Discovering Chinese Art at VMFA

Today we visited VMFA.

I had decided to finish up our China study with a visit to the Chinese Galleries.
The children had already experienced the gallery online and were excited to see the pieces that had been expanding their ideas and influencing their own artwork.

When we got to the gallery, instead of starting with a talk I stood back and let the children wander in, to  discover the treasures by themselves. As we had previously done so much work on the dynasties, the art forms of watercolor and porcelain the children needed no introduction.  They immediately found familiar pieces and shared their excitement.

"Look, Ming!" I hear
Then, "Qing too".
"Melanie, this piece is from the 10th century - that's really old!"
"Qing, Qing, Qing, Ming, Ming, I wonder if there is anything from the Song Dynasty"
"Or Tan"
"I found the bat bowl, can I draw it?"

Leaving the visit to be a culmination had paid off.  The children were able to take their knowledge and use it to observe.  They had enough content to hang new ideas on, to make connections.






We then gathered together, and after a quick discussion on what they had seen the children pulled out pencils and paper and began to sketch.  They sketched with such great detail and intensity.  Some as close to the glass as they were allowed, some seated on the floor.  All of them focused, all of them interested. I heard whispers as they shared their finds and their sketches.

"Can I take a picture, this is my favorite" said one of the yellow glass bowl.

"I love the cat, I don't know why but I just love it."

"This brush I like a giant's brush."

" See which piece I drew Melanie, the ram is awesome, will I have time to finish it?"

I noticed that not only sketches were being recorded, but information on the piece.  How it was made, when it was made, the dynasty in which it was created.

Sometimes we are too quick to load up on information.  By standing back, the children gathered their own information, quiet discussions went on in small groups as the children noticed similarities or made connections.   They made connections to Minds in Motion and to our study of rocks. They noticed symbolism, brush strokes and poetry.


Our next stop was the ancient china gallery.

"Melanie, 1st century BC"

"I have older - 3rd century BC".

"Which is older, 1st or 3rd century BC?"  (A great question!)

" I have it - 2500BC, that is 4600 years old and it is still here!" It is made of clay. I win."

"Zhou dynasty - yes!"

The interest in the ancient galleries was more to do with age than aesthetics.  The children were awed by the age of the pieces.  One said "But they all look so new, even though they are so old."

So why a great visit?

We came after having a lot of information.

The art styles were familiar, many of the children had made pots, experimented with watercolor or tried calligraphy.

The children had seen many of the pieces online so had something to look for.

But I do think that by standing back, by allowing discovery, kept a mystery to the pieces, a desire to look closer to find out more.The children naturally shared and learned from each other, they wanted to show me pieces, to share what they had found out, to share their awe.

Sometimes, just let the children do the talking, they know what they want to discover.

So, as we left I asked for words that came to mind,

"Epic"    

 "Amazing"  

"Magnificent"    

"Ancient"   were just a few.


http://www.vmfa.state.va.us/Collections/EastAsian/

How to say thank you to the Minds in Motion teachers.

All year the children in the 4th and 5th grade have been working with the Richmond Ballet in Minds in Motion.

At the beginning of the year, some of the children were a little worried about the concept of dance, or were finding it difficult or uncomfortable. It didn't take long for the enthusiasm to catch on, and soon all the students had learned three quite complicated dances. The few weeks before the performance all the dancers were practicing vigorously, even during recess.

The performance was wonderful and the students although nervous, performed so beautifully.

The end of our second performance cries of:

 "I am so sad".
"It is over, we'll never do this ever again."
"What will we do on Tuesdays?"

Cheers went up as they were told that their would be one more lesson and the children made thank you cards and wrote notes.

Then ;

"Can we make up a Thank You Dance for Paul and Rachel?"

Of course, use the language of dance!!

So Tuesday morning this is what happened:

Two children started to choreographed a dance utilising steps for a left and right side.
A third child added a middle row with different steps.
They taught two fifth grade students and the rest of the 4th grade - everyone wanted to join in.
The fifth grade taught the rest of their grade,
We practised at recess
We danced our thank you for Paul and Rachel.

On their own, the students drew diagrams on the board of where everyone's starting place was.
Steps were written on the board for everyone and then transferred to paper to have on hand "just in case."
They counted, added words and adapted the dance to fit a rhythm that the whole group could understand.
They helped teach each other the steps, those getting it quickly helping those having more difficulties.
They worked in small teams according to starting position then came together as a whole group.
They did all this in about an hour!!

They worked together truly as a group, helping each other and expecting the best from themselves.

Paul and Rachel were wowed!!

Thank you dancers!

Math isn't so tough if you have workable strategies.

I find that often when teaching a new strategy in math, some of the students feel that the strategy is not needed as they have other ways to solve the problem or they can calculate it mentally.  So, when will students have to use a strategy?

When the question is really difficult!!

So, I was in England and visited some experimental neolithic structures that archeologists are building for the new visitors center at Stonehenge.  I was showing the children the pictures and we saw that many of the building styles were similar to the ones we had built.  We then talked about the way all native materials were used and also native tools of the time.

Then came the provocation:

It took 2 hours and 48 minutes and 11, 477 blows of a flint axe to chop down a 30cm diameter tree.  A number of volunteers took two minute turns to chop.  So, how many axe blows per turn?

This immediately led to discussion of we can't possibly know, some people would chop faster than others, some would be stronger and be able to make deeper cuts.  As a class we came up with finding the average (arithmetic mean) axe blows per turn.

So, how do we do that?

We first figured out that 2 hours and 48 minutes divided into 2 minute turns would be 84.

First what is the equation?    11,477 / 84 =   ?

Well, we haven't tackled this type of problem in 4th grade, how could we possibly find out the answer - was it too difficult?

No - not with patience and strategy.

So what strategies do we have that we could use?

Counting with pop cubes
Landmark numbers
Multiplication
Building up
Coming down
Estimation

How did they do it?

Using landmark numbers and then adding on.
Also showing an understanding that even though the answer isn't exact, it cannot be a fraction because of course you cannot have "half a blow!"

 Again, starting with 84 x 100.  An estimate to get close.

This group started very high, then used halving to get to a closer estimate.


None of the groups had ever tackled a problem like this, but with the aid of learned strategies and a sense of adventure, even the seemingly impossible was very much within reach.