Disney School Day 4 - Fantasia

So today was our fourth day of Disney School.  We focused today on Fantasia.  I personally love this movie, but I have to mention a few things before I recommend it to all of you.  First and most importantly, this is an art film.  It was meant for a more adult audience.  That being said, there are several places where female nudity is on display.  The fairies in the nutcracker suite are all without clothes.  For the most part, it isn't that noticeable, but it is there.  Secondly, the girl centaurs in the pastoral symphony are seen topless while they are getting ready.  The cherubs are also naked, but they don't really have genitalia, just bare bottoms. The last segment has demons dancing at the top of Bald Mountain, and Chernabog, the main demon, conjour nude women from the flames and they dance for him.  Also, it is all classical music and some children might be bored.  If these sound like worrisome issues for you, feel free to skip the movie. You can always do our activities and just claim it's a music day.  Or, just watch the sorcerer's apprentice segment.  It's the best one anyway.  ;)

We started our day as usual with math sheets.  For anyone who is interested, this is a perfect time to introduce music notes into your math.  You can teach your kids the difference between whole, half, quarter, eighth, and sixteenth notes and get them to do math problems with them.

Next was our usual social studies video.  Today I had them watch a video on the worlds best opera houses, since that's where many of the songs from fantasia were originally performed. We also watched a tour of the Paris opera house since my daughter loves Phantom of the Opera.

World's best opera houses:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poCRVNEhJ7E

Paris Opera House:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2hSAZIDwbE

My daughter really wanted to watch the movie, since it is one of her favorites.  So we changed the order of our activities and watched the movie.

We decided to do our science experiment next.  We talked about sound waves and how they traveled.  To illustrate this, we made telephones.  All I did was grab two styrofoam cups and some natural twine.  I poked a hole in each of the cups and fed the twine through, then tied a knot.   Stretch the cord tight and try talking.  The tighter the cord, the easier it is to hear the other person.

After lunch, the kids did their spelling from school, then we started our writing assignment.  Today, I asked them to sit and listen to Claire de Lune.  As they were listening to it, I asked them to think of a story that would go along with the music.  I had each of them write their story for me.  When they had finished, I gave them some watercolors and explained that when they made fantasia, each segment started with concept sketches that would give the overall mood and color schemes of the piece.  I asked them to create a concept painting for their story.  Both of them had a great time with this project.

Finally we read the original poem of the sorcerer's apprentice.  I found it online translated from the original German.  You can find the poem here.

https://www.poemofquotes.com/johannwolfganggoethe/the-sorcerers-apprentice.php

I hope you enjoyed this segment of Disney School.  Tomorrow we will be focusing on Dumbo.  Have a great day!