Inspired by Art Books

We changed the books in our reading nook today! After a visit to the school library we selected a number of non-fiction books about famous artists and their paintings. We discussed these books briefly with the children before putting them in the genre basket in the nook. During free choice time we noticed a number of children exploring the texts and the interest in using the paint easel was higher than usual.

Some Ontario Curriculum fulfilled by this activity includes:

2.10 retell information from non-fiction materials that have been read by and with the EL–K team in a variety of contexts (e.g., read-alouds, shared reading experiences), using pictures and/or props

V3.  use problem-solving skills and their imagination to create visual art forms (e.g., choose materials to make a three-dimensional structure stable; choose an alternative way to fasten their materials if the first way is unsuccessful)