Artist of the Week: Michelangelo(1475 - 1564)  Genius best describes Michelangelo Buonarroti.  In his 89 years of life he was a sculptor, painter, poet and architect.  He did and still does inspire other artists through his work. He can be described as the Master who was inspired by Donatello and Giotto.  His work in  three-dimensional form was said to be his first love.   His works ranged from small pieces to monumental works such as the ceiling in the Sistine Chapel in Rome.  From 1505 on Michelangelo was working on one art work or another for the Papacy.  He painted Christ, the rising of the dead, the last judgment and saints, prophets and patriarchs!  His work as an architect led him to the commission of the massive tomb for Pope Julius II which was never completed.  You can see many of his works on the sites listed below and read more about Michelangelo's life.

•  Uffizi - Michelangelo Buonarroti  Here is a great biography site with links!
•  Michelangelo Biography
•  Artist: Michelangelo
•  Michelangelo
•  CGFA - Michelangelo Wonderful site! Scroll down and & find all the pictures!!!!

Word of the Week:fresco:

Art Supplies for this Week:watercolors & brush, pencil, watercolor paper, plastic wrap, sand optional

Art Project of the Week: Today we are going to use something from our kitchen called plastic wrap.  The plastic wrap is going to make our paint do something new that we haven't done before! It sounds silly dosen't it!  Pick anything you want to paint.  I'm going to paint a big round moon up in a beautiful sky filled with stars. First I'm going to draw my big moon with a pencil.  Then I'm going to use my paint brush and water to make the moon area wet.  After my circle moon is wet I'm going to add the colors I want my moon to be from my watercolors. I'm going to use alot of watercolor on my moon.  As soon as my moon is painted I'm going to take a piece of plastic wrap and lay it on my moon and gently squeeze it or scrunch it with my fingers.  I will see some of my paint stick to the plastic wrap and thats ok.  After 5 minutes I am going to pull my plastic wrap off my moon so it can dry.  Do you see all the wrinkles in your moon?  I do!  It looks old and maybe it even looks like it has high and low places to you.  After we are finished with our moon we can now paint the sky and stars.  What a fun picture this is to make.  You could make a picture the same way with a sandy beach and put your plastic wrap on the beach to wrinkle the painted on sand to look like real sand. Maybe you could sprinkle real sand lightly on your painting before putting the plastic wrap on and scrunching it. What does this make the sand and paint do? Then you could paint in a sand bucket, beachball and maybe even a umbrella to protect you from that big sun in the sky!  Your imagination using your paint and plastic wrap is the key to painting today. 

Optional Art Project:In our home our kindergartener is learning various shapes.  We will use templates and have her trace around the shapes.  When she is finished  tracing she can paint the shapes various colors from her watercolor tray.  She will be allowed to play with small pieces of plastic wrap and her pencil and brush trying go give each shape its own personality by adding faces, arms and legs.  She will learn her shapes and also how to use her brush, pencil and imagination.  Her art work can also be used to learn her numbers as she can count shapes, arms, legs, etc.  Learning can be fun through art.

Science Project: I have a science site that I found that is truly wonderful.  Please check out  Science@NASA - Science.Nasa.Gov.  A wonderful science project this week would be to look at the circulation of blood.  It was discovered during Michelangelo's time in 1540 that blood circulates through the body.  What organ pumps the blood through the body? How many chambers does it have?  What is the purpose of the circulation? You can check out the following unit study put together by an elementary school on the web to learn more about your body through learning units including your circulatory system: My Body Interdisciplinary Unit

Writing Project: We know that Michelangelo wrote poetry. Can you find a book of poems today and copy your favorite one?  You could copy this quote of Michelangelo's "One does not achieve inner discipline until one reaches the extremes of art and life."  What do you think he means by this statement? I have a couple of sites you might want to check out:  Teachers.Net Lesson Exchange: Parts of Speech.....poetry and IN THE MIDNIGHT GARDEN a collection of poetry written by 4th graders.

History Project: In 1531 Halleys Comet first appeared to our knowledge.  The following site will give you a great Halley's Comet Timeline and Resource page! Challenger Center Online: Lesson Launcher 

                               This would also be a good week to learn more about the Renaissance period in history.  To do that you can check out the following areas of the web:

Rome Reborn: The Vatican Library & Renaissance Culture

Medieval and Renaissance Fact and Fiction

Medievel & Renaissance Culture