For about 2 months, Alexandra would come home every day from kindergarten full of excitement to tell me something new she had learned about Vincent van Gogh. One of the first things she told me was how to properly pronounce his name. Apparently most of us Americans say “van Go” when in actuality he would have said his name “van Goch”, with the “ch” sounding more like you are softly prepared to hack up a logie. Gross explanation, but the best I can do.
The teacher, Frau Meier, read excerpts of his letters to his brother, Theo, to the class, and also bits out of a biography she had. They also studied several of his most famous paintings, first learning about what was going on his life when he painted it, and then discussing the different techniques he used to make it. Then they made their own version of it.
Finally, it was time for an art show so all the parents could enjoy the beautiful art. We went down to the school on a Saturday morning, and were blown away by the beauty of what these little 5 and 6 year olds had done, and the amount of work and preparation it must have taken on the part of Frau Meier. These are all of Alexandra’s version of his paintings, but all the kids’ were gorgeous.
Learning about Vincent was pretty cool! It made me feel a tad ashamed that my youngest knew more about him than I did. But I remedied that by listening to everything she told me and then watching a movie about him with her. She is absolutely fascinated by him and wants to now know more about other artists. Good job, Frau Meier!
Her landscape is the one above her head. 
Here the teacher gave them a black and white copy of one of van Gogh’s paintings, and they colored over parts of it with pencils. This one is Alexandra’s.
This was just an outline copy, and they painted it all in, trying to make it look like his. We now have these pieces of art hanging up proudly all over the house. And whenever she sees a painting by Van Gogh when we are out and about, she immediately points it out and tells us what she knows about it. Who says nothing academic gets taught in Swiss Kindergartens? Not me, that’s for sure.