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We took a trip to Italy this week. The kids were full of questions! I can tell they are developing their research and questioning skills, since they are asking really relevant questions. We talked about pasta, gelato, getting around on gondolas, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and we learned how to say "ciao" and "grazie". We also talked a little about the artists of the Italian Renaissance- Leonardo, Michelangelo, Rafael, and Donatello! It is always so fun to teach kids that the Ninja Turtles were named after famous artists! What I wanted students to understand about Italy is that it is a very old country with lots of history. (We discussed this with our study of Egypt, too.) I wanted students to be familiar with modern-day Italy, but also to understand where their traditions come from. We learned that before Italy was a country, it was a civilization called Rome, and that life was very, very different back then! Our art experience this week was to create Ancient Roman Wax Tablets. In Roman times, paper hadn't been invented yet, so if someone wanted to write, they would use a wooden frame filled with hard wax, and they could carve letters into the wax. When finished, they could soften the wax and smooth it back out to use again. Some of these tablets have been discovered as ancient artifacts, and you can see them in museums. Students were fascinated to learn that the metal stick Romans used to carve the wax was called a stylus. They easily made the connection between the ancient tablets and our modern-day version, the iPad, and were excited to know where the word for the modern stylus originated! To make their own wax tablets, students folded a piece of thick cardstock in half. They drew a wood grain texture on the front, and filled the inside with rectangles of thick, dark crayon. Next students used a plastic carving tool to scratch in whatever design they chose. Many students chose to write the letters of their names using ancient Latin letters and writing in reverse, as they did in ancient times. This is Aidan's name written using the Latin alphabet, and written from right to left!
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In this week's session, 1st graders learned about a tribe of people living in South Africa- the Ndebele. This group of people is known for the bold geometric designs painted on the outsides of their houses. Students learned that the tradition of painted houses began as a way for people to communicate- each design had a specific meaning. Also, we learned that the women of the tribe are responsible for the painting, and the craft is passed down from mother to daughter. The society places a great deal of emphasis on the quality of the painting, and a women's success as a wife is judged by the exterior of her home. We enjoyed this video, which gives a glimpse into life in the Ndebele tribe and shows the beautifully crafted art. And here are some of our own Ndebele-style houses! Students began by drawing geometric designs and coloring them with the traditional colors of blue, red, yellow, green, brown, and black. Next we stapled them into a cylinder and glued the roof on top. If students had time, they could fringe the edges of the roof to resemble straw. This lesson was a special request from one of our first-grade teachers. The northern lights are a phenomenon visible in any of the world's northern-most areas, but our focus for the week was on Alaska. The science behind the northern lights is way too advanced for first graders to grasp- we just learned that the lights are created because how the earth's atmosphere reacts to the sun's atmosphere. We started with this fascinating video of the northern lights (the footage is actually from Scotland rather than Alaska, but it was a beautiful example!) To make our own version of the northern lights, students used colored chalk. They colored the torn edges of some scrap paper, then used a paper towel to blend the chalk dust into the background. The final step was to paint tree silhouettes and add sparkling stars to the sky! This week, 1st grade artists "visited" Egypt! What I wanted them to learn from this week's lesson was that Egypt is a very old civilization, and that while we can learn a lot about its history, we can also find common ground with the country today. We started our lesson with this super-cute video full of interesting facts: One of the main points I wanted my kids to learn from the video was the huge change that the development of farming brought to the early Egyptians- since they no longer had to spend all their time gathering food, and could grow it instead, the people now had time to make art!! Though there are TONS of examples of Egyptian art, we focused our study on jewelry. Students learned that the early Egyptians placed a great deal of value on jewelry, even going so far as to bury people with it! They also believed that different types of precious gems would bring healing or prosperity- sort of like a good-luck charm. Students then made their very own Egyptian bracelet from cardstock, ribbon, gold paint, and plastic gems. They were so proud to wear their creations! I have been looking forward to this group of projects all year! Each spring, 1st grade teachers begin an IB unit called "We Are the World." The goal of the unit is for students to compare and contrast ways of life all over the world. Many of our students have not done much traveling, so this is a good way to show the kids that although there are many differences in the way people look, speak, dress, and live, we are all part of the same human race and we have A LOT in common! One of the things that different societies have in common is that they all make some form of art! In some cultures, the art tends to be functional, like weaving baskets for harvesting fruit, or making pottery to carry water. In other cultures, art may be used for celebrations or religious ceremonies. Some art is made to record legends or traditions. Many forms of art have been passed down for centuries, while others have developed in more recent times. In our art room, students will experience art-making traditions from a different culture each week for the duration of this IB unit. This year, students will explore art from six different societies- Japan, Egypt, South Africa, Italy, Jamaica, and Alaska. Week One: The Art of Japan- ShiboriShibori is a method of dying cloth that has been part of Japanese culture for thousands of years- since the 8th century! It involves wrapping cloth very tightly with string and then dipping the cloth into the dye. The string keeps some of the cloth from absorbing the color. (This concept is where tie-dye originated!) Japanese artisans wrap and tie the cloth very carefully to make a variety of intricate patterns. Here is a video of the process in action- We made our own version of shibori with paper towels, string, and blue watercolor paint. Step 1: Fold the paper towel in a fan-fold (pleated) style. Step 2: Roll up the folded towel into a spiral. (We pretended we were rolling sushi!) Step 3: Wrap a string tightly around the roll. The tighter the string, the more interesting the pattern will be! Step 4: Drip blue watercolor paint onto each end of the spiral. The trick is to get enough liquid to cover the surface, but not to use so much that all the white space disappears! Step 5: Carefully unroll the folded paper to reveal the pattern! The finished shibori cloths got a little card stapled to them- this is to help inform parents about the traditions behind the project, since students may not remember all the information by the time they get home! With the few extra minutes we had remaining, we enjoyed watching this video of children sharing some information about the Japanese culture. Some classes even had time to learn the names of the colors in Japanese! Next week: We'll be "visiting" Egypt! |
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