Picture Books We Love :: Favorite Folk Songs, Part One

My children started piano lessons this past year and have been playing simple folk tunes from their music books.  Hearing those melodies reminded me of the wonderful folk-song-turned-picture-books that I used to read day after day to my two oldest when they were small but had completely forgotten with my current littles.  Considering how much my kids love sing-along books, I decided to remedy this right away and grabbed a bunch of our old favorites from the library and our own picture book collection--and I thought I'd share them with you too.  Here's the first batch:

John Langstaff is a folk song legend.  He collaborated with Caldecott-winning Russian illustrator Feodor Rojanovsky on two titles that we particularly enjoy: Frog Went a-Courtin' and Over in the Meadow.

And Anita Lobel provided fittingly charming drawings for Langstaff's version of Soldier, Soldier, Won't You Marry Me?

I usually don't prefer cartoonish selections, but Ed Emberley has a winner with his quirky London Bridge is Falling Down.

It's hard to go wrong pairing Normal Rockwell prints with one of our favorite patriotic tunes. George M. Cohan and Norman Rockwell's You're a Grand Old Flag is in constant rotation at our home.

Robert Quackenbush's Pop! Goes the Weasel and Yankee Doodle is actually a recent discovery for me.  My youngers love the colorful but simple illustrations and my olders are enchanted with the historical background provided on each page.  Plus: two songs in one!

Carol Jones' Old McDonald Had a Farm and This Old Man remind me of the Ahlbergs' work, with the peek-a-boo cutouts on each page and the detailed drawings.  Perfect books for reading to little ones.

I have two favorites for "The Farmer in the Dell": Ilse Plume's (bottom) and Alexandra Wallner's (top).  Usually I'm pretty opinionated when it comes to picture books and have no trouble deciding which version I like best, but both of these are just so good.

More coming soon!  (Do you have any favorites to share?  I'd love to know!)

(Edited to add: You can read Part 2 here!)

Second Grade in Our Home :: Fine Arts

I'm doing a recap of some of this year's subjects now that we're finished with our school year.  Today: the fine arts!

Picture Study

As usual, we deviated from the Ambleside Online selections here, simply because I love art history and like choosing our own.  We studied three artists, six pieces per artist, spending two weeks on each, or two 15-minute sessions.

Week 1: For the first session, I show them the piece and tell them its name, size, media, and date.  I then include any relevant details they might want to know, such as its purpose or commission, where it's hanging now, or the historical/literary reference.  They then spend several minutes looking quietly at it, trying to make a mental image of it.  Once they are ready, I cover the print and they narrate all they remember about it.  Once they're finished, I turn it back over and we discuss: this is my chance to add additional details or draw a comparison with a prior work we have studied.

 Week 2: I get out sketch paper and conte crayons and let them do a sketch of the piece.  How and what they choose to draw is up to them, but the goal is not imitation--it's more a further act of narration, encouraging further observation.  Sometimes they choose to block the composition, roughly charting out the positions and shapes of the scene.  Sometimes they choose to focus on one small detail of the print to sketch.  I also use this time to show them comparisons with other pieces and/or studies done by the artist in preparation for this work.

At the beginning of each term, I also add a biography of the artist to their reading shelf and they narrate the pertinent details from it when they have finished.

Term 1 - Manet

The Races at Longchamps, 1864

Le Bar aux Folies-Bergere, 1881-2

The Fifer, 1866

The Railway, 1872

On the Beach, 1873

In the Conservatory, 1879

Term 2 - Jan Vermeer

Christ in the House of Mary and Martha, 1654-5
The Milkmaid, 1657-8
The Little Street, 1657-8
Young Woman with a Water Jug, 1660-62
Girl with a Pearl Earring, 1665

The Art of Painting, 1666

Term 3 - Albrecht Durer

Self-Portrait in a Fur Coat, 1500

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, 1497-8

Young Hare, 1502

The Knight, Death, and the Devil, 1513

Praying Hands, 1508

Feast of the Rosary, 1506

Composer Study

Once again, we study one composer per term, about six selections per composer.  As in picture study, I deviate from the Ambleside schedule here too--I rely heavily on the pieces that they select, but I do them on my own rotation.  That's partly because while my children are young, I want to use composers that have elementary-level books written about them, and partly because I want to take advantage of local performances.  For example, we had the opportunity to hear several of Haydn's pieces performed this winter, so he was on my list for this year.

For the first four weeks of each term, the children read and narrated a chapter from the Opal Wheeler biography of each composer.  These made such a deeper impact on my children than the Venezia biographies that we used last year!  I'm planning to purchase three more for next year's composers once I've selected them.

They also read and narrated a short section each week of the year from The First Book of the Orchestra, which is a vintage text that does a nice job of explaining the families and instruments in the orchestra and how they work together.

Term 1: Haydn

Celenza's The Farewell Symphony

Symphony No. 45, The Farewell Symphony (three weeks)

Symphony No. 94, The Surprise Symphony (three weeks)

Symphony No. 60, Il Distratto (two weeks)

String Quartet Op 76 no. 4 in B flat major, 1st movement, Sunrise Quartet (two weeks)

The Creation: "The Heavens are Telling the Glory" (two weeks)

Term 2: Mozart

Opal Wheeler's Mozart, The Wonder Boy

Piano Concerto 20 (two weeks)

Symphony 40 (four weeks)

Quintet in A Major for Clarinet (two weeks)

Quintet in A Major for Clarinet

Piano Sonata in A Major (two weeks)

Concerto for bassoon and orchestra in B-flat major, K. 191 (two weeks)

Term 3: Beethoven

Opal Wheeler's Ludwig Beethoven and the Chiming Tower Bells

Moonlight Sonata (two weeks)

Symphony 9 (two weeks)

Symphony 5 (two weeks)

Piano Concerto 5 Op 73 (two weeks)

Razumovsky Quartets Op 59 (four weeks)

Art and Drawing

I aim for one drawing lesson and one art project each week, but we fell short of that this year.  In actuality, we had a full first term, working our way through twelve more weeks of lessons based on Mona Brooks' Drawing with Children (we began using this book last year) and our weekly art projects as planned.  In our second and third terms (which started with first-trimester woes!), I let weekly drawing warm-ups from Donna Young's site and fun with various doodling books stand in for more formal lessons, and we did an art project every other week.  Thankfully, my daughters in particular spend tons of time daily with their own art projects, so they were certainly getting lots of practice, just not instruction or direction.  

A few of the art projects we did manage to do this year:

ATC saint card swap

sculpey

collage

watercolor placecards

printmaking

beading

painting

I'm already planning how to fit art into our days for next year.  I'll have an infant again, which always makes things a bit challenging, but I'm hopeful!

Handicrafts

My daughter has been faithfully working her sewing all year.  She would love to spend even more time sewing, but all I can commit to now is a weekly session with her--and she does still need my help.  But she has made some nice little projects this year, and I think she'll be working more independently in no time.

As for my son...does anyone else find boys' handicrafts really difficult to teach?  Woodworking doesn't come naturally to me, though I know he'd enjoy it.  I have a leather stamping kit set aside for his birthday this year that I'm hoping will be something we can do together, and maybe paper sloyd or whittling soap for next year?  I think I need indoor activities. :)

Piano

Both children began piano lessons in February.  They have already made great progress and are learning with enthusiasm.  It has been a wonderful addition to our week!

First Grade in Our Home: Memory Work Round-up

Since April is National Poetry Month, I thought I would list here the poems the children have learned this year...and then I decided (following Brandy's example), why not just round-up all the memory work my two first-graders have learned this year?  So here are all the poetry, hymns, songs, and prayers for this school year.  Perhaps it will give you some ideas for your own early-elementary students?

Poetry

Vincent - The Young Dandelion (Muloch), The Owl (Tennyson), The Eagle (Tennyson), The Crocodile (Carroll), Furry Bear (Milne), Knight-in-Armor (Milne), Autumn Fires (Stevenson), My Bed is Like a Little Boat (Stevenson)

Gianna - On Easter Day (Thaxter), Between Two Hills (Sandburg), It's All I Have To Bring Today (Dickinson), What Robin Told (Cooper), Rice Pudding (Milne), The Mirror (Milne), The Morns are Meeker (Dickinson), The Gardener (Stevenson)

Hymns

Holy God We Praise Thy Name

To Jesus Christ Our Sovereign King

Asperges Me

Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow

Alma Redemptoris Mater

Ave Regina Caelorum

O Come, O Come Emmanuel

O Little Town of Bethelehem

Hark the Herald Angels Sing

Now Thank We All Our God

O Sacred Head Surrounded

Jesus Christ is Risen Today

Ave Maria (chant)

Folk Songs

Do Re Mi

The Star-Spangled Banner

America the Beautiful

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Home on the Range

Edelweiss

Over the River and Through the Woods

God Bless America

You're a Grand Old Flag

I've Been Working on the Railroad

Battle Hymn of the Republic

O My Darlin Clementine

Prayers

Pater Noster (Our Father in Latin)

The Angelus

Benedic Domine (mealtime prayer in Latin)

St. Andrew novena prayer

Ave Maria (Hail Mary in Latin)

Queen of Heaven

Apostle's Creed

Act of Contrition

Soul of Christ

Angele Dei (Angel of God in Latin)

Other

Pledge of Allegiance

PNEU Motto, as well as this longer version from When Children Love to Learn:

I am a child of God,

I ought to do His will.

I can do what He tells me,

And by His grace, I will.

Even though we'll be finishing up Year 1 next week, we'll be continuing with our daily subjects year-round, including our few minutes of memory work each day.  So I'm hoping all this all stays put in those busy brains! ;)  

And as we end the school year and move into our "summer" break, one my my to-dos is to plan next year's memory work.  Our poems will be chosen by the children from our scheduled poets, and I'll be picking hymns from the parish hymnal, but I'm still deciding on folk songs, and I'm hoping to hit at least one psalm and one parable next year, per Miss Mason's suggestions.  Any suggestions for ones to start with?  I'd love to hear what other young children are working on!

First Grade in Our Home: Music Study

This is another area where I have diverged from the AO rotation.  I will likely join up with it at some point, but this year, I wanted to do a bit of an overview of orchestral music using some resources I have put aside for the last couple years.  Now, I know next to nothing about classical music and have never played an instrument.  So once again, I'm learning alongside the children. (This is a recurring theme in our homeschool, it seems. LOL)  Starting with an overview of the basics sounded just about right.  One of the things I love about music study is that we can do it amid the chaos that is often our home, with four other little children throwing tantrums playing while we do lessons.  Can't say that about most of our school subjects!  So this is a weekly subject I save for when the littles are awake and can join in.

Term 1 - Introduction to the Orchestra

:: Learning about the Instruments -  We spent a week with Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (love this CD set for this whole term, really!), and then a couple weeks with the wonderful mp3s at Children's Vinyl Records Series.  There are several relevant tracks that are fantastic: "A Child's Introduction to the Instruments of the Orchestra" and "A Child's Introduction to the Orchestra" are two we used in this first term.  Also, some favorite picture books: Story of the Orchestra and Meet the Orchestra.  While listening, my children love putting these cards in order from lowest to highest by instrument family.  They also love to pull the card that plays each character in...

:: Peter and the Wolf - Love this picture book version and this one.  We have the David Bowie narrated version on CD, as I mentioned above.  We listen often and the littles love to act it out--but of course!

:: The Carnival of the Animals - Another fun one to act out, big hit with everyone down to the baby.  Can You Hear It? has some fun pages to look through for a few of the pieces.  We also used some of the activities from Kids Can Listen, Kids Can Move.  I'd love to get this version for our home library--has anyone seen it in person?

Term 2 - Close-up on a Composer

:: Vivaldi - Four Seasons.  We took four weeks, one for each season.  I read the accompanying poem and the suggestions from Can You Hear It?, and then we listened.  I left a children's biography on their free reading shelf too.

:: Handel - Water Music, Fireworks Suite, Zadok the Priest, The Messiah.  Just listening, enjoying, discussing, reading.

:: Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker.  We listen to a narrated version and read lots of picture book versions.  We also did some activities from Kids Can Listen, Kids Can Move and Can You Hear It?.

The last few weeks corresponded nicely with Christmas. ;)

Term 3 - Music and Movement

For this term, I wanted to incorporate more from Kleiner's Kids Can Listen, Kids Can Move, mentioned above.  I made a list of the activities I thought they would most enjoy and we're just moving through them, one per week:

Leroy Anderson - Syncopated Clock, Forgotten Dreams, Sleigh Ride

Octavio Pinto - Run, Run!

Brahms - Hungarian Dance No.5, Hungarian Dance No. 6

Leo Delibes - Pizzicato

Flight of the Bumblebee (we'll work from Can You Hear It? for this one)

Haydn - Symphonies 94 and 101

Making "snow angels," as Kleiner suggests for Anderson's "Forgotten Dreams"

And perhaps the most fun aspect of our music study this year has been, as I mentioned, live performances.  With the ages of my children, heading to the symphony hasn't really been an option, but thankfully, our local library has a chamber music group come a couple times a year for a family-friendly performance.  It's a treat for us all.

So, that's that!  Any suggestions I should check out, resources for learning about orchestral music that you love for the early grades?  I'm all ears. ;)

Next time: art, one of my kids' very very favorite subjects.