A Teacher's Reflections

In Part 1, children began to learn about Italy through maps and a big atlas. First we ‘travelled’, then we learned fun facts (pretzels were invented in Italy, pasta was not).  We learned that opera is from Italy, and children listened to and watched a symphony orchestra.  I showed children major pieces of art, and they recognized Starry Night, as that poster hangs in our classroom.

In Part 2, I laid the foundation for creating our own art masterpieces, in preparation for our annual Art Show. We looked at important pieces of art once again, from The Scream, to Large Blue Horses, to Haystacks.  The colorful art of Kandinsky struck a chord, so we read the book, The Noisy Paintbox. Kandinsky was moved to paint the sounds he heard, after going to the opera.  Of course, we listened to an Italian opera, La bohéme.  Ah, the combination of art and music is powerful.

Part 3:
In order to properly introduce music, I needed the tools that would make music come alive for the children – a record player and record albums.

Children were spellbound as I lifted the lid.  I slowly touched and played with the turntable and the arm.  Then I pulled out a record album and put it on the player.  Children thought it was a giant CD.  I turned it on, explained how the needle works, and rubbed my finger across the needle – what a surprising sound.  When the moment came to play the record, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (Italian, of course), the music was a giant wave of wonder.  The sounds poured out and filled the classroom.  Kandinsky must have felt the same way when he went to the opera.

“Do you hear that beautiful music?  Here is what happens when you hear music, just like the symphony and opera we listened to: the music goes into your ears, then it goes into your heart. When your heart is full, it goes out your fingertips, like shooting stars, and you can paint a masterpiece.”

Can you see me putting my hands over my heart and then shooting my arms and fingers out?

And so, we were ready to paint, using real artist paints in tubes.  We spent much of the week painting, often working on a piece over and over again.  We painted like Kandinsky.  Mia was moved by Monet’s Haystacks, and worked tirelessly on her own sunset and sky.

We painted representational art (daffodils) and also Early Renaissance art.

All the while, children listened to Vivaldi and to Beethoven as they painted. They felt the music and they created art that is worthy to be in an Art Show.

I read a fabulous new book to the children, Because, by Mo Willems.

As I opened the book, I saw that the end papers were the score to a Franz Schubert symphony.  Wow!  “What is that?”, asked the children.  Of course they had no idea that this was reading music (invented in Italy) and each black dot represented a note, a specific sound.  We talked about how the black dots are like letters that make words.

The story begins with, “Because a man named Ludwig wrote beautiful music, a man named Franz was inspired to create his own.”

Each page is what happens next, from people working to play an instrument, to forming an orchestra to play Schubert, to a little girl going to the concert, and much more.  This is a wonderful book.

We studied the Mona Lisa and wrote a story about her.  It helped children to really look at art, beyond form and color.  Art can have feelings, too.

Did you know there is a curved road in the background that looks like a yellow S?  I did not, but he children did.  I’m so glad they equate happy eyes and mouth to a dog.  Warms my heart.

The most fun was learning to sing “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” – in Italian. The E-I-E-I-O is exactly the same, helping to make the song flow for children. We used Beanie Babies for the farm animals; a dog (cane), cat (gatto), cow (mucca), sheep (pecora), and a pig (maiale).  Eddie said, “Jennie, we need a chicken.”  He was right.  Thank goodness I had a chicken (polo) Beanie Baby at home.

Tomorrow we introduce Cubism and create art with shapes.  We’ll explore The Three Musicians by Picasso, and find all the shapes.  The first I Spy.  We will also study The Snail, by Matisse.  His grandson lives in my town.  I taught his children many years ago.

I mount and frame each child’s masterpiece, and then the big moment comes when each child gives their masterpiece a title.  This will be as important as naming a new baby when s/he is born.  Stay tuned for Part 4.

Jennie