Monday 30 March 2015

Happy Birthday Van Gogh


Vincent Van Gogh was born on 30th March, 1853. He is so famous that he even appears in a Dr Who episode ;)

Did you know that he only sold one painting in his lifetime? Now his paintings are worth millions.

Laurence Anholt has written a series of children's books about artists, including one about Van Gogh. It tells a story during the time he spent in France when he was 35 and includes examples of his work. There is also a brief biography on the last page. It makes an ideal unit study starter :)



Activities that your child may enjoy:
Painting swirls in the sky just like Van Gogh using bright colours and mixing the paint on the paper
Create self-portraits - Van Gogh made over 30
Visit an art gallery and look for Van Gogh paintings
Grow a sunflower
Serve a sunflower shaped lunch
Make a jelly in a Swiss roll tin and use a star shape cutter to make dessert
Listen to the song 'Vincent' :)



Further resources for a unit study on Van Gogh:
Montessori Cards
Van Gogh Picture Cards
Video clip from BBC Schools
Biography
Explore the digital Van Gogh map
Wordsearch
Colouring pages
Notebooking page

More books on Vincent Van Gogh:


For a unit study that explores another of Laurence Anholt's books, check out 

Sunday 29 March 2015

Children's Book Awards

This year, my children will be taking part in the CILIP Shadowing Scheme organised by our local library to follow the Kate Greenaway Award. They will be looking at this year's shortlisted books, writing reviews, researching the artists, designing their own covers and voting for a group winner using the same criteria as the real judges.

The Kate Greenaway Medal was established in 1955 and is awarded for distinguished illustration in a children's book. It has had some well-known winners in the past, such as Helen Oxenbury, Shirley Hughes and Quentin Blake. Librarians select a short-list from the many books submitted and follow strict judging criteria to decide the winner.

Not all the selected picture books are aimed at young children, in fact there are three aimed at the 10+ age group. Older children love picture books too :) This year's shortlist is:




You can shadow the award in your own family and set up an account on the CILIP website. TYour children will be able to submit their own work and post their own reviews. There are free resources available too :)

The Kate Greenaway Award runs alongside the Carnegie Award, Britain's longest running and most prestigious children's book award. You can see all the past winners of the Kate Greenaway Medal here. How many have you read?