It was a great week! As it is Hispanic Heritage month, I thought it would be a great time to study a few Mexican artists, and we kicked it off with Diego Rivera. I knew a little about him previously, but not a whole lot. I was fascinated to learn that he was commissioned by his country’s government to complete a series of murals that was intended to “inspire and reunify the country after the horror of the revolution” (Diego-rivera.net). In our study, I focused on emphasizing to Wyatt how Rivera was an artist of and for the people, and depicted scenes from everyday life, workers and vendors and flower sellers.
For our art project, I thought it would be fun to recreate a version of one of Rivera’s flower seller paintings. I drew and cut out pieces of the actual seller for Wyatt to place and glue to create the picture, and had him cut out his version of the flowers. Then he went back and added in details with crayon. I was actually pretty impressed with how his flower stems turned out, honestly.
In Social Studies, we turned our attention to Texas- this state is so huge and has so much history, culture, biodiversity, just really so much in general, that frankly there was no way we could even really come close to even talking about it all. So, we stuck to the basics like the state flower, tree, etc. I wasn’t happy with what we learned but we can do a deep dive another time.
We of course also worked on the basics – spelling, reading, math, etc but I don’t share too much about that on here, except for our language arts projects. And this week the book we needed never came in! Since he does so much other reading during the week I didn’t worry about it and we will resume that part of school this week.
And, we went on a field trip! However, I am going to do a whole post about it tomorrow. Sorry, that was a bit cheeky of me probably to mention it and then not talk about it but there is so much to share.
What We Used:
This section contains Amazon Affiliate links. In addition to the curriculum I am creating for him, we also use curriculum from The Good and the Beautiful, The Waldock Way, and Blossom and Root for phonics, reading, science, and social studies.
L is for Lone Star || Diego Rivera His World and Ours
Overall, this was a good week. Not a ton of “extra” stuff but we did have that field trip!
Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs.. 
The State Fair of Texas is going on right now in Dallas. This is a big event this time of year. https://bigtex.com/
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Oh thank you for sharing!! I really wish I could have narrowed down our study for him a bit more – I think we will revisit Texas again in the spring. There is just so much to explore!
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Oh wow that is so amazing. I had never heard of Diego Rivera.
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Check out my post today! We visited Rivera’s murals in Detroit!
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I’m wondering if your field trip was to the DIA to see the Diego Rivera murals. Whenever I see them, I remain in awe!
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Ding Ding! You are the winner! I feel the same way every time I see them as well.
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Every year for years and years, I have created an altar for dia de los Muertos. So many of my students celebrated the day of the dead but didn’t know about the symbolism and beauty behind the celebration. There are so many wonderful books about this celebration of life now days that explain the holiday. And of course, movies like Coco and Book of Life. Love that you guys studied Texas and Diego Rivera.
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I forgot about Book of Life! We will have to add that to our list. How wonderful that you create altars every year. 🙂 I think it is a beautiful tradition.
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I really don’t know that much about Diego Rivera. I’m going to have to do some research! I think Wyatt did an awesome job with his flower picture! I always loved those alphabet books. I had one for Indiana! Can’t wait to read about the field trip!
https://marshainthemiddle.com/
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I knew some but not much! I enjoyed learning a bit more about him.
I love them! Our curriculum uses them every week, and we read them on Mondays. They are a great introduction to whatever state we are doing.
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I love how you pull books into your studies. I’ve been trying to do that as well and Little Miss has really enjoyed having the extra picture books to read. Right now, though, all she wants me to do is find some science experiments for her and I think that is because she wants to make a mess! Ha!
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Thanks Lisa! I feel like it is an easy way to add more interest and cover more ground! And lol!!! We love using that science experiment book that you gifted Wyatt. It has lots of neat things to do. We did a bunch over the summer.
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