Introducings Materials and Mediums [Andrea and Kellyann's Group]

It was a mild and overcast morning, and our group was smaller than usual today, so we opted to spend a bit more time outdoors this morning to enjoy the weather. The sandbox is a common place for the children to gather and play in the morning. Anika moved around the yard carrying her "sandbaby"--very popular among the girls now ;). My group also read Today is Monday by Eric Carle while we enjoyed the weather on the patio.

In The Atelier



In the Atelier, we've been slowly introducing/reintroducing materials in a simple and direct way. We want to make sure that each child has a full turn with each art medium, and we're coaching the children about how to work with an art medium or tool. Children need and deserve direct teaching about how to use these materials and media we give them (not to be confused with direct teaching and telling the children what to create, because we do NOT do that!). From these first sensual encounters, we then can build other explorations of a medium and the children can begin to ask themselves, what tools are useful with this medium? How do these tools they work on the medium? These types of encounters involve teacher guidance, as children "apprentice" themselves to learn specific techniques for using tools. Today, we worked with black and white chalk pastels on white paper.



Another way that children become intimate with an art medium is by learning how to set up a work space. What's needed for watercoloring painting? For clay? For loose-parts construction? How are they best arranged on the table? And how do we clean up these materials? Our goal is for children to develop familiarity with art media so that they can take a project from start to finish, gather materials they need, setting up the work space, and carry out their vision for their work.

Overhead Projector
Anika and Allie spent a good amount of time with the light projector this morning. Allie was quite taken with this new machine and when she saw her shadow projected on to the wall she squealed, "LOOK! Look at my arm!" We did a lot of counting today using materials on the projector too.









Lunchtime Funnies...



We also noticed a beautiful connection today between newbie Allie and Sophia. They gave each other many gentle hugs and kisses, and enjoyed sitting next to each other in the choo-choo train line on the way outside, and even held hands.

It was a very sweet day.