Children love to look at pictures. They enjoy looking at every detail and can explore them over and over. They look at Art with a freshness and honesty. My action plan for the 1999-2000 school year is to have the children experience the fine arts through paintings that can be associated with their curriculum. I have selected many paintings, by well-known artists, which have been listed below. Each will be made into an overhead transparency that can easily be used in the classroom. Each transparency will be in color thanks to "Kinko's". The transparencies will be used to generate class discussions. We will relate the paintings to whatever I am teaching (families, home, shapes, animals, seasons, etc.) and extend the lessons by doing a related activity. The children might be asked to 

                   1. Create a picture using the same tool as the artist used.

2. Write a song about the picture. (Individual or class)

3. Create a movement to go with the picture or strike a    pose.

4. Write a poem using the painting to set the mood.

5. Create an art form of your choice,

6. Find music to go with the painting.

7. Dance together, dance alone.

8. Make a sculpture.

9. Create a drama.

10. Tell or write a story.

Families

The Family of Jan-Baptista Anthome, 1664,GonzalesCoques

The Princes in the Tower, 1878, John Everett Millais

The Callmady Children, 1823, Thomas Lawrence

John Parker and his Sister Theresa, 1779, Joshua Reynolds

Home

Bedroom at Aries, 1889, Vincent van Gogh

Woman in her Bath Sponging her Leg, 1883, Edgar Degas

Pets

Paul on the Donkey, 1923, Pablo Picasso

A Girl with a Kitten, 1745, Jean-BaptistePerronneau

Miss Jane Bowles, 1775, Joshua Reynolds

Parrot outside his Cage, 17" century, Cornelis Biltius

Action Words

The Jockey, 1899, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

The Swing, 1767, Jean-HonoreFragonard

Footrace, c.530 BC, Greek vase painting

LePlongeur, 1978, David Hockney 

Counting

The Boy with the Fife, 1866, Edouard Manet

Two angels, c. 1518, Rosso Piorentmo

Portrait of Three Young Girls, 17th century. Circle of Robert Peake

Colors                  -

Red Interior, Stilt-life on a Blue Table, 1947, Henn Matisse

Paul as Pierrot, 1925, Pablo Picasso

Antibes, 1888, Claude Monet

Shapes

Electric Prisms, 1914, SoniaDelaunay

Composition, 1918 Bart van der Leek

Pompeii, 1959, Hans Hofmann

Opposites

Dignity and Impudence, 1839, Edwin Landseer

My First Sermon, 1863,John Everett Millais

Old Man and Child, 1827,Richard Parkes Bonington

House qf Stairs 1, 1951, M.C. Escher

The Seasons

Spring, 1886, Claude Monet

Wheatfield with Reaper, 1889, Vincent van Gogh

Autumn Leaves, 1856, John Everett Millais

The Hunters in the Snow, 1565, Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Animals                                                .

Landscape with Cattle, 1895, Henri Rousseau

Tropical Storm with a Tiger, 1891, Henri Rousseau

The Raven Addressing the Assembled Animals, 1590, Indian

The second part of my action plan is to order a series of children's books about famous artists. The series in entitled Getting To Know The World's Greatest Artists, written and illustrated by Mike Venezia, Children's Press. The series includes Alexander Calder, Henri Matisse, Monet, Picaso, Van Gogh and many more. I would like to use the books to introduce the artists, as their work is shown, and to create a classroom library where the children are free to explore the artist's work anytime. Looking to the near fixture, I would like to have the PTO help us purchase some prints, which we have studied, to create a "Wall of Fame" in the school cafeteria. There the children can enjoy them daily and hopefully will develop a lasting appreciation of art.