Art Class: Let's Make Rainbow Book

Hi Teachers! I took the first lesson of this term to make something fun with the students. Once the basic steps are acquired, there are many variations that can be created! You can even add glitter or coloured beads on the cover. Only simple materials are needed. Give it a try!

Art Class: Cardboard String Art

Hi Teachers! Have you watched the video about true cyan? Last few weeks, the students went through the lesson unit on Optical Illusion. It's a hit with children because it offers weird and interesting truths about the nature of perception and colours. You can search Youtuber Zack King's videos for some brilliantly-stitched videos that are quite magically. I brought string art artmaking back due to popular demand its accessibility. I'm quite surprised to hear that many students do not have strings or threads at home. We have been doing mostly solo work or work that don't requires a lot of movement in the classroom. Thus, the materials used are quite economical. It's light and handy in case students need to bring them home to complete. 

On another note, Singapore schools moved online last Wednesday. The press release was on a weekend so we had time to prepare and distribute materials to our affected classes on the first two days of the week. The students were just tidying up their artwork for Term 2 and it seems like I can only see their final work in Term 3. When school term ends this month, we will still be in the midst of Phase Two. I'm working on something for the students to participate during the school vacation. Please check back!

Art Class: Puppets Making

These DIY puppets look too cute! If you have missed this lesson, click here. I provided my students with some art materials before the circuit breaker and these are what they have come up with. We did an online gallery view by looking at everyone's puppets on SLS. Some households lack strong adhesives to fix the materials so I applied some white glue before collecting them in a box. I see a lot creative ideas using common household items, it was a pleasure looking at their works. 

Art Class: Our Artist Talk

As an early career teacher, I have heard my fair share of advice from other teachers. One of them told me that the best students often have endless opportunities, if you can provide (the opportunities), give it to those who need it the most. She was referring to those students who are always so outstanding holistically that their names would always appears in mind or representing the school in something. They are also the ones who are likely to clinch awards and be selected for certain roles in school. The teacher said, look out for the mediocre students. They are also capable of doing a good job if given the same opportunity but they are more likely to be overlooked because they are less hungry. I think her bottom line is the best gets better overtime with practice while the average just remain average and in no time the gap becomes wider.

Talent alone don't feed you. Team work is emphasized in class as some children's self-centeredness scares me. 

Last week, some Primary One pupils spoke about their artmaking experiences to the public. It was held at Scape Mall at The Ground Theater. They wrote their own script first in school and after interviewing them, their own words are translated to a script. Since they are the ones presenting so using their own words would beat mine.

It was great to see parents cheering for the children (not necessary theirs) and I think the proudest moment would be to witness your own child growing from a struggling reader to someone who could read fluently in front of an audience. Credit goes to their parents for being so supportive and involved in their children's interest. Definitely purposeful learning for everyone. Guess the advice came in handy after all.

Artventures: School's Out! Summer's In!

Hi teachers! How did you spent first week of the Summer break? The pessimist in me tells me it's ending real soon. How nice to sleep in and losing track of time doing your own things. 

Just last Sunday, I've contributed an art activity for Pesta Ubin 2017. I'm lucky to have my friend, HT, to help out this year. We went to Pulau ubin the previous week to do some preparation. Thanks to the organiser, Ria, and Uncle Lim, the drink stall owner, who lend us his shop space so that we don't have to break our backs sitting on the ground. Our canvas were the treated coconut husks. Uncle Lim kept them for us and after sunning and sanding them, they were good for painting. Things were moving at a good pace but the sun was unforgiving. I love the smell, sight (grains) and quality of natural wood. I still marvel at how thoughtful the way nature works: you can have something to eat (coconut flesh) and drink (coconut water) and paint (husk) all-in-one compact design. You can view more pictures here. 

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 Class: Building Spaces (Part III)

When you were looking at the prototypes/ artwork that the children were making, has the thought of them wasting materials ever crossed your mind? By viewing them as "wasteful", "inefficient" or "redundant" may be a symptom of a culture focused on efficiency over innovation (Brown, 2009). There is so much in life that pushes us to move fast. Sometimes, a peeve of mine is asking the children to walk faster or move faster so that we can get more things done within that hour of lesson. In our culture, speed is of the essence. Our quality of learning is judged by the speed of knowledge acquisition. You're a fast learner is considered a compliment as opposed to You're a slow learner.

The arts is about savouring, or being immersed in an experience that seemed timeless and spaceless. A lot of time in school is spend on discursive language or quantitative forms, while these skills are of crucial importance, it does not encompass all of what humans know or how they make meaning.

Last week is my first time organising 30 seven years old for painting class. I found out through a quick survey that a handful of them had never paint before. I was mentally prepared for the mess and as though it wasn't enough, on days when I have painting class with my youngest students, I needed to ensure that I start the class with a full stomach to keep up with all the energetic bodies!

Prior to the painting class, the children did mark making with their oil pastels. I also got them to write their names on every single stick of the oil pastels as I can't imagine having to deal with complaints of missing sticks in the future. Some of them tried to justify themselves by saying that their oil pastels is 'different' (brand) from others but it's just a plain no from me.

I use recycled paper to wrap a cardboard box as a paint container so that the children can dip their foam rollers and paintbrushes easily. They were quite fascinated by how different colours mixed together to produce a new colour. When the children ask for another colour, I will just "clean" the box with an A5-size recycled paper so that the new addition of paint will not be contaminated by the previous colour. At the end of the lesson, the children will wash their brushes and place all of them in a grey container beside the sink. With this lesson, I will be able to introduce basic colour theory and discuss about textures in art.