Άρθρα κατηγορίας Heard of that?

April Fool’s Day In Artistic Lies

Σχετική εικόνα

This quote by Pablo Picaso is a perfect match to the Day!

Celebrate the annual tradition of April Fools’ Day in a completely different way. Instead of playing practical jokes on each other, explore how “lies” and deception can create art, op art! Op art is short for ‘optical art’. The word optical is used to describe things that relate to how we see. Op art works like an optical Illusion. Artists use shapes, colours and patterns in special ways to create images that look as if they are moving, curving or blurring. When looking at Op art, our brain is deceived into believing a complete lie! The Op art movement was inspired by advances in computing, aerospace, and television in the 60’s.

Find a selection of Op art worksheets below to get creative and talk about shapes, lines and the feelings you receive. A list of descriptive words to critique art may come handy!

Op Art Worksheets at bonlacfoods.com

Op Art Worksheets and Optical Illusions at mindgearlabs.com

Op Art in Steps at tanaallen.weebly.com

Op Art inspired by Vasarely at woojr.com

Two Poems About Rain

P5041960 -A

Rain In Summer

How beautiful is the rain!
After the dust and heat,
In the broad and fiery street,
In the narrow lane,
How beautiful is the rain!
How it clatters along the roofs
Like the tramp of hoofs!
How it gushes and struggles out
From the throat of the overflowing spout!
Across the window-pane
It pours and pours;
And swift and wide,
With a muddy tide,
Like a river down the gutter roars
The rain, the welcome rain!

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

April Rain Song

Let the rain kiss you.
Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops.
Let the rain sing you a lullaby.
The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk.
The rain makes running pools in the gutter.
The rain plays a little sleep-song on our roof at night –
And I love the rain.

Langston Hughes (1902-1967)

Read the poems. List all the verbs that the poets use for the rain. Describe the images of the rain in each poem. Are there any similes in the poems? Compare the two poems: how are they similar/different? What feelings do you get from them?

You can copy these poems on a template or write your own and create some art. Get inspired!

Basketball Shape Poem

Read more

(περισσότερα…)

International Workers’ Day: Women In The Development Of The Labour Movement

International Workers’ Day, also known as Labour Day in some places, is a celebration of labourers and the working classes that is promoted by the international labour movement, socialists, communists and anarchists and occurs every year on May Day, 1 May, an European spring holiday since the late 19th and early 20th century. The date was chosen for International Workers’ Day by the Second International, a pan-national organization of socialist and communist political parties, to commemorate the Haymarket affair, which occurred in Chicago on 4 May 1886. The events were triggered off during a labor rally in support of workers striking for an eight-hour day and in reaction to the killing of several workers the previous day by the police. The police responded with wild gunfire, killing several people in the crowd and injuring dozens more. Find out more about May Day along with language activities here.

The struggle for better labour conditions has been long and alive. What is often neglected in textbooks and the media is the impact women have made in labor history despite the numerous roles women have played to organize, unionize, rally, document, and inspire workers to fight for justice. Relevant sources and material follow below.

“Bread and Roses” is a political slogan as well as the name of an associated poem and song by James Oppenheim. It is commonly associated with the successful textile strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

Women in the labor movement at buzzfeed.com

Women in labor unions at shmoop.com

Women who sparked labour movement at theguardian.com

Women in labor history at  zinnedproject.org

Bread and Roses Strike of 1912 digital photo collection at zinnedproject.org

Bread and Roses slogan at en.wikipedia.org

Teaching Resources at bctf.ca

Poems for workers-An anthology at marxists.org

Martin Luther King, Jr: A life Of A Dream

Martin Luther King, Jr (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American religious leader and civil-rights activist in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience based on his Christian beliefs. He was one of the greatest orators in American history, a Nobel Prize Winner (1964), and the voice of equality, love and freedom as he struggled to end the legalsegregation of African Americans in the South and other parts of the United States. His public speech “I Have a Dream” marked American history as a milestone of courage and humanitarian ideals. It was delivered during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963, in which he calls for an end to racism in the United States and called for civil and economic rights.

File:Martin Luther King - March on Washington.jpg

Dr. Martin Luther King giving his “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington in Washington, D.C., on 28 August 1963.

Did you know that the famous song “Pride (In the Name of Love)”  by the Irish rock band U2 was written about Dr. Martin Luther King? Although the song received mixed critical reviews at the time, it was a major commercial success for the band. Pracise your listening skills while enjoying this song!

For further information and activities look below.

Read more (περισσότερα…)

Christmas History Facts: How Much Don’t You Know?

Watch and answer the following questions about Christmas.

  1. When did Christians not celebrate Christmas?
  2. When did 25th December become the official celebration date of Christmas?
  3. How would anyone celebrating Christmas be punished in Massachusetts, USA around 1644? Why?
  4. How did modern Christmas customs begin?
  5. How is gift giving related to religion?
  6. How did Santa Claus get his red costume?

Is Your Relationship With Technology A Bad Romance?

This GenerationThis GenerationThis Generation

Ajit Johnson, a Ph.D. student working in cancer genetics and genomics uses art posters to comment on “the invasion of tech addiction without even being aware of it”.  He has created a series of “some minimal posters describing our present generation and tech addiction”. Read more about it at boredpanda.com and discuss his posters.

What is the message in every poster? Which do you like best? In which poster do you recognise yourself? How well does Ajit Johnson depict the issue of tech addiction?

Check the following infographic by teensafe.com to see how much teens in the USA use social technology.

TeenSafe-SocialTeen

Regular Houses VS Tiny Houses: Are You For Or Against Micro-Living?

photo credit: https://littleyellowdoor.wordpress.com/

Would you do it? Would you deny regular home space and fit your needs into the size of, say, a roomy shed? In fact, this is already happening around the globe. The tiny house movement has been swelling in the past few years while lifestyles, needs and consequently house sizes are shrinking. This trend has even found ground at schools as a project idea.

Read more

(περισσότερα…)