To Every Season....

We are amidst a ongoing transformation consistently within the Reggio philosophy and during each week, I further my understanding, knowledge and practice in order to not only better myself, but more importantly, the students.  We have been practicing the act of listening -- really listening (I posted a blog about a few weeks ago ;) and I have also been pushing myself to create more organic, child-directed works.   As I spoke to the preschool teachers last week, I learned that the students were going to be exploring "the weather".  I thought about where I could take this - we most certainly could simply talk about various weather phenomena, the changing seasons (along with warm and cool colors) - we could definitely get into some science experiments (which I not-so-secretly love since art and science go hand-in-hand), and we could also look at artists who use the weather in their works.  One artist always sticks out in my mind each year -- Andy Goldsworthy -- if you have not viewed his works, I encourage you to do so.  Goldsworthy uses natural materials found in their own environment to create pieces that are not always permanent.

I also spoke to Ms. Shonte and her desire to cover pattern making and patterns in nature.  This was perfect - nature, seasons, weather, patterns --- it all works together-- but is it too planned?  I set the classroom up with a new provocation: I arranged pine cones, wood pieces, leaves and various other materials on the table (in a pattern) and had the students come in and explore.  Some students immediately recognized the simple pattern of pine cone - wood around the table.  Other students began to create their own patterns, while others stacked, lined and arranged the pieces to their liking.  I then added another few elements: paint and paper.  I did not know if the students would feel comfortable enough to paint the materials, but was surprised to see that students were naturally inclined to paint the shapes they were looking at.  Some students began painting the wood and appropriately "stamped" it onto their paper - making a wood-like print.  I had not yet shown Goldsworthy's work to them and hope to do so in the near future, but I think this was a great way to get their feet wet working with natural materials.

In order to boost literacy skills, we created a chart about the four seasons and filled it in with limited knowledge.  It's difficult when you are three to think about what happens in the spring or the summer -- especially since their point of reference may just be from a year ago (...when they were TWO! :)  - They did an excellent job identifying types of weather for each season as well as kinds of clothes one would wear during different kinds of weather.   We even had time to make our own representational collages using palettes of colored paper.  We discussed that blues and purples may be best to represent rain, snow or wintery weather; that greens and yellows exemplify spring and summer; reds, oranges and browns for fall.  Students ripped paper to create a collage to show their favorite season/type of weather.

Prekindergarten and kindergarten students are continuing to work on creating stories.  This week, we used a storyboard to sequence our stories.  We identified the beginning, middle and end of a story and worked on adding details.  With the storyboards complete, students can now decide what they want to do -- create a book, a series of paintings, a clay or wire sculpture -- even a movie!  We are very excited to see where our creativity takes us.

Finally, I was able to hang an art display suspension system that was donated to our art program through Donor's Choose.  Kindergarten painted portraits on canvas and they can now be seen on the second floor landing.  It is wonderful to see student work put on display in a gallery-like setting.  (It is equally as awesome to see the reactions of both students and families viewing the work!) Thank you to all who support the work we do!