Teaching Picasso!

 

I had signed up as an Art Literacy Volunteer--fancy way of saying "Assistant Art Teacher" before I went to Florida.  So, when I got back, I scheduled a two hour block with Grace's teacher, Mrs. Marcoe to teach Picasso.  In November, all of us Art teachers met and the coordinators gave us a lesson plan, some slides and a book to teach from. 

 

I recalled last year when Wayne told me about one volunteer that taught about an artist to the Kindergarteners.  He said it was way over their heads and the kids lost interest quickly.

 

So with that in mind, I decided to do my own thing.  I ordered the book on Picasso.  Great book at Kindergarten and 1st grade level with lots of photos and cartoons.  I scanned a handful of Picasso's pieces into my computer, printed out as big as I could get and mounted them individually on a 12x16 foam board.

 

I then made notes from the book and matched up to some of the pieces.  I threw in some fun facts about Picasso:  Picasso had 12 middle names, he had a dog named "Dump", he added perfume to his paintings to help sell them and his BFF (best friend forever) was Matisse.

Grace and BFFs Lucy and Adeline

I was nervous and got to the classroom when they were still out at recess.  I setup everything. Said a quick prayer for success.  I arranged oil pastel crayons and paper for them to make their own Picassos and sat in the rocker in the corner.  The kids came in and some of them remembered me from Kindergarten.  They all surprised me and sat in front of me on the floor asking why I was there.  Grace told me that I can't say I am her Nana or grandma and don't embarrass her.  Sigh, she is just like her Mom.  I respected her wishes but her friend, Morgan loudly shared that I was Grace's Nana.  Grace rolled her eyes but survived the embarrassment.
 

I started with the lesson and I couldn't believe how the kids were so excited to ask my questions.  I asked who had a middle name and who could tell me how many middle names that Pablo Picasso had.  Hands went up and they all loved trying to answer all my fun fact questions.  We laughed a lot and I had them tell me what they saw in the paintings and talk about imaginations! 

Brody and his Picasso!

Mrs. Marcoe came over to me and said that she was so surprised that one of the boys, Brody, is interacting with the group and me.  He never does that!  I felt so good about exciting all of them about art (but especially Brody!) and they couldn't wait to do their own painting.
 

I was so nervous that I would fail at this but I really did well and felt so great about it--the prayer to Jesus sure helped and He answered it!  I have always wanted to teach art to children.  And now, in my retirement I get to do it!  Thanks, LORD!  I have two other teaching sessions to do but Mrs. Marcoe has asked me to help out every Friday after Christmas break and I can't wait!