Term 2 Week 1 Update

Wow! We’re off to a roaring start! We’ve begun our new unit Imagine That! Which is all about art and creativity.

For our Entry Point, the students came to the class to find out Mystery Gallery and a special note adding some intrigue to the mystery. We got our new Creativity Caddies full of great art supplies and set about having a day of free creativity.

The first mystery picture we unveiled was a painting by Jackson Pollock. We had a grand day doing all kinds of Action Painting. We tried different techniques on a small scale in the classroom and then we made large pieces in the Hall. The students had a great time getting messy with paint! We even took some of our PE time to do Action Painting outside with water and ribbons. We were truly active!

The other type of art we explored this week was Rangoli – an Indian art done on special occasions like Diwali. We learned that a lot of rangoli is symmetrical and that was a key math concept we focussed on. We made symmetrical prints and put together symmetrical rangoli puzzles. We had sensory trays of flour and sand that we used our fingers, a toothbrush, a lolly stick, and a straw to draw rangoli patterns in. We used cut shapes (another math concept) to make our own rangoli patterns on paper. Some were perfectly symmetrical and others were more poetic. Finally we used coloured rice to make our own rangoli patterns. Although real rangoli is made on the ground and is a temporary art, we glued ours down to paper.

We also had some wonderful time having developmental play. I am really impressed at how well the students are beginning to share and make their own negotiations around who is getting to use the coveted toys of “rabbit” and “sheepy” and how well they’re taking turns with the “kitty pillow”. It is wonderful watching them mature and put to use lessons learned in first term.

That’s all for this week. There’s more exciting creativity coming up in Week 2!