Our Homes: A Musical and Watercolor Experience

Our Homes: A Musical & Watercolor Experience

February 1^st

Today we were exploring the rooms in our homes and the objects found in them.  Vocabulary words such as bedroom, bed, kitchen, table, bathroom, bath, etc. were embedded into the student’s content learning. I wanted to find a way to make a stronger connection to music for the students as we were exploring the vocabulary. Their teacher, Rosa also wanted the students to have an experience with watercolors. I had borrowed a set of them from a colleague of mine, Jessica Howe, a kindergarten teacher at Homer Davis Elementary School in Tucson.

I prepared a lesson that began with the book, This House is Made of Mud, written by Ken Buchanan. The illustrations by Libba Tracy are beautiful watercolors of the various features of a round adobe home that is set in the Sonoran desert. I was hoping that the illustrations would inspire students to explore the use of watercolors to create a setting. I prepared two examples, one of a kitchen and one of a home in the desert. The book is written in Spanish and English, so Rosa and I took turns reading the pages to the students.

I noticed that they are starting to get used to having a story read to them while in class. About half of the children really seemed to settle in for the reading. After the story I had prepared a song about a house in which words could be substituted for rooms and objects within a room. I decided to use a tune that would be familiar for the students based on a child’s song called Mi Rancho. I substituted words for rancho and the animals found there to create a song about a house. “Oh come into my house in Arizona___, oh come and see my house in Arizona; In my kitchen there’s a table, In my kitchen there’s a table…”  I created a chart with the lyrics and a place to substitute kitchen and table for other words, and the place for the home, such as Guaymas or Hermosillo. We repeated the song with other rooms – bedroom, bathroom, living room, and familiar places. I watched carefully as the students helped us to create verses. I noticed a lot more participation this week with the song.

The students were very excited about watercolors. We distributed the materials and let them go with the directions of painting their home or a home that they imagine, either indoors or outdoors. I am not sure of how much actual watercolor instruction took place. It was a time to let them go, and have fun with their creations. I think that there was a lot of exploration involved in mixing colors. The brushes they used were fairly large. I was amazed at the detail that some students were able to include in their paintings. Most students elected to paint houses in settings as in the story. However there were a few rooms.

Camila painted a beautiful bedroom with a bed that looked like it was designed for a princess. It even had a pretty chandelier on the ceiling.

Jocelyn’s painting was interesting. She painted several rooms, including some outdoor features of her home.

I was very excited to notice that a couple of small groups of students whose desks were clustered together spontaneously began singing our new song while they were painting. The English flowed for the first part of the song… “Oh come and see my house in Guaymas”… I believe that the familiarity with the song and its repetition of phrases allowed students to feel more comfortable with singing in another language.

Some of the paintings are pictured here as they were drying. I wish that I had more time to interview students to find out what they were thinking as they were painting. However with the limited time for painting and clean up I was only able to walk around and view their work. It would be great to have more time for this. However, as a guest, it is important that I don’t overstay the time we have, and ask for too much. I am still trying to discover how my volunteering is making an impact on the students and their teacher.

I would describe the lesson as a little messy with the materials, but well worth a little chaos. It was wonderful to see their excitement about painting. It is exciting to introduce different media to them and watch them work. They are so able to arrange themselves with their desks in a way that allows them to work together to share water, and even paints if necessary. I never hear a squabble about sharing materials. That seems to happen naturally in this classroom. Their exploration with watercolors revealed a host of information about their styles of approaching this task and their learning style preferences. In our model we asked them to draw before they began painting. For some students, mixing and exploring color mixing on their pallets was an experience that drew their attention. I would not hesitate to do this again. I think that they would love it.