When Colors Sing...Art in the Math & Reader's Workshops

I spent my time reading the first two books in the Harry Potter series wishing I could live at Hogwarts. I was an adult reader---don't laugh.  I've read Tuck Everlasting over and over again, each time wishing I could find the ash tree in the wood and imagining myself moving the pebbles that hide the secret. I've listened to Beethoven's fifth symphony and find it impossible not to move, not to feel. Chopin's nocturnes can move me to tears. And when I go to an art museum? There are paintings I wish I could crawl into.  Exploring the arts can be a visceral experience for adults and children.  Music, visual arts, books, movement---these are other ways of KNOWING.  Typically imbedded in "gifted and talented" curriculum, I firmly believe they need to be woven into every child's learning experience, because they are other ways of knowing.  One does not have to be gifted and talented to learn other content through the arts.  

Color is the keyboard, the eyes are the harmonies, the soul is the piano with many strings, the artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul.

                                                              Wassily Kandinsky

Kandinsky's art is quite the experience. Wassily Kandinsky had synesthesia. He wrote about using a paint box for the first time and hearing the colors hiss.  For Kandinsky, life was a multi-layered sensory experience.  There are certain Kandinsky paintings that I'd like to live in for a while. One of the ways I do that is to bring it into my classroom.  

The sound of colors is so definite that it would be hard to find anyone who would express bright yellow with bass notes, or dark lake with the treble.

                                                                                Wassily Kandinsky

I began by reading The Noisy Paint Box to my class.  This picture book is a great way to explain synesthesia to students. My kids were fascinated, and we spent a long time discussing what that disorder is like and all that it must entail.  Then I shared a biography I had written about Kandinsky. This second text gave more of an overview of his entire life.

Everything starts from a dot.

                                                                                      Wassily Kandinsky

Next we looked at Kandinsky's Color Study: Squares With Concentric Circles.  After reading about how Kandinsky used color and shape to denote emotions and ideas, we viewed each square of this piece as a separate experience.  This gave us the opportunity to talk about mood and symbolism in art and literature! I created a response grid and numbered each square of the piece, and we went from there!

We also looked at Kandinsky's words.  We had been doing a lot of thinking about how the words we say and write reveal things about us as people.  We did this with authors and their books, activists and their speeches...why not artists and their words, too?  I created a quotation biography. There are many fascinating quotations attributed to Kandinsky.  We read these and completed a "Read-Think-Wonder" thinking routine about our favorites.  This was especially interesting as we ended up comparing our thoughts about his words to our thoughts about his artwork.

The Math & Art Connection

Because we had been viewing Color Study: Squares With Concentric Circles, I used this as an opportunity to introduce circumference to my students.  Using a template of concentric circles I had created for our use, we explored the concepts of circumference and the formula associated with it. What I liked about including this concept in our project is that it was an enrichment for my fifth graders.  However, it could be used as a review or main teaching point when done with other grade levels.  

Next, I posed the question: If we had five concentric circles, of five different colors, and the colors could move between the different-sized circles, how many variations could we make if we layered those circles as Kandinksy did in his color study?  I showed my students what I meant by drawing an example of the question on my SmartBoard.  How many combinations could I make if the big circle was red...how many if it was green? How many if it was purple?  

At first, I allowed my students to explore this question in their own ways.  They went to work in their math journals, exploring possible ways of solving the question. As they explored, I moved around the room observing and offering support when needed.  

What I really enjoyed watching was the creative ways my students came up with solving for the question. Some drew circle diagrams and filled them in with color initials. Others worked to come up with equations that would solve it.  Some made organized lists. After they had explored for a while, we discussed their thinking.  All had identified some sort of process they wanted to use, but none had solved it correctly.  This gave us an opportunity to examine our errors in thinking. At this point, I introduced a problem-solving chart they could choose to use...CHOOSE being the important word in that sentence.  

 After students found a correct solution and could explain their process, I required them to solve it a second way to prove their solution. While there were many groans and eye rolls, my students worked collaboratively to come up with their second solutions.  They were forced to interact with each other to examine thinking other than their own.

They recorded both of their solutions in a frame worthy of an art gallery wall, naming the solution as one would a work of art. 

Paintbrushes at the Ready?

For the next part of our Kandinsky exploration, we whipped out our paintbrushes for a little color exploration.  Each student used a piece of white construction paper (11x17) and painted it with watercolor paint, mixing colors and keeping in mind all that we learned about color and emotions.  

After their papers dried overnight, they used the circle templates to cut our four of each circle size from the painted paper.  They chose a colored background, based on the emotion they were trying to communicate and arranged their concentric circles on the paper.  THIS WAS AMAZINGLY FUN! 

 Painting with passion and layering colors!

Our final step included a reflection about their artwork! Check out our results below!

When we were done, my boys (yes, my macho, sports-oriented rough and tumble boys) asked, "What are we gonna do next, Ms. Willis?"  And then,  I overheard one of them say this, "I really like the effect of watercolor, it's so moody."  So you see, colors don't just sing when art is added to  math class...hearts do, too.

If you're interested in trying math, literacy and art applications in your classroom, check out these problem-solving projects by clicking on the pictures below.

P.S. Shhhhhh! Coming soon...Keith Haring & ancient Egypt! Stay tuned!