PAL

PAL is the acronyms for Programme for Active Learning. It was introduced in 2010 and targeted at 7 and 8 years old. In 2016, every Singapore primary school is given a set of Art pedagogical resources. In the last chapter of one of the books, Serious Play: Perspectives on Art Education, you can find more information on PAL visual art and art lessons in general.

Lesson Unit: Salted Fish

This year, some teachers within a cluster got together and conducted a workshop for other art teachers. We also shared our lesson units on pedagogical boards. It was great because I got meet other art teachers and share about our work. It was time well spent listening and learning from them.

The lesson unit wraps around Cheong Soo Pieng's painting, Drying Salted Fish. I accompanied that with a book written by Yeo Wei Wei which was inspired by Cheong's painting. The painting is still exhibited in National Gallery Singapore and you can see the image here. A while ago, there was even a photo booth featuring this work!

You can click here and here to see some students' art books.

Art Club: Excursion to National Gallery Singapore

Art Club latest excursion to the National Gallery Singapore was on 7 November 2016. The students were divided into upper and lower primary and we had facilitators for each group of students.

Art Club: Excursion to Singapore Art Museum

On 1 August 2016, Art Club students went to 8Q@Singapore Art Museum. The children really enjoyed the interactive exhibition, Imaginarium: Over the Ocean, Under the Sea. Another bonus was the students got to meet artist, Tan Zi Xi and hear her sharing about her work.  Thank you to Ms Wang Tingting from SAM for this special arrangement.

Housekeeping: Class Schedule

As the only art teacher solely dedicated to one discipline in my school, I have started to record all the tentative dates for lessons in a school term. This document will aid me to plan for lesson units so that I will know in advance the dates to avoid etc. (I use google calendar to check for all the examination dates and also this website for school/ public holidays). 

Doing this works for me as I see 17 classes a week. Besides, I also show these schedules to my students so that they know how much time they have left or the number of lessons left to complete their work. Thus, this keeps everyone on task. 

I wonder how other art teachers do their time schedule? If you have better suggestions, please share with me. :)

Art Club: Excursion to National Gallery Singapore

On 16, 18 & 24 May 2016, 3 Art club students from P5 went for an Art camp cum roundtable discussion at National Gallery Singapore(NGS). They had an opportunity to mingle with children from other schools sharing the same interest. Pin-ups are available for public viewing at the Keppel Centre for Art Education at NGS.

The children were divided into 5 groups. Each group was granted a day (or rather an hour+) to interview an art expert. To prepare for the day, the groups had to prepare some interviewing questions. It's amazing seeing the depth and breadth of the questions asked!

Art Club: Introduction

Children from my school has an option to sign up for Co-Curriculum Activities (CCAs). It's great because the children who chose to take up the CCAs do so due to interest and it's not imposed on them. Thus, the children who bonded in a CCA due to interest and suddenly their abilities (or grades) or age are unimportant. Art Club sessions are held weekly for one and a half hours, it is conducted by school teachers after curriculum hours (8am-2pm) and we have the autonomy to plan/ conduct activities. This year, we have exposed children to a number of excursions and artists' talk. More photographs to follow in my next post!