(upbeat music) - Hello, early learners.

And welcome back to the art room.

This week, we have been enjoying different versions of the song "Over in the Meadow", and each person who illustrated, illustrated a little differently.

The authors put together the order of the animals a little differently, but it rhymes.

And it gives us a little clue about what a meadow might have in it.

I chose this book because I knew that we would be coming into spring and it leads into Mother's Say and also the children in pre-K and TK in Fresno Unified are learning about insects during this time.

So it's a great thing to involve three different topics and find out interesting things about different artists.

Now, we don't usually talk about illustrators as our person who we're talking about the art with.

We've usually been inspired by old masters, but to bring in an artist who oftentimes get forgotten, even when people tell the stories in the classroom, they'll say who the author is, but sometimes they forget to talk about the illustrators.

But today we're going to talk about "Over in the Meadow" with the first time I ever saw the book "Over in the Meadow" was by this author, John Langstaff.

Is it John Langstaff?

Yes, John Langstaff and the artist is Feodor Rojankovsky.

So let's do our hello song and then move right into the book.

And today, you know what animal it is.

It's not a rooster, a chicken, it's not a cow or a bird.

It's a dog, who they say is man's best friend.

So we'll say when dogs get up in the morning and you might do a tiny dog bark, yip.

And you might do a big dog bark, woof.

So you decide how you're going to sing the way it says good morning.

♪ When dogs get up in the morning ♪ ♪ They always say, good day ♪ ♪ When dogs get up in the morning ♪ ♪ They always say, good day.

♪ Woof, woof, woof.

♪ This is what they say ♪ Woof, woof, woof ♪ This is what they say ♪ Alrighty.

And I told you, I normally choose an artist.

Well, this artist, Feodor Rojankovsky is an artist who has won awards.

And I first saw his work when he illustrated the book, "Froggy Went A-Courtin'".

♪ Froggy went a-courtin' ♪ ♪ And he did ride ♪ ♪ Mm-Hmm ♪ ♪ Mm-hmm ♪ Well, he's a Russian illustrator.

And he provided pictures for more than 100 children's books during his career.

And he even won the Caldecott Award, which is awarded to the best pictures for the year.

And he got it in 1956 for that book, "Froggy Went A-Courtin'".

He was born in the Soviet Union, which is Latvia now.

And as a young person, he used to draw animals.

And he would look at the collection of books that his family had.

And then he went into the Fine Arts Academy in Moscow in 1912, but then there was a war.

So he served in the Russian Imperial Army and he began illustrating children's book.

And then he continued his career when he moved to Paris and he chose a different name for himself.

I think with a long name like Rojankovsky he just went down and just changed it to Rojan.

And he was an artist under the name Rojan for a long time.

Then he came to the United States in 1941 when the Germans invaded Paris.

And he became associated with artists there.

And he arranged for the publication of his book, the "Tall Book of Mother Goose".

And he got a lot of attention because the book was really big and it also made him famous.

And the Golden Book people had him illustrate their books.

Let's take a look at what his art looks like on the cover.

What he was known for using was grainy crayons, and we can make it look grainy if we peel our crayons and hold them on the side and just shade with them.

But look at all these meadow creatures, there's a fox and a robin and a squirrel and a chipmunk and an owl and a rabbit and a frog and a rooster and a mouse.

So we'll read this song and we'll use the melody that was first written for the original story and get a chance to take a look at that.

And I wanted to remind you about Olive A. Wadsworth was who wrote this song and poem, and she did it under the name, Olive A Wadsworth, she was hiding the fact that she was a woman because women were not writers then.

And she made it only a woman as the initials.

Alrighty, let's get busy with our book.

It's called "Over in the Meadow".

This version is by John Langstaff.

So it has an author and an illustrator, two different people.

'Cause the last couple of them have been the author and illustrator with Carter and with Ezra Jack Keats.

And here you can see, he used the side of his crayon to shade in the top and he made different plants make the word meadow.

And he did every letter in the word over in a different color and all down here are meadow things.

All the meadow plants, really pretty.

So here was the dedication for Deborah.

It says "She loved this song about baby animals so much that when she was two, she would sing that song wherever she went."

Now they're telling you a little clue about a meadow.

They're saying "Next time you go for a walk in the country, see if you can find some of the animals in this meadow and walk gently, watch closely.

They're sure to be there.

You can see that he used only the black pen orange crayon to make this one drawing.

So let's see what it says.

♪ Over in the meadow ♪ ♪ In the sand in the sun ♪ Lived an old mother turtle ♪ And her little turtle one ♪ ♪ Dig said the mother ♪ ♪ I Dig said the one ♪ ♪ So he dug and was glad ♪ ♪ In the sand in the sun ♪ I want you to look at the art.

Most of it is the side of a crayon, but then there are drawings he did with the black pen and just shaded in underneath.

And look how just the bottom part of the turtle is there.

And all the sand is kicking out on top of this little mouse.

There are lots of pictures of flowers, different kinds of flowers in the background.

And if you have time when we finish the animal, be sure to add those things.

It certainly makes a nice little frame, and it makes the artwork more interesting.

♪ Over in the meadow ♪ ♪ Where the tall grass grew ♪ ♪ Lived an old mother red fox ♪ ♪ And her little foxes too ♪ ♪ Run said the mother ♪ ♪ We run said the two ♪ ♪ So they ran and were glad ♪ ♪ Where the tall grass grew.

♪ I am going to draw the fox today.

I'm going to make it have its black furry legs, its orange body, it's triangle ears.

It's furry kind of heart shaped face with a black fur down his nose.

And here's his black nose at the end with a few whiskers.

And I'm going to make the fur along here with my black, skinny pen.

We'll see how, whenever I draw foxes, I end up making them look like a cartoon, but it's really fun.

If I come to your classroom, say, "Can we do a step-by-step drawing of foxes?"

And I'll do it with you if your teacher lets me.

So here we go again.

♪ Over in the meadow ♪ ♪ In a nest in a tree ♪ ♪ Lived an old mother robin ♪ ♪ And her little birdies three ♪ ♪ Sing said the mother ♪ ♪ We sing said the three.

♪ ♪ So they sang ♪ ♪ And were glad in their nest ♪ ♪ In the tree ♪ Look how they have the mouth of the bird.

In nature, really the bird's mouth is bright orange inside oftentimes so the mother knows where they are.

When they open their mouths, all you can see is their mouths and she knows where to put the food, or the father.

Some of the father birds do the work of feeding the young, also.

♪ Over in the meadow ♪ ♪ By a tall sycamore ♪ ♪ Lived an old mother chipmunk ♪ ♪ And her little chipmunks four ♪ ♪ Play said the mother ♪ ♪ We play said the four ♪ ♪ So they played ♪ ♪ And were glad by the tall sycamore ♪ Now sycamores, you'll find them all over.

When you go around it during your building study, you'll see they have those spiny balls that when they pop open they're all furry inside and they have these big leaves, their bark kind of flakes off.

When I was a girl, that's the kind of tree that was in front of our house on Johnson Avenue.

And we could climb that tree, but you had to be careful 'cause you would knock off all of the bark and the little creatures that lived underneath would lose their home.

So we had to be careful.

You can see this leaf has been here a while and it's starting to decay or get rotten.

And you can see the holes through it.

♪ Over in the meadow ♪ ♪ In a new little hive ♪ ♪ Lived an old mother queen bee ♪ ♪ And her honey bees five ♪ ♪ Hum said the mother ♪ ♪ We hum said the five ♪ ♪ So they hummed and were glad ♪ ♪ In their new little hive ♪ Now this one has loads of flowers because we know the bees will go and gather the nectar and the pollen to make their honey.

And here is, it's not a skep kind of the hive.

It's the one that's made as a box.

You can see those out in the orchards now because we need bees to take the nectar.

Take the sorry, the pollen from flower to flower to make sure that our peaches and plums and oranges all grow.

Oh, here's the beaver.

And still this one, I don't know which one said beave instead of build.

Here's the song.

♪ Over in in the meadow ♪ ♪ In a dam built of sticks ♪ ♪ Lived an old mother beaver ♪ ♪ And her little beavers six ♪ ♪ Build said the mother ♪ ♪ We build said the six ♪ ♪ So they built and were glad ♪ ♪ In the dam built of sticks.

♪ They cut down trees.

They damaged the forest a lot of times it and then they dam up the water so it can't go down and it makes a little place for them to build and live.

They don't know that they're causing problems for people downstream.

Oh look, there's one of those crane flies, butterfly, all kinds of creatures.

There's a beetle down here.

A ladybug here.

This is a great one for learning about insects.

Oh there's the polligwogs or tad poles.

Oh this one's lost almost all of its tail.

And it's got four legs, but it isn't completely a frog yet.

♪ Over in the meadow ♪ ♪ In the green wet bogs ♪ ♪ Lived an old mother froggy ♪ ♪ And her seven polliwogs ♪ ♪ Swim said the mother ♪ ♪ We swim said the wogs ♪ ♪ So they swam and were glad ♪ ♪ In the green wet bogs ♪ Oh, here's owls again.

Look at the mother.

Her feathers are all down close to our body and theirs is newer, so it's up and fluffy.

Their eyes look so giant.

♪ Over in the meadow ♪ ♪ As the day grew late ♪ ♪ Lived an old mother owl ♪ ♪ And her little owls eight ♪ ♪ Wink said the mother ♪ ♪ We wink said the eight ♪ ♪ So they winked and were glad as the day grew late ♪ ♪ Over in the meadow ♪ ♪ In a web on the pine ♪ ♪ Lived an old mother spider ♪ ♪ And her little spider's nine ♪ ♪ Spin said the mother ♪ ♪ We Spin said the nine ♪ ♪ So they spun and were glad ♪ ♪ In their web on the pine ♪ Look, a toadstool or a mushroom.

I see a grasshopper, spiders, lots of spiders.

What else?

Oh, there's an ant up on top of this leaf.

Lots of flowers and the spider's hanging around.

Oh and you can see the pine 'cause the needles, it's like the Christmas tree is what the pine ends up being like.

Last page.

♪ Over in the meadow ♪ ♪ In a warm little den ♪ ♪ Lived an old mother rabbit ♪ ♪ And her little bunnies 10 ♪ ♪ Hop said the mother ♪ ♪ We hop said the 10 ♪ ♪ So they hopped and were glad ♪ ♪ In their warm little den.

♪ That is a great story.

Again, all orangeish brown with just the black pen.

Are we gonna be able to do that for ours and just limit it to just one color?

Or are you going to make it like a full meadow?

You can see the meadow with all the animals there.

Ooh, even the mother owl is out flying.

Oh and there's the robin and there's the hills and what's way in the background?

Oh, a horse way back there.

Alrighty.

Oh and there's the song at the end.

Let me get my page open to the fox page.

And get the fox page up here and my table up and we will get started.

I'm starting with just white paper, boys and girls.

And I just couldn't decide what medium I would use other than I wanted to do it like Theodore did and have my black pen.

But do I want to do the color first and then do the black pen or black pen first?

I just can't decide.

We'll see when I get my table set up.

Put my paper on here.

As much as I didn't like making a big mess, you can really see my paper better if it has a table that has color on it.

All right.

So I think what I'll do is draw my fox and I'll do it step by step.

So I'm going to just do a little furry kind of long face and I'll show you it after I get it around.

It kind of, to me looks like a bicycle seat.

So here is the head I've drawn and it kind of looks like a bicycle seat, kind of like a triangle.

I'm going to add the triangle ears on it and I'm going to go up.

I'm gonna do it upside down so that you can see it a little better.

And I made it kind of furry and I'm going to use my thicker pen because around the outside of the ears is where it has the black fur.

And the reason that I did the other kind of furry and like a triangle is so that you can see it a little better.

I'm going to put the nose right at the end there.

And it has the fur that goes up the nose.

I'm just going up to where the eyes are almost.

See how that face is?

All right.

And I will do the fur a little darker.

So you can also see that.

Going around the edge of it this way.

And it has some of the fur there.

And you can see a little bit of the fur here.

You may not want to do this as much like this as I just did, but I did it so you can really see it.

Now I'm gonna turn it back to me so that I can draw the eyes.

And it starts out with a curve line on the top and a curve line on the top.

I will show that.

I put the two curve lines for the two eyes there and there.

I'm going to do the curves underneath so that they have kind of almond shape eyes.

Almond shape eyes.

Let me turn it so you can see it again.

Now I'm going to put kind of an oval standing up for the fox's eyes.

It kind of looks like they have on eyeliner, like it, that makeup.

Make it out to the side a little more to make them look a little shifty.

On the nose part, near the nose I'm going to bring in some whiskers.

Now over the back, I'm going to make, maybe I'll do it with a pencil and show you.

You can do that too if you want is just to make its back with a pencil so you can follow it and if you think, oh, that not a very good shape and you think, oh well I could fix it.

And it's just an oval.

I'll show you that.

Try not to hold so many things and drop the paper on the floor again.

So I can go along the back of that and show you how the fur then is on the edge and you'll see the shape of mine.

I'm going to stop back here because his tail needs to go there and his legs are going to come out of here.

But I just wanted to show you the shape of the body if you were following along.

And the fur will end up going on the tail.

So I suppose I could just go along there.

Now, to make the tail, the tail goes down and it has, That's how I always know it's a fox.

It has a little white tip.

Some foxes have black tips on their tail.

Some have white.

I like the white 'cause I think it shows up better when I go to color.

It doesn't have anything to do with what kind of fox it is.

That's not why I choose it.

It's just I think how it looks and if it looks better.

I'm gonna use a skinnier pen for the end of its tail because it's gonna be white and I don't want so much black fur showing up so that the, it doesn't look white.

Okay.

Now for the legs.

I'm gonna have to turn it to myself to draw the legs, 'cause it's too hard for me to see it and I'll make the curve of its leg go the wrong way.

So it goes out like a curve, down and forward.

It's like a backward S kind of, do you see how that's the hump of its leg?

And it's gonna be going down here into its foot where it has toes along there.

So let me turn it back to me and I'll go and follow that same shape, but it has kind of a weird little foot part in the back.

So it goes down, it makes the back of his, kind of an ankle looking thing, I guess.

And I'll have to put fur on that, but almost up to its body is where the black fur is.

So you can go and do this all the way down the leg.

So it has black fur all the way down.

And even on that solid line, if you want it to look more furry and not so much the way of a straight line.

They have four legs and sometimes you don't see all four, but I think I'm gonna make all four of mine and the back leg is gonna come out and almost hit his tail and follow the same way.

And go in there and I'll make his black leg like that.

And they have claws.

I'm gonna put a little orange in here too.

If you don't love how this looks, you can cut and paste and cover it with some black or orange paper if that's what you'd like I always say, 'Don't worry about mistakes, 'cause you can fix them."

And here are my two legs and back.

And I'll make the two legs in front and they don't have that big knee on that part.

They do have have claws.

I have a family of foxes living in the ponding basin near my house.

And they take care of their young out there and they do try and get the Canadian geese.

'Cause I think they think they're tasty.

I'm going to get this black.

This foot looks a little like I, he's got a hurt paw, but I'm going to do it anyway.

'Cause I can't wait to get the orange coloring out and start shading it in.

Getting those really black parts on this.

Are you doing this too?

Or are you just coloring it in with crayons?

However you do it is going to look fine.

You will like whatever you've done.

And put a little fur under their eyes 'cause it's like a little mask.

Not quite like a raccoon, but it does have a little bit, I'm gonna get the skinny pen to do above his eyebrows so that it doesn't look too black, 'cause that is a little darker up there, but not as dark as down by his face.

And you'll see, I just did my eyebrows above.

Now it's time for me to either get my crayons, oh I'm gonna have to make this a little shady in here 'cause they do some black along these places and especially on the belly.

So I'll do a little shading like that.

I'm just doing some cross hatches, a little bit around his face.

I can go back in afterwards too if I don't use wax.

So maybe I'll use my watercolor pencils.

And see if I hold it on the side and shade it and I could do light orange and dark orange so I can do this.

See I'm holding the side of my pencil?

I'm not coloring like this.

I'm holding the side and going around the face.

And it doesn't have to be solidly because I told you, as soon as I touch the water to this, it will make it go into paint.

I'm gonna use a little bit darker orange here too around, especially around the edges where one part of the body meets the other.

I told you, it makes it look like it's shaded a little bit.

And I'll use a lighter orange for its body so we can get this painted in and you can get the idea of what mine will look like, 'cause I know it always runs out of time so quickly.

Remember when the old shows we only had 15 minutes and we could hardly get a project done and I'd have to always finish them at home.

And I always tell you, please don't scribble scrabble.

But on this, since this turns into paint, it will be fine.

And I won't paint the very tip of the tail.

I want to tell you, boys and girls, how much I've enjoyed this week with you.

I'm gonna paint this while we're chatting and ending up the day.

And now I can just use my brush, a medium brush and I'll hold it up so you can see how when I paint it, it blends the color together.

I can even bring some of that darker orange down.

I hope you've enjoyed this week of learning all of the songs and the artists from "Over in the Meadow", go to your library maybe and check out the book and see how many copies you can check out.

They let you take out 24 books, boys and girls.

Well thank you for joining me.

I'd love to see your fox picture.

If you have time to send me a photograph of it, I would love to see your work.

And when you see me out in the neighborhood, call out "Hi, Mrs. Readwright".

'Cause I saw a bunch of people on my bike this weekend and they called out of their cars Mrs. Readwright.

And I loved that.

I might even use some black on the legs and paint that in.

All right, boys and girls, I'll see you soon.

Have a great spring.

Treat your mothers well.

Bye-bye.

(upbeat music)