "Castle and Sun" Art Project

I am excited to describe our first experience with studying a famous artist.  Artist study is something new I've added to our curriculum this year.  I have the whole year's worth of artists, works of art, and art projects planned out.  I wasn't sure until I began what the children's response would be. 

Today (Monday) I introduced our first artist, Paul Klee (pronounced "klay").  First we talked about what an artist is and what an artist does.  I asked the children if they are artists.  I was pleased that most of them realized that they are artists.  I told them that each time they create something that didn't exist before, they are making art.  It could be something they build with the blocks, the brown stair and pink tower, OR it could be something they draw on paper OR it could be something they make with glue and paper. 

I read a few pages of the book Getting To Know the World's Greatest Artists:  Paul Klee. And then we studied the poster "Castle and Sun" by Paul Klee. This poster was donated to our classroom by one of our families through the Giving Tree.  Thanks so much to that family!  Before telling the children the title of this work, I asked them to raise their hands to tell me what they noticed or saw in the painting.  They named several of the shapes, we talked about the bright colors, and one student thought it looked like a castle.  Then I told them that the painting is called "Castle and Sun."  We practiced saying the name of the painting and the name of the artist.  Below you can see the book I read from along with a little card I had made to show them what Paul Klee looked like.  We passed the card around so they could get a close look at him.

Next I told them that they could make their own versions of "Castle and Sun."  I set up this activity as shown below, hanging the laminated poster above the table for reference.  Below that I set up a vinyl mat, a tray of shapes, a glue stick and a tray of black construction paper cut into half sheets.

The shapes shown below are made from sturdy two-sided cardstock.  They came from Discount School Supply in a huge package of all squares.  (NOTE:  The link shows something very similar to what I bought from DSS a year ago; however, mine are not the shiny metallic ones they have now.  They are just plain bright colors.)  At my Materials Making Night one of the parents cut many of the squares into triangles and used a scrapbooking circle punch to punch out circles.

I printed out a bunch of address labels which said, "Castle and Sun" by __________ so we could affix one of the labels to each finished piece of art with the child's name written in.  Below are a few photos of some of today's masterpieces.

Textured egg art project

This week I put out an egg coloring project on my art shelf.  It is similar to the textured turkey we did in November.  I had a large egg pattern and drew some stripes and squiggles with a Sharpie marker.  HERE is a link to a similar sized egg pattern. Then I made a bunch of copies on regular copy paper.  I placed these on a tray next to a tray of textured rubbing plates.  Next to that I placed two baskets of crayon rocks.  You can see the set-up in the photo below.

To do this work the child takes an egg paper along with the tray of rubbing plates and a basket of crayons.  They choose a rubbing plate and place it bumpy-side up on the table.  The egg paper is placed on top and they rub with a crayon to fill in a section of the egg.  They can switch colors and textures as they wish.  Most children are choosing to cut out their eggs when finished.  I love the simplicity of this project.  I love that many children who typically avoid paper projects are drawn to this because they can easily be successful.  The action of rubbing the crayon rocks across a paper with a textured plate under it provides a lot of sensory input and is wonderful for developing finger strength and dexterity.  The large, simple shape of the egg is also great for cutting because it gives functional cutting practice and results in a beautiful finished project.  Here are a few samples from the many that have been going home this week.

 
 

Valentine Sun-Catchers

I am so excited about a new art project that I put out this week.  It was in my head, but I didn't know how to set it up so the children could complete it independently.  While it does require a little more teacher assistance than what I would like, I am pretty happy with how much of this the children can do on their own.  And the finished sun-catchers are beautiful. 

I realize now that I should have taken a few more photos to illustrate this.  However, I'll try to explain thoroughly how I set it up and the steps of the project. Below you can see how I set up the materials on my stationary work table.  From left:  a basket of small pieces of "Valentine-colored" tissue paper, a basket with plain 6-inch squares of clear contact paper, a basket of 6-inch squares of clear contact paper with a heart drawn on them with a Sharpie marker, a little bucket with a pair of scissors, and an empty basket for garbage. 

To start this project, a teacher peels off the backing of a plain contact paper square and tapes the corners down on the purple placemat, sticky-side up.  Miss Carla discovered that if you peel the paper off two corners a little way and tape those corners down then the child can pull the rest of the paper backing off independently. This also prevents the corners from curling up............I tried to make the squares lie flat by placing them under heavy books over night but they still curl up.  (The paper backing is placed in the garbage basket.) Once the contact paper is taped down the child covers it with the little tissue paper squares.   

This photo shows a student placing the tissue paper onto the contact paper square.  Once they have the square covered with tissue paper a teacher then takes one of the contact paper squares with a heart on it and places it on top, sandwiching the tissue paper in the middle.  Again, we've found that it works best to start at the top corners, then have the child pull the backing off while the teacher smooths it down.  (Again, the paper backing is placed in the garbage basket.)  I didn't get a good photo of the next step, but now the child pulls the "sandwich" off the placemat and uses the scissors to cut out the heart shape, following the traced line.  The cut-off part is then placed in the garbage basket and the child carries it to the trash can to throw away.

The final step is to punch a hole in the top and add a loop of yarn for hanging.  Don't they look lovely? 

 

Watercolor Planets

This week I put out a watercolor planet art project to go along with our study of the solar system.  Below you can see how I set it up on a table.  Clockwise from top right: a basket of watercolor paper cut into circles, a sponge, vinyl placemat, watercolor paints, jar for water, jar with pencil.

To do this project the child takes a paper "planet" and writes their name on the back.  Then they take the water jar to the sink and fill it with water to the yellow line.  Next, they use the watercolors to paint their planet.  Once finished the planet is placed on the drying rack (just to the right of this photo) and the child dumps their dirty water into the sink.  The final step is to wipe the table and placemat dry to prepare it for the next painter.  Once the planets are dry, they are glued onto a sheet of black construction paper.  I LOVE how these are turning out.  The watercolor paper is perfect for preserving the beautiful, vivid colors of the paint.

And they stand out so much on the stark black backgrounds.

 
 
 

Snowflake punching

Another new and popular activity on my art shelf last week was snowflake punching.  I spontaneously pulled this together after seeing a snowflake punch in a cardboard box on the floor of my office when I was putting my purse away.  My cousin had lent me a bunch of punches this fall and they have been sitting in the same spot by my desk for months.  For some reason my eyes landed on a snowflake punch with a lever and I had a lightbulb moment.  I quickly put together this work which the children have really enjoyed.  Luckily, I have a bunch of leftover pieces of construction paper that are about 3 X 6 inches.  This is the size of what is left after I cut 6 inch square pieces to trace shapes for pin-punching.  I always save them and now I guess I know why! 

I used a divided holder to contain the various colors of paper, a small basket with little ziploc baggies (in the jewelry section of Hobby Lobby), and a basket to hold the punch.  Later on I added a small pair of tongs to use when the snowflake gets stuck in the punch. Those are not shown in the photo.

At line time I demonstrated this activity to the entire group, pointing out how to insert the paper and how to use two hands to punch the snowflake.  One hand goes on top of the snowflake and one pushes on the lever.  I also told the children that they may need to stand up to get a stronger push on the lever.  This suggestion has helped all children be successful with this activity.  Below is a photo of my youngest son doing this activity.  Please note that his hand are not in the "proper" position in this photo.  He was trying this out before school and before Miss Laura had given him (and his classmates) a lesson.  :-)

After the child has punched out their snowflakes (they may use one or two pieces of paper) they place them into a ziploc baggie to take home.  They may either keep the remaining paper (which many want to do) or throw it in the trash.
 
 

Snowy scene art project

I pulled out one of my favorite art projects from last winter this week.  I couldn't figure out how to re-post it, but if you CLICK HERE you can read my original post which shows how I set up this activity on my art shelf.  I love this project because it provides children with many opportunities to develop their fine motor skills and results in a finished product of which they can be very proud.  Tearing the white paper lengthwise is sometimes hard for preschoolers but it is great for developing finger strength.  If they become frustrated I reassure them that everyone's project will be different and it doesn't matter if the paper doesn't tear perfectly into two strips.  When they tear off the smaller pieces for snowflakes they are continuing to strengthen and refine their fine motor skills.  Even the act of placing those little pieces onto the dots of glue takes concentration and motor control.  I also love that every finished project has all the individuality of the artist as they each add their own little crayoned scene.  Below is a photo of one of this week's creations.  You can see more from last year in the post I linked to above.

Spoiler Alert! Parent Gifts

NOTE:  If you are the parent of a child in my classroom and you haven't opened your gift yet, you may want to skip reading this post or read it when your child isn't looking or read it later!!

Last week we were busy in the classroom making gifts to give parents for Christmas.  I wanted to find something for the children to make that fit the following criteria:  easy enough for preschoolers to complete pretty independently and something that the parents can bring out every year during the holidays.  Additionally, I wanted it to be something useful.  After quite a bit of Googling I stumbled across this idea and loved it.  Since I had to do gifts with 60 children my next task was to find a place to buy 60 globe shaped candle holders.  I ordered this kind from Dollar Tree.  They were available in smaller quantities at my close-by Dollar Tree, but I had to order them online to get the number I needed.  I had them shipped to the store which saved me the shipping costs.  I was really pleased with these.  They were all in great condition, packed well, and are a nice quality candle holder.

These candle holders were so quick to make and turned out really beautiful.   In case you would like to attempt this with many children I will tell you how I did it.  I set up a table in our classroom with 4 chairs.  I placed a vinyl gluing mat at three places and had three children at a time work on their candle holders.  I wrote each child's name on the bottom of their candle holder along with the year using a black Sharpie marker.  I gave each child a thick paintbrush (like the kind preschoolers would use on a paint easel) covered with white Elmer's glue.  I learned it was easiest to plop the glue-covered paintbrush into their candle holder instead of letting them dip the glue out of a bowl.  A large glob of glue was plenty for the project and when they dipped themselves the glue dripped all over the table and onto the sides and top of the candle holder.  After giving them the brush with glue they spread the glue all over the bottom and halfway up the sides of the candle holder.  Then they were able to choose what color glitter they wanted.........we had many colors to choose from.  This was super exciting since we don't use the glitter very often and young children LOVE glitter.  We dumped a fair amount of glitter into the bottom of the candle holder and then I showed them how to roll it around to get the glitter to cover the glue.  We dumped the extra glitter out onto a paper plate and that was it!!  Once they had dried a little bit the children chose tissue paper to wrap them, then we placed them into some brown lunch bags that they had stamped with Christmas stamps.  They added a tealight candle to the bag.  Then we folded over the top, punched two holes and tied a ribbon through.  They were SO excited to take these home to their parents.  By my best guess most of them could not wait until Christmas to have their parents open their gifts.  Even though my little boy is a student in my class and sat with ME to make MY gift, as soon as we got home that day he wanted me to open it right away! 

Here are some photos to illustrate what we did.  The first two photos show the candle holder my son made.  He used silver glitter and it turned out so pretty.

This photo shows our little gift bags all lined up and ready to go home.

 

Jingle Bell Bracelets

 
This week I am putting out a simple jingle bell bracelet activity.  I put this out right before Christmas last year too.  I set it up as a permanent station meaning that the materials will stay right on this table and the children will not carry them to another place to work with them.  From the top left I have:  a tray of sparkly pipe cleaners, a bowl of gold jingle bells, and a red tray with stickers numbered 1-5.  This is a control of error so that the children will get exactly the right number of bells.

To do this work the child selects a pipe cleaner and places it on the red tray.  Then they count out 5 jingle bells and place one on each sticker dot.

Once they have counted out their bells, the string the bells onto the pipe cleaner as shown.

The final step is to ask a teacher or friend to help them twist the pipe cleaner into a circle to form a bracelet.