This semester I had the wonderful opportunity to work with two 2nd grade teachers at a local school.  I spent an afternoon a week in each of their classrooms and they were gracious enough to let me teach this art lesson in preparation for student teaching.  The area that I go to school has a very dense Dutch population.  Lots of Vander, De, -sma, and Vans around town:)  So I decided to embrace the heritage that many of the student share and teach them about tinting and shading using Delft.  As I began introducing the lesson, lots of hands shot in the air, "My grandma has that!" was a consensus around the class:) We discussed the history a bit and what the scenery is like in the Netherlands (lots of rivers, windmills and flowers).  Then we began the project.  Art is one subject that requires LOTS of management and planning.  How will the student receive the material? How will they wash their brushes? Where will they dry? And so on.  Lots to think about. One thing that slipped my mind--where to put their names.  The students are busily painting when I remember that they haven't put their name anywhere on it, and now its full of wet paint. Woops!  A little improvision with my cooperating teacher and the problem was solved. Lesson learned:)

 

The student enjoyed experimenting with color mixing.  We discussed how powerful the color black is when mixing and what to do if your color didn't come out how you expected (adding more white, blue or black). 

 

I instructed the students to paint the scene in the middle first, then move to the decorative border around the edge.  Students learned about different types of lines and patterns earlier in the year so we used that prior knowledge to create the beautiful border around their plates.

 

Overall, it was a great project to incorporate art and Dutch culture.  The student were excited to bring it home to show their parents & grandparents and compare it to the Delft they have around their house. I learned alot classroom management during this lesson and the importance of giving simple step-by-step instructions throughout the entire lesson.

 

Below are some of the masterpieces!