We Are Great Arters!

I eat my words of the previous post in which I proclaim teachers will be painting the children's set for the  graduation show...Today, the provocation I prepared in the late hours of yesterday afternoon really ignited the class.

Using their photographs they took at a trip to a botanic garden, I set up the tables with paint pallettes and special fabric paints.

I cleared a wall by shifting furniture (here in Hong Kong we have little space), and pinned a long piece of unbleached cotton fabric to the wall.

Above is an image of colours I helped the children prepare. Mixing colours to match a 'real' object has never been attempted by children in my class before. I assisted them a little by showing them how to paint a small brush stroke on the photograph to compare.

Above us a flower drawn by a child who always inteprets things differently!

The class was divided for about an hour and a half. The boys were on one side finishing a construction from the previous day (the truck made from milk cartons!) and building with blocks. The girls (bar one or two engaged in role play) were painting the fabric.

 Above is an example of a child who worked very hard to match the flowers to the actual colours.

I began to outline some of the faint flowers with black 'puff paint'. A child took the opportunity to begin sticking beads to the very sticky paint. The idea caught on fast and the art work quickly became a vibrant mixed media piece!

A Friendly Reminder

I checked out a post by Teacher Tom on Sunday night. It was a typical insightful and reflective post that reminds all that, essentially, the CHILDREN are at the centre of learning! Here is the link! http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/doodling.html?m=1

Anyway, this message is particularly relevant to me right now. Graduation in June, children have written an adaptation of a story book, (Bear Hunt) and we are busily trying to support their proposed performance.

So on Monday, I gathered a group of my young engineering types and handed them the cartons for the wall to create the proposed house for our set. I noticed the wall was looking more like a skyscraper so I reminded them of their "container ship" they previously made with blocks. I left the room to supervise some major noisy, wet play in the outdoor area.

This is what they made. In a group of three:

Wall? Pffffffft!!

A truck carrying containers! It has a face, spare tyres, steps to get up to the cab level, a siren, a driver, a working door with handle. They did it with zero supervision from me! (I only heard a small amount of raised voices from my position outside, but how healthy!) The amount of incredible learning, (design, space, shape, social skills, knowledge of the world, number, language  etc etc), are endless. But that is not the point! The point is, they didn't want to build a wall. They do not have the same desire to have a 'performance' that is 'visually colourful and vibrant' as myself and my partner do. The graduation show is by adults, for adults, and until that changes, teachers will be building their own sets, begging children to slather paint on!