I Spy An Alphabet In Art (Non-fiction, Year 1)

This is the book cover

"I spy with my little eye" is the equivalent English game for the "Veo, veo, ¿qué ves?" that we play in Spain and, just like the "Veo, veo", it's a very popular game among English-Speaking children.

The book "I spy an alphabet in art" (by Lucy Micklethwait) is a non-fiction book, which makes use of this game for the children to become familiar with the alphabet through twenty-six of the world's greatest paintings. We can find this title among the recommendations on non-fiction books made by the Curriculum Guidelines for Primary.

Example of page from the book: letter U (for umbrella)

For each letter in the alphabet, the book shows a more-or-less famous painting including something starting with the pertinent word.

The provide us with a lot of possibilities to work with our pupils. Well, I have to admit that some paintings are more 'teachable' than others. Anyway, it give us an idea to work with the letters of the alphabet. If we find a word or painting too difficult, we can use a different one, or even create our own collection of pictures.

When we work with this book in my Teacher Training Lessons, I have to prepare something to work with the painting for letter K. This is the painting:

EXAMPLE: LETTER K

'The World Upside Down' (about 1663), by Jan Steen 

Probably your little eye has already seen that the thing beginning with K is a key. 

This is a word list I made with the vocabulary that can arise when working with the painting:

Violin
Pretzel
Remains
Jug
Stool
Barrel
Cuckoo clock
Basket hanging from the ceiling 

Fireplace
Playing cards
Bucket
Window
Hammer
Lute /luːt/

Untidy

Monkey

Dog

Pig

Cupboard

Coat rack

Roses

We could also pose some questions, for instance about if there are many people or few people in the scene, if the room is tidy or what period/time the children think the painting is.