In Which we study not just Art, but Geography, Science, History, Family History, and Music Appreciation...
For Art Appreciation we are doing a Picture Study. I plan to focus on one Artist with the kids for 4-6 weeks, studying a new print each week. We are just about done with our Degas study. Here's what we did:
WEEK 1:

Woman with Chrysanthemums
GEOGRAPHY: We talked about Degas and where he lived (Paris) We found Paris on our map.
MINI SCIENCE LESSON: Chrysanthemum Flower. We looked this flower up on line and practiced pronouncing it correctly.
LITERATURE: We read this book Chrysanthemum, a fun little book that just reinforced the Chrysanthemum flower and how to pronounce it correctly. By the end of the week, the kids were saying the name of this flower just as simply as they would say a rose or a tulip.

I understand there is a movie, based on this book, and I hope to find that at our library.
WEEK 2:

This was our print. I waited to introduce the ballet prints until the second week because I wanted to spend the first week just talking about Degas himself. I am glad I did because with Piglet all focus went to the ballerina and ballet.
We read this book, which I picked up at a Used Book Shop this past summer:

WEEK 3:

Our print was: At the Races.
A mini-Horse Study would have been nice here. At the time I did not think to do anything with horses, but I am sure there are some good horse books we could have read. Also, a field trip to go horseback riding is a good idea. Next year, when we do this study again we will have to keep that in mind.
A quick search of Amazon showed me these items:



I really like the idea of drawing horses and that could turn into a whole new unit of it's own. We will definitely do more with this next time we do the Degas Study (before we repeat the study we have several other Artists to learn about).
WEEK 4 and 5:

Print of the New Orleans Cotton Mills. Degas traveled to New Orleans to visit his brothers who worked here and painted this.
GEOGRAPHY: We traced his voyage from France to New Orleans across Atlantic Ocean on our globe.
FAMILY HISTORY: Aunt Sapna and Uncle Sam were married in New Orleans. We talked about their wedding and how we went to New Orleans as a family 2 years ago. Also talked about how this is where Katrina, the big storm was.
WEEK 5 and 6:

This print was a great intro. to our Orchestra/Composer Study, which started last week.
I found this nice little book at our library and displayed it at home for the kids to find. It was neat for them to flip through it because they recognized many of the prints we have studied in this book. I did not really read the details to them, as they were not interested, but they did enjoy looking at the pictures.
This week we also watched a Degas Movie that I found at the library. This was the movie that led to my "encounter" with the librarian. The movie was OK. It was a little over their heads. I will have to rent it again as they get older. It was a HBO movie and was pretty well done and not too long. I enjoyed it and they got a little out of it. Tigger got that Degas had a temper and Piglet enjoyed watching the dancers. They also recognized some prints that we studied in Degas's studio and that was neat.
WEEK 6 (this week):

One reason I chose this print to present to the kids is because it is located at the Phillips Collection in DC. I know we will be visiting DC sometime in the near future so this will be one piece of Art they will be able to see in a real Museum. That is my whole goal of this Picture Study: for them to recognize works of art so they will enjoy and look forward to going to museums throughout their life.
This is what we have to look forward to this week as we finish up our Degas study:
Degas Art Activity Pack
Color Your Own Degas Paintings
I ordered these items from Amazon and they should arrive any day now.
Overall, I have really enjoyed studying Degas with the kids. They really seemed to enjoy this study and also learned quite a bit. I learned a lot myself.
Our next artist to focus on will be Manet. That will start next week.