Week of November 30 - December 4, 2015!

Happy December! The last month of the year is finally here! It has been one amazing year if I do say so myself! Here's what we've been up to:

New month, new artist! This month's artist is Mr. Vincent van Gogh.  The children learned that van Gogh was a great artist who loved to use light in all of his paintings.  This "light" that van Gogh liked to use could be in the form of a blazing moon, sunny sunflowers, one small light in a dark room or a big yellow house in the middle of the night.  The "light" was not always in the form of lamps or the moon but also brightly colored objects. The one similarity the children noticed was the "light" in all of the pictures was the color yellow.  Last year we studied van Gogh's Sunflowers, this year we are looking at his masterpiece, "The Starry Night" (1889).  The light in this painting came from the moon and stars.  The children also learned that van Gogh often used thick layers of paint in his art.  The think layers of paint made beautiful texture in his work.  In keeping with the theme of think paint, we whipped up a batch of "puffy paint" aka shaving cream, glue and paint.  The children did not use a paintbrush for this painting, they used a fork with four "prongs" to replicate the characteristic texture in van Gogh's work.  After the first layer of paint was created, the children sketched the tall tree, town and cut those items and a big yellow moon out of paper.  All was glued together and the final product is just amazing!  I can't wait to have them up on the bulletin board next week.  I also love that the children are still revisiting their Henri Matisse masterpieces from last month.  Each child is so proud of their work!  Definitely pop in next week to check it out!

A little side note on van Gogh:

An article was written a little over a year ago and published in Vanity Fair.  The article examines van Gogh's supposed suicide in 1890 and explores the possibility of it being an intentional murder.   Van Gogh had mental illness and was a bit of a strange character.  The people of the little french town where he lived, did not care for van Gogh and often ridiculed him.  Fast forward to current day, with further investigation, a leading handgun forensic expert agreed that there was no way it could have been suicide.  So interesting! Here is the article to read more about the people who posed the very interesting question, "was it murder?"... Vanity Fair Article

In addition to our van Gogh studies, the children are beginning to learn about holidays around the world beginning with Hanukkah!  Hanukkah begins this sunday at sundown.  Next week the children will spin the dreidel, learn Hanukkah traditions and learn the dreidel song!

Important Dates and Reminders:

December 11: Scholastic orders due at 12pm
December 12: December Gathering at Panera Bread in Burlington
December 17 & 18: Pajama day! More info to come soon!

December 24 - January 3: SEE closed for winter break

January 4: SEE back in session and tuition is due

Pictures from this week:

Creating texture with a fork

Putting on the final touches! These look so great!

Stay tuned for updated Shutterfly pictures coming next week and a sneak peek at the glass orbs hanging from the classroom ceiling with some beautiful air plants.  

Have a great weekend!

Joanna