Art class: Finding Balance

We were into our third week of a new school term and after meeting all 5 classes of 7 years old, I have finally met my youngest "revolt" in art class. It was during the end of art lesson and the children had to line up to return to their form class. A girl pull a long face and approached me, looking slightly distressed. She mumbled a one-word syllabus under her breath which sounds like "Ar...ar...". Finally, she exclaimed, sounding frustrated "Why don't we have Art lesson yet?" I couldn't contain my laughter and told her we had just finished one. In her exact words, she replied: "That's not Art. That's a game".

The child's comment is a great reminder for me to explore breath and depth in lesson planning as contemporary artists do work with materials, methods, conepts and subjects that challenge traditional boundaries.

In these lessons, the children worked in groups to make an artwork that show "balance" with an emphasis for teamwork and collaborative skills. They used some PE equipment, binder clips, cardboards, styroform peanuts and toothpicks, and plastic packagings. 

Art Class: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (Part II)

The students' task for our current unit was to create awareness about their new knowledge using air-dry clay and painting the background. The children worked in 7 groups of 6. To cut down on washing time, I have the poster paint and cardboard palettes out for them to take whatever they need. So they will throw away the cardboard palettes and only wash the paintbrushes.

As the children start working, I will walk around and facilitate. By facilitating, sometimes I like asking children "what are you doing?" to ensure that they begin with an end in mind. Some children were more proactive than others so I would get them to organise the team in teams of individual contribution.

They were shown a photo compilation so that besides learning from each other in their own class, they will also be able to see what other classes were doing. I think they also feel comfortable seeing me going around taking photos as they know their identities will not be revealed but rather I emphasize on learning good practices from others. Be it painting techniques, concepts or written reflection.

Art Club: Turning Plastics into Toys Workshop

Hi everyone! Art Club pupils visited the community lab at United World College South East Asia. We attended a Turning Plastics into Toys workshop. The pupils learnt about makers mindset and environmental issues. Prior to the visit, the facilitators learnt about our art class lessons on The Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Since the workshop has similar intent, it wasn't difficult to request the facilitator to touch on the same topic when the pupils come to visit. I think that to have different people delivering the same message in different context meant that numerous opportunities were provided for children to revisit and think about the issue.

More details about global goals can be found here

Upcycling plastic bottle caps into spinner tops

Melting plastics into functional objects

Smoothing the edges

Giving plastic bottle a new life