POETRY, PAINTINGS AND JAZZ

An Integrated Arts Project with Kindergarten and Fourth Graders
St. Thomas's Day School, New Haven, CT

February, 2010

Photos by Jan Nichols/ Created by Craig S. O'Connell and Christi Sharon

Click Here to learn more about St. Thomas's Jazz Club

This project started with our Art Teacher, Jan Nichols, engaging a group of kindergarten children around the work of the famous Spanish abstract painter, Joan Miro. The children were shown paintings by Miro from a book. They were asked to focus on the shapes and colors and to represent their own paintings as members of a family.

Our fourth graders have kindergarten "buddies" who work together as partners, usually by reading books to the younger children. With this project we decided to introduce jazz music and the paintings of Miro to the fourth graders. Our goal was to demonstrate how one art form could influence another.

When famed jazz pianist, Dave Brubeck, created an album called "Time Further Out" in 1961 he displayed a painting by Joan Miro on the cover which served as the inspiration for the music on this LP.

First Grade teacher Craig O'Connell, through his FirstGradeJazz.com curriculum, has been introducing children to jazz music and poetry for many years. We felt that an important connection could now be made with Brubeck's jazz and Miro's art. At the invite of Teacher/Curriculum Specialist Christi Sharon, O'Connell put together a slide show representing 25 pieces of Miro's abstract paintings (all in the style of what the kindergarteners had seen) set to a background of Brubeck's somewhat abstract piece "Bluette" from the "Time Further Out" album.

Listen to Bluette on YouTube

The musical slideshow was then presented to the fourth graders. Following the presentation a lively and exciting discussion ensued among the children. The discussion centered around how Miro's paintings guided Brubeck's music, in other words how one art form might influence another. The children all agreed that the two art forms worked well together and that Brubeck did a great job representing Miro's paintings through musical expression.

The kindergarten paintings were then shown to the fourth graders by Mrs. Sharon, who then asked the children to look at the paintings and find an object. They were also asked to identify a feeling or emotion the painting conveyed to them and finally write a three line poem that included the object and their feelings.

Finally the teachers decided to make the critical connection between the art created by the kindergarteners (paintings) and the art created by the fourth graders (poetry). The result of that collaboration is represented below. The paintings are by the kindergarteners and the poems were written by their fourth grade buddies. The two groups of children got together and shared in this experience which was then videotaped by our Computer/Tech teacher John North.

While we were thrilled with the results of this collaborative effort among the children and teachers, in retrospect we would have introduced the jazz music simultaneous with the initial painting experiences in the art class with the kindergarten.

 

painting by Jude

Caterpillar
A fuzzy plaid caterpillar
Crawls to a maple tree to eat a fresh green leaf
Before he spins his cocoon
--Courtney
Merry Caroling
A family huddled close on the street
Joyfully singing merry carols
In the starry night they rejoice.
--Ellie

 

painting by Aksel

Real & Unreal
Three lonely, black feathered birds
Gracefully flying
Into the pitch black darkness of outer space
--Olivia

On the Beach
Two identical twin boys
Building castles with their sand toys
At the deserted beach on a cold and gloomy fall day.
--Julia

 

painting by Barrett

Dawn
A field of people dancing in the darkness
The sun is slowly rising and the party is over
Everyone starts to walk home
--Max

Cooperation
Two brothers working together
Building a tower with blocks
On a leaf green rug in their play room.
--Zach

 

painting by Josephine

Morning
A fuzzy spider crawls across a web wet with dew
The spider leaps onto a fly
Twisting silk on to its lunch
--Lilly

Bike Ride
A girl in a flamingo pink sundress
Sad, because her bike is broken
Sitting on the curb at the end of her street.
--Madison

 

painting by Lance

Rattlesnake
The young scaly rattlesnake
Slithers into a safe hole in the desert
Scared, because a sand storm is coming
--Elliot

Snowy Day
A boy with steaming breath
Joyfully romping in the milk white snow
In his back yard, hoping to dodge flying snowballs.
--Henry

 

painting by Louis

Swimming Beaver
Happy furry beaver playing with its friends
Swimming fast through the gleaming pond
Jumping in and out of the cool water.
--Matthew

Happiness
A baby curled up in a colorful blanket
Grinning at his mom
Lying peacefully in his crib
--Owen

 

painting by Owen

Cherry Red
A cherry red chicken, smiling at me, cheerful
Standing in a field
Gazing at luscious berries near a huge indigo blue lake
--Nuki

Fishing
A boy silhouetted in the indigo pond.
Casting a net out at the first sign of dawn
Trying to catch kiwi green catfish.
--Ally

 

painting by Sofia

Excited
On a pearly white snow day
A young boy tumbles off his orange sled
In the mountains of Alaska.
--Annie

A Windy Day
A happy young man on a windy day
Running faster and quicker, jumping higher and farther
to catch his hat Sailing through a beautiful patch of ripe blueberries.
--Molly

 

painting by Stephanie

The Zoo
Red flamingos lying in the hot sun
Watch two girls talking
As they walk away from the flamingo habitat to buy ice cream.
--Elyza

The Jazz Bird
A large black bird flies above the people
He plays a tune on a windy black trumpet
At a winter carnival.
--Emma

 

painting by Orly

Out of School
A happy girl with her friends
Running and jumping and sliding
On a crowded, exciting playground.
--Isabella

Mountain Hopper
The no-moon, night-black bunny
Silhouetted in dawn’s first rays, climbs up the butter yellow mountain
In the hazy morning
--Ava

 

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