10th Grade English

Our number one goal for English this year is to learn how to write a good, solid essay in a timed setting and to enjoy reading again. We will bounce back and forth between selections that explore Gothic themes and works written by Mississippi authors. Morgan will be responsible for reading one work each month and writing an essay about the work. He will keep a reading journal in which he spends five minutes freewriting about his daily readings. Our hope is that ideas for essays will come from these writings.

General Resources:
Ole Miss Mississippi Writers Page
The Literary Gothic
Resources for the Study of Gothic Literature

September: The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole

• Since this book is widely considered to be the first Gothic novel, it seems fitting to start with it and to write an essay about what makes a work Gothic.

October: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

• Online resources

November: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

• Online resources

December: Interview with the Vampire by Ann Rice

• We wanted to work in something modern. Morgan says now that it is Gothic because it has vampires. I argued that Sesame Street has vampires. Now he wants to write a paper explaining why Sesame Street is Gothic. Be afraid.

January:
Black Boy by Richard Wright
One Writer's Beginnings by Eudora Welty

• Morgan has already read Black Boy.
• The assignment for these books is to explore perspective. It is a little vague now.

February: My Dog Skip by Willie Morris

• We don't have any ideas here yet.

March: The Firm by John Grisham

• We don't have any ideas here yet.

April: As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

• It's Gothic and Mississippi. Bonus!
  
• Discuss stream of consciousness.
• A few reviewers on Amazon suggest that this work should be made into a movie by the Cohen brothers. Morgan really likes movies, so I might want him to take some time to think about this idea.

I still feel like we are not getting to works that should be covered. I will try to have Morgan at least watch Wuthering Heights, Phantom of the Opera, a Tennessee Williams play or two, and Hitchcock's adaptation of Rebecca.

Art Update for Mid-August

Since the last art update, we have covered Joan Miro, Piet Mondrian, and Jackson Pollock. To see our art lesson plans for the quarter, please click here.

Our Surrealism lessons did not end with a reading of the BFG as planned, but I'm still happy with our project. I had great plans to use ideas from either ART with Mrs. Smith or Deep Space Sparkle, but it turned out that doing our own thing worked out better. First, I showed the girls the original Running Man
Then I had them draw a stick man with black crayon. I instructed the girls to bend their men at the elbows and knees. Then I told them to draw circles and simple stars with dots at the points. The last step was to paint with watercolors. The black crayon held the paints in place nicely.

Maggie's Running Man:
Annie's Running Man:

Ella's Running Man:

The girls found Mondrian a fascinating and accessible artist. We did end up trying the Mondrian cake, but it was not a pretty product. Again, the planned lessons on Mondrian were not working for us, so we came up with our own way to recreate the art. First, the girls used a ruler to draw four vertical lines.

Then they used the ruler to draw three horizontal lines. I tried to encourage them to not space their lines evenly.
Next, I let the girls pick either horizontal or vertical orientation, and I had them draw a few more lines. The rule for this step was that the lines could not go all the way from left to right.

The final step was painting with watercolors.

Maggie's work:

Annie's work:

As a mathematician, I really appreciate the vocabulary that comes with a lesson on Mondrian. We were able to review horizontal, vertical, perpendicular, parallel, right angle, and rectangle while making some really fun art.

If you were to ask the girls what their favorite lesson so far has been, they would say Jackson Pollock without a doubt. Not only is Pollock an interesting person with an interesting technique, but the marble painting we did captivated them. It was messy and colorful, and it used what Maggie called "real art" because I was able to get a 3' by 2' canvas on sale at Michael's. Maggie and Annie worked for about an hour to produce the picture that now hangs above the love seat in our living room.

"Weekly" Update

Maggie's Schedule:


Maggie's week was so much better than last week. I worked more choice into her spreadsheet, and she responded very favorably. She passed her time test in math, is finally showing signs of really understanding division, and has read at least three times more than I have asked her to read. Go Maggie!

Annie's Schedule:


Even though Annie didn't do any work on Friday, I am proud of how hard she worked to get things done. It was a big chess week for Annie. She just couldn't get enough. And she finished her time test in under 45 seconds. I think that is a good sign to move forward.

Overall we had a great week. I didn't get to start piano with the girls as I had planned, but we had fun playing with friends. Many of our traditionally schooled friends start school next week, so everyone wanted to get together one last time. And for once we are not behind in Geography!

Our faux Delftware plates would have turned out a bit better if I had thought to turn off Phineas and Ferb while we worked.


And it always helps to have My Little Ponies around to guard your Viking runes. The girls loved setting this scene up and taking the picture.


Morgan and Ella had an easy week. My boy has finished everything except Mandarin and even tried to get his driving permit on Friday. It is too bad that he forgot his glasses and couldn't take the test. Little Ella has had a blast playing along with the big kids and loving on our new kitten. She continues to show an interest in letters, so we are all working to answer her questions and guide her.

Future Art Ideas

(Sorry. I didn't mean to publish this one. It was meant to be notes to me. Now I don't know how to unpublish it.)

Deep Space Sparkle's Grand Canyon
Deep Space Sparkle's Lady Liberty
Art with Mrs. Smith's Fancy Sun Art (oil pastels)
Deep Space Sparkle's Color Wheel Bouquet
Embroidery lessons: That Artist Woman, House on the Hill
That Artist Woman Paint and Embroidery Combo (mixed media)
That Artist Woman Zebra Resist (resist, watercolor)
The Artful Parent Painting Tiny (watercolor)
Design Sponge Post-It Mosaic
Deep Space Sparkle's Warm and Cool Landscapes
Art Projects for Kids Recycled Mosaic Frame (mosaic)
Teach Kids Art Mosaic Ideas
Hearts and Trees Watercolor Techniques
Harmony Art Mom Sketch Tuesday
Art Projects for Kids Fall Trees (oil pastels)
Art Projects for Kids How to Draw a Cat
Art Projects for Kids Outerspace Watercolor
Art Projects for Kids How to Draw a Hen and Chicks
Art Projects for Kids One City Block (perspective)
Art Projects for Kids Creative Writing Project
That Artist Woman Sunset Project
That Artist Woman Giraffe Project

Art Lesson Plans for 1st Quarter- 20th Century Artists

Our Tuesday art afternoons are usually spent reading and then creating, but art happens pretty much every day here, so we may not finish every project in a day. Our weeks will be broken down like this:

Matisse
vocabulary: collage
read: Dropping in on Matisse
make: Combine this collage by Modern Art 4 Kids with this window collage from Filth Wizardry
extension: Talk about temporary art. Look at the works of Christo.

Frida Kahlo
vocabulary: self-portrait, still life, foreground, background
read: Adventures in Art bio or Getting to Know bio
make: Idea #1 from ART with Mrs. Smith
extension: Abstract self-portraits from Deep Space Sparkle

Surrealism and Dada (2 weeks)
Joan Miro, Salvador Dali, Rene Magritte
read: Dinner at Magritte's, Dali and the Path of Dreams, Joan Miro Sticker Art Shapes
make: Miro Idea #1 from ART with Mrs. Smith, Miro Idea #2 from Deep Space Sparkle, An Eye for Magritte from Art Projects for Kids
extension: Read the BFG by Dahl. Talk about how the giant kept his dreams in a bottle. Make a dream bottle as described here.

Mondrian
vocabulary: De Stijl
watch: This movie from Netflix
make: Idea #1 from TeachKidsArt or Idea #2 from ART with Mrs. Smith
extension: Play Pac-Mondrian, include math lessons on graphing in the coordinate plane and area, make this cake , look at the Partridge Family's bus (I've always been drawn to Mondrian. Can you tell? But I'm not the only one.)

Jackson Pollock
vocabulary: abstract expressionism
read: Action Jackson and his Getting to Know bio (one of my favorites)
make: marble painting via Let the Children Play
extension: Create your image at jacksonpollock.org.

Picasso
vocabulary: portraits, cubism
make: faces from Deep Space Sparkle
read: Picasso and the Girl with a Ponytail
extension: Create electronic images using Picassohead,

Andy Warhol
vocabulary: pop art
read: Adventures in Art Andy Warhol, Uncle Andy's, Uncle Andy's Cats
make: recreate pop art using corn syrup paint from eighteen25 (I can see the Campbell's Soup image done this way.) Use photoshop to create pop art posters.
extension: Look at the Obama hope poster created by Shepard Fairey and the imitations of it. Use this site to create a similar look.

Frank Lloyd Wright
vocabulary: architecture
watch: Ken Burns documentary on FLW
make: Lego Fallingwater model
extension: not needed. The LEGO model will take long enough.

Replaced with a week devoted to this Eames-inspired house of cards at Charlotte's Fancy.

Dale Chihuly
vocab: sculpture
watch: Chihuly: Gardens and Glass from Netflix
make: Shrinky Dink Sculptures from MaryMaking using recycled plastic as described by Skip to My Lou
extension: View Chihuly's work for the Disney Magic cruise ship. Somewhere there is a TV special about it.

Art Course for 2010-2011

As you read my art plans, please remember that I am not an artist. I am not an art historian. There is no real rhyme or reason to my choices. All I want to do is given the kids a chance to express themselves every week and to maybe work in a little art history, too.

You can click on the links for specific plans for each quarter:

1st Quarter: 20th Century Artists
2nd and 3rd Quarters: projects exploring art terms (mosaic, landscape, warm/cool, symmetry, resist)
4th Quarter: American Artists

Art resources that we enjoy include:
Art with Mrs. Smith
Deep Space Sparkle
That Artist Woman
Art Projects for Kids
Modern Art 4 Kids
Harmony Art Mom

Latin Lesson Plans

My original plan was to start both Maggie and Annie in Latin this summer, but Annie's reading skills are not where I would like them to be, so only Maggie will start my favorite dead language. We are using Latina Christiana I from Memoria Press. It is a gentle approach designed for her age group.

Weekly Schedule
Friday: quiz or test on previous lessons, take notes on a new lesson
Monday: review work (listen to CD, play computer games, do worksheets), define English derivatives for the lesson
Tuesday: review work (listen to CD, play computer games, do worksheets), part A in workbook
Wednesday: review work (listen to CD, play computer games, do worksheets), parts B and C in workbook
Thursday: study for quiz/test, part D in workbook

Resources
Worksheets for Latina Christiana I
Computer Games for Latina Christiana I

Our goal is to finish LCI by May. We are not in a hurry.