Tuesday, October 29, 2013

I hope everyone has a high speed internet connection, because I went a little crazy on the photos today. :)

120, bilingual first grade. Mrs. Wagner has been presenting great inquiry opportunities with objects from nature, with students observing and drawing from observation.  I offered to bring clay tomorrow so the students can try to sculpt the gourds in 3D.  As I was feeling the weird appendages on the gourds, I knew this would be a really fun experiment for them.  She agreed enthusiastically, so I can't wait for tomorrow morning!

112 was heading out for a field trip to see the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, so I missed their class today.  Our school believes in exposing the students to cultural opportunities like this.  Last week, they went to see a Russian Ballet at Shea's Theater.  I used my free time to photograph the artwork and projects displayed all over our building, because I think it's important to share what other teachers and grade levels are doing in our Inquiry Based School.  Enjoy this visual walking tour of School #33:

Shape animals from Mrs. Bennett's preschool class.

Art is Everywhere

This preschooler made a finger-painting of a leaf and I love it.

Kindergarten pumpkins from Mrs. Holden's Room

The work of the older grade levels shows the same respect for aesthetics and the language of art as a means for conveying information.

Soft lighting, such as this in Mrs. Connor's room, can be found in many of our classrooms.

Our rules are child-made and often contain illustrations, such as this example in Mrs. Connor's room.

Even the signs for various fundraisers and functions are now created by children and presented artistically, versus a typed, copied sign, which just doesn't have the same effect. 

Art from our school's visual arts teacher, Ms. Ulak:

Mrs. Wagner's documentation of the mural project her class created.

112's identity wall

A mural from 112

Art from 108

Work from 104

104 portraits

108, monolingual first grade.  I took another small group and we worked on the community clay building project. This group was by far the most interested in the project yet and they just dove into the building with contagious enthusiasm.  Our flower shop is off to an impressive start:

118 was also on the field trip.

101, preschool students are currently exploring the concept of "myself" in their classroom. Since we just finished the painting exploration and we needed to begin an introduction to clay, clay self-portraits seemed like the perfect lesson.  The other preschool class had already created these, so it was fun to see the differences and similarities.

This child didn't forget anything- arms, legs and facial features!

I was impressed that she pushed the pipe cleaner "hair" through the clay and twisted it.
I also love the green eyes. 

This one reminds me of a pirate skull, but maybe that's because we're close to Halloween.
I love the popsicle stick mouth.

This little one kept testing out different buttons until she found the right ones. 

103, preschool.  After the students finished their primary-to-secondary paintings, I wanted to see what they would do if I gave them all of the colors and asked them to draw themselves or a friend.  Some just experimented with paint, some drew faces.  I wasn't blown away by the results.  I thought about how to save the pieces and I decided I would give them markers and let them draw on the paintings.  More faces showed up, as did some abstract scribbles.  I noticed that they are definitely more comfortable with markers than paint.  The results after this class are more interesting. There are so many little details and facets of the work. It's really pretty cool to see how they will keep working in the same spot and they don't seem to get frustrated or bored easily.  I am going to give them glue sticks and some of the "beautiful stuff" I have- feathers, buttons, fake jewels, wood shapes, foam shapes- and see where they take it from there.  After that, I want them to tell me a story about the two paintings, as a class critique.

Mural #1- Lots of Happy Faces

The girls ripped this spot when they painted, so I taped more paper behind it.  They then colored the marker in that spot so hard that it ripped again.  I don't know what it is about the hole, but I am going to find out.  I believe it's intentional.

Lots of little faces:

The second mural:

I get a graffiti vibe from this one.

Another little person

I see a nice attempt at writing and it adds to the graffiti look, almost resembling a "tag."

Another little face, hidden in the chaos.

More friends

This part is awesome. She wasn't here last time, so she took the area where one student just painted blue and made it the ocean.  She has waves and she is swimming.  I was so impressed. 

More little faces.