Art Tells a Tale

Well, today was our first field trip of the year and I think it went smashingly well! A big "thank you" for Karen's mom for organizing the trip, to Talia's mom and Grace's mom for carrying lunches, and to Jay's mom and Alina's mom for walking with us.

Most of the kids didn't think they could walk all the way to museum and back, and despite some theatrical growns, they not only did it but had a good time getting all that exercise. We stopped at points along the way to talk about plants and houses and local history, too.

At the museum, the children were divided into groups of four or five and each went with a docent. They looked a variety of art works from different periods and different continents. All of the paintings and sculptures in some way told a story or at least suggested a possible story to the children. That kind of art is much more easily understood by children than decorative art or abstract art is. But the docents did not merely let the children spin tales about the works they saw. They pointed out the materials out of which the works were made, and they discussed how different types of lines predominated in different works and the emotional impact of those kinds of lines. For example, horizontal lines tend to create a peaceful feeling in the viewer, while diagonal lines give a sense of agitation.

We had lunch in the park afterwards and then walked back to school -- in time for lunch recess, no less! After lunch, Mrs. Caruso showed the student a film about life for children in the Pilgrim era. We had the first faculty meeting of the year in our room this year (partly because Mrs Oh is so impressed by the work the students have done so far) and I needed to help set up.

Homework: Finish what was assigned Monday. Spelling lists never did get passed out today, but the words are again pretty easy and I think that two days should be more than enough time to master the one or two troublesome words.