Chagall for Children Traveling Exhibit

We are studying Marc Chagall right now, mainly because there was a traveling exhibit at our Children's Museum that is getting ready to leave town. Alexandra and I have both had a lot of fun with Chagall's art. Each piece of art is like a picture find where you can look for hidden objects like: animals, violins, 3candles, upside down people, etc.



As we went to the exhibit aimed at children from ages 2-12, I really wasn't certain how much fun it would be. (Actually, I just noticed the exhibit is for those ages and I really thought it might be too childish.) The exhibit was wondeful!
For each of the 14 artworks, there was an activity to do. (And, you got to see a pretty large copy of the artwork.) So, I'll just run you through some of them! Above is "Paris Through the Window." Although Chagall was born in Russia, he lived in Paris for quite some time. On this photo in the lower right corner (not seen in my photo) is a portrait of a man with 2 faces. They think this might be Chagall looking back towards his beloved Russia and forward to Paris. For this activity, we got to put magnetic pieces in the right place by studying the "real" piece of art.




This is probably the most well known of Chagall's artworks, I and the Village. For this activity, Alexandra put together a circular puzzle matching part of the piece. This is the painting we actually studied. It has 5 areas representing: his village, a self portrait, a special plant, a round object - I've read it was a ball and I've also read it was a sun/moon which is what we think it is, and a beloved pet or animal.



This painting is At the Circus. For this activity, Alexandra got to put on various smocks which were painted like parts of the artwork.



This was one of our favorite activities, though we wish it would have worked a little better. This was with the Green Violinist. As you can see, we got to take our own photos (mine in this case) and then "paint" it. It was fun making our faces green! The green violinist was actually Marc's uncle whom he evidentally really enjoyed.




This activity was with one of Chagall's stained glass windows, America Windows. We got to put together the puzzle pieces to part of the window. In the photo, Alexandra has turned off the light behind it.



This activity was for The Juggler. On this computer screen, you touched one of the small squares around the border and then found the corresponding picture in the artwork. And, the artwork became animated! For example, some people in the crowd threw their hats in the air or the violinist played.



This activity went with The Blue House.



This was with The Poultry Yard. We got to create our own mixed-up animals.




This activity was with The Flying Sleigh. Each section of the computer screen would change when you clicked on it. You had to make the painting look correct.


And, this was our favorite activity. It was with The Concert. There were 6 different buttons representing different instruments. You could push any combination of the buttons and listen to those instruments play the song. We laughed and laughed. We even had a group of ladies stop to watch us. They were on some kind of a tour.

We had not been to this museum in a long time and had fun exploring the rest of the museum, too. We played quite a while in this building area. These kits are called Baufix. I've never seen them before and they were LOTS of fun. The room was very busy and there were lots of dads helping out, too!
We also tried a little rocked with a film canister, water, and Alka-Seltzer like we'd done here. But, they used water (not vinegar) and only 1/2 a tab of Alka-Seltzer AND they used the clear film canisters like live4evermom had recommended. What a difference!!! These things were popping up so high!!! I'm going to have to ask at WalMart and see if they'll let us have some.
So, we had a great day! We even stopped at a homeschool store and picked up some books on the way home. I'll share more about Chagall and our resources as we finish up this week. Then, we'll start Mozart. (We might put Van Gogh on hold.)
Other resources:

• Chagall from A to Z by Sellier - this is a GREAT book with many neat facts
• Marc Chagall by Mike Venezia - we always enjoy this series
• Dreamer from the Village by Markel - we enjoyed that the artwork in this book by Emily Lisker looked a lot like Chagall's own work
• Chagall: My Sad and Joyous Village by Loumaye - we didn't finish this book, but enjoyed what we read
• A Picture for Marc by Kimmel - we didn't read this one, but it is a Stepping Stone book and looked good
• Marc Chagall: Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists by Mike Venezia - we always enjoy this series

Back to School!!!

We started back to school today. With our vacation in early December and then being gone 2 weeks for Christmas (though we did take school on the road), it has been a long time since we've had a routine. So, I think it'll take some time to get back into a routine. And, we're changing our routine, too! We now have a regular bed time, waking up time, and starting school time. I'm sure hoping this works!


Besides math and language arts, we are studying the pilgrims and colonists for history right now. We started a History Pockets book about the Colonists today and reviewed a Pilgrims History Pockets book we'd made last year (or 2 years ago?). Since we've studied the Pilgrims before, I think we'll finish this part of our history studies next week.


For art, we are studying Marc Chagall. We discussed I and the Village today and made our own versions of them, but I don't think I'll be sharing those online. :-) Mine sure didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped. On Friday, we'll be going to a traveling exhibit of Marc Chagall's at the Children's Museum of Houston. I've requested some books at the library and hopefully some of them will be in tomorrow.


Next week, we'll start studying Mozart in preparation for seeing a modified, children's version of The Magic Flute.


We've also been studying Amelia Earhart this week and I have to list some great things we've learned and share some great resources. Maybe tomorrow! :-) I'm having trouble getting school planned, etc, and still finding some "me" time so I haven't been blogging much. We did get the Christmas decorations taken down on New Year's Eve & Day, though I still haven't put away our Christmas gifts. And, I've been reading lots of good books this past month (I think around 8!!) and watching the incredible birds in my backyard.

I'll have photos to share from my new camera once I get the software installed! And, I ordered my zoom lens so I can't wait to play with that new Christmas toy!

MoMA Collection Online... and Our Next Trip...

We will be headed on our next trip soon... to New York City! One of our stops will be the Museum of Modern Art. Today, I was doing some research on some of the artists and pieces of art work that we'll see and I came across a link to MoMA on Barb's blog. I am using the site to print out some of the artwork we'll see and I'll be making a matching game.

But, YOU might enjoy this MoMA site to review art on your own! (I enjoyed 'testing' myself to see how much I've learned the past few years... I did pretty good! I'll be testing Alex next week.) You can go to the "Browse the Collection Online" section  and use the "browse filter" button to select "highlights." This button shows some of their most famous pieces of art! (Note: You might want to browse this site without your child as you never know what you'll come across!) You can also create your own account and make your own set of "collected works." This is what I'll be showing Alex instead of risking running into something I'd rather her not see. I think this would be a great review for anyone who has been studying artists.

(Photos are of 2 projects we did in the past relating to artists at MoMA: Jasper Johns and Picasso. Other artists we've studied that we hope to see artwork by include: Warhol, Lichtenstein, Nevelson, and Chagall.)

Intellectual Food

I've been reading more and more about Charlotte Mason and her ideas and how to implement them. Tonight, I came across an excerpt from A Charlotte Mason Primer. I really appreciated this sentence: Charlotte Mason believed that the minds of children need to be fed on the best intellectual food - God's Word, great literature, fine art, beautiful music, real living history, and direct contact with God's creation!

These are the things I've been concentrating on more and more. How am I doing?

• God's Word - We are using a devotional during the week. We do look up the day's passage in the Bible and this is a time Alexandra reviews the books of the Bible. We were doing good at memorizing a passage of scripture in December, but haven't been doing very well in January.
• Great Literature - We are currently reading Charlotte's Web. We will finish in a few days and I need to pick another book. (I also won Heidi from The Educational Life!)
• Fine Art - We just finished studying Chagall and got to go to a museum and see some large reproductions of his work. Next, we'll be studying Georgia O'Keefe.
• Beautiful Music - We just finished studying Mozart and read a Living Book about him, Mozart, The Wonder Boy. We also listened to music by him and I even played some of his music! We read, and acted out, 2 different stories of The Magic Flute.
• Real Living History - We are trying to use Living Books for history, like A Story of Us: Making Thirteen Colonies. We also do a lot of hands on activities and I'm wondering how this fits in with CM. It seems to take up a lot of time, but Alexandra really enjoys it. And, I think she retains more from it. But, is it worth the time??? (Any comments?)
• God's Creation - We get lots of contact with birding in our own backyard and through going to the park, just observing nature wherever we go, and through our nature group.

I like having these 6 things to "concentrate" on. Well, and math of course! I think I need to work harder on God's Word, Great Literature, and Real Living History, which has been neglected lately. That's all on my thoughts about CM for now!