Words and Images: 

Paintings to Poetry

For the past few weeks, the 3rd and 4th graders have been making drawings based on poems. This week we reversed the process, writing poetry based on the images we saw. 

The first painting we looked at was called "First Steps After Millet", by Vincent Van Gogh 

Next, we looked at an illustration from "The Napping House" written by Audrey Wood and illustrated by Don Wood.

Words and Images: Poetry 

Today the 3rd and 4th grade focused on another poem, this time by the poet Robert Frost.

Looking For a Sunset Bird in Winter

By Robert Frost

The west was getting out of gold,
The breath of air had died of cold,
When shoeing home across the white,
I thought I saw a bird alight.

In summer when I passed the place
I had to stop and lift my face;
A bird with an angelic gift
Was singing in it sweet and swift.

No bird was singing in it now.
A single leaf was on a bough,
And that was all there was to see
In going twice around the tree.

From my advantage on a hill
I judged that such a crystal chill
Was only adding frost to snow
As gilt to gold that wouldn't show.

A brush had left a crooked stroke
Of what was either cloud or smoke
From north to south across the blue;
A piercing little star was through.

As before, we read the poem out loud 3 times, then went back and defined any words we did not know. We tracked the movement of the poem and figured out what Frost was talking about, then chose our favorite lines and drew them!

Words and Images: Poetry

Today we continued looking at the relationship between poetry and imagers. We read a lighter poem by Jack Prelutsky, called "Philbert Phlurk"

Philbert Phlurk

By Jack Prelutsky

The major quirk of Philbert Phlurk

was tinkering al day, 

inventing things that didn't work, 

a scale that wouldn't weigh,

a pointless pen that couldn't write,

a score of silent whistles,

a bulbless lamp that wouldn't light,

a toothbrush with no bristles.

He built a chair without a seat,

a door that wouldn't shut,

a cooking stove that didn't heat,

a knife that couldn't cut.

He proudly crafted in his shop

a wheel that wouldn't spin,

a sweepless broom, a mop less mop,

a stringless violin.

He made a millin useless things

like clocks with missing hands,

like toothless combs and springless springs

and stretchless rubber bands.

When Phlurk was through with something new

he'd grin and say with glee,

"I know this doesn't work for you,

but ah, it works for me."

Following the same pattern as last class, we read through the poem a few times and then identified and defined words we didn't know.

Next, each student selected a stanza or part of a stanza that they would like to draw - because this particular poem is so full of imagery, students were encouraged to focus on a particular portion.

Lastly, the 3rd and 4th graders wrote the line or lines from the poem that inspired their drawings.

Introduction to Words and Images

Today the 3rd and 4th grade began their new unit - Words and Images. 

This unit will focus on the relationship between words and images in art. We will incorporate poetry, music, and modern artists who all work with words and visual art in some way. 

The next few classes we will work with poetry, analyzing poems and drawing our responses to them. We began today's class with a poem by William Carlos Williams called "Blizzard"

"Blizzard"

By William Carlos Williams 

Snow falls:

years of anger following

hours that float idly down --

the blizzard

drifts its weight

deeper and deeper for three days

or sixty years, eh? Then

the sun! a clutter of 

yellow and blue flakes --

Hairy looking trees stand out

in long alleys

over a wild solitude.

The man turns and there --

his solitary track stretched out

upon the world.

After reading the poem a few times, students identified and defined words they didn't know. Next, we put the poem in to our own words, selecting strong images and talking about the poet's choice of words.

Lastly, students were asked to draw images they found in the poem.