LIVE NATURE DRAWING

Taking advantage of the last rays of sunshine, we decided to go out with pencil, paper and clipboard to see nature in its direct form and observe the way branches bend and change the shapes of the treetops so that we don't have the typical perfectly rounded form our students tend to identify with trees! 

The work isn't finished yet, but the third year students were totally concentrated on the task. We'll post photos of the finished product at a later date. 

LINES, SHAPES AND PATTERNS - AUTUMN TREES

Lines are the most basic element of art and the first thing that we need to understand to enable us to draw correctly. From the two basic lines, straight and curved, we can make endless patterns. That is exactly what we've been doing this month!

Each child in primary has drawn a leaf and decorated it in sections with different lines, shapes and, consequently, patterns. Then they used mainly warm autumn colours to decorate. Finally a tree trunk was set up in the classroom and the leaves stuck onto it. Here you have a photo of one of the many trees decorating our classrooms.

MORE AMBIENTS...

We give them the tools and they have the ideas! The boys and girls of our little school in Mancor de la Vall are delighted to attend the "ambients" organised by the teachers of Infant Education! 

Our arts and crafts classes are more fun this way and the different stations set up in the classroom are a constant source of discovery and creativity. 

This week we've been painting with balls in a box... the results are spectacular! And a great time was had by all! Just look at the pictures and see for yourself...

AMBIENTS THIS WEEK!

Continuing along the same lines, which are working really well with our youngest students, we set up another workshop with different work stations where children have complete autonomy and the teacher or teachers are only there to help if and when needed!

This week, we had a printing station using tempera paints and different shaped objects (some kids even decided their fingers or whole hands were great for printing!!); a special fine-motor skills box; a loose parts table and a table for drawing with thick wax crayons.

The two most popular areas of the session were the fine motor skills box and the printing table!

See for yourselves!!!

SECOND WEEK OF AMBIENTS

This week our ambients class was divided into five different stations:
- blackboard
- fine motor skills manipulation table: toothpicks and plasticine
- Loose parts table: a variety of carton tubes and dfferent colour stickers
- Experimental painting table: painting with chalk dipped into sugar and water
- Painting area: watercolours

Angie and Juanito, the American conversation assistant, were on hand for the kids if they needed anything, but, to be honest, they did really well on their own. The process of discovery is fascinating for the kids and for us as it gives us an insight into their abilities.

Here are some photos from today's sessions! Enjoy!!!

AMBIENTS IN INFANT EDUCATION

Today marks the first day of our AMBIENTS project in Infant Education. Children from our three different infant classes are mixed and split into groups. The art group rotates, that is, all the children will visit the area either on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. 

Today, the art workshop was divided into 5 sub-areas: painting with brushes on an easel; experiments with paint and straws; fine-motor activity table; loose parts table and blackboard. 

The children had a whale of a time, as did the teachers! Our conversation assistent, Trenor (known to the children as Juanito!) was on hand to help - in English, of course!!! Paint flew everywhere, but the children had great fun and moved from one area to the other without problems. The noise level was low and the interest level sky high!!! 

By the end of the session we had paint just about everywhere, but nothing that a basin of warm water and a sponge couldn't fix! 

Tomorrow it's the next groups turn. Here you have some images from today!!

PHOTOS FROM DAY 2

PHOTOS FROM DAY 3

Project 16: Spring mural (All groups)

The website pinterest is a great source of inspiration for us. We found this beautiful spring mural on the site and decided our school needed a touch of colour and the magic found in a work of art created by the whole school! Simple but effective!!

Project 15: Drawing in the street

Our year one and year two students were learning about the different places we can find in our village: services, shops, restaurants, monuments...

We incorporated our art class in to the environmental studies project. Off we went to really look at the monument of the cross which is very near our school. We worked on perspective, pattern, lines, balance and almost all of the elements of art, as well as learning how to circulate responsibly around the village!

Project 13: Recycling monsters

In our village, Mancor de la Vall, the rubbish collection is separated for recycling, so we have lots of different bins at school and sometimes we get a bit confused about what goes where! 

Our teachers explained to us that the bins are like monsters that eat our rubbish. So, we decided to colour different monsters and put them on our bins so we can make sure that we don't feed them the wrong rubbish!! 

Biel, our PE teacher, is quite the handyman! He built a wooden structure to keep the bins in order and we placed coloured monsters over the top. It came out really well and has helped us to keep our rubbish in the right place! 

Project 12: Lines... doodles... zentangles

The art teacher, Angie, really loves doing doodles and zentangles! She says they help her to relax and make her more aware and conscious of what she is doing - it's like a form of meditation! She explained that "lines" were very important if we were to learn how to draw well. There are different types of lines, but basically all other lines come from straight lines or curved lines.

So, each of us used one sheet from our art sketch pad to put our lines into practise. We must admit that the outcome was spectacular. It's amazing how the different patterns formed by the lines gave our drawings texture! We really enjoyed this activity!

Project 11: Superhero masks for Cancer heroes

Sadly, sometimes our students become ill and have to leave the school for a time to recover from their illness. For us they are superheroes!! We wanted to pay homage to all the children who have suffered from cancer or other serious illnesses, so we each made a blue mask which turned us all into superheroes sending positive energy to those who need it most. 

The eldest children explained a little to the rest of the school about why we were doing this and why our support and understanding is fundamental. Jaume, one of our students who has been fighting Leukemia for the past two years, came to join us with his mum and was delighted to find so many superheroes! We are happy to say that Jaume is getting a lot better and may even be able to join us in school again this year!!! :D

Project 10: Carnival Week - Photocall and school decoration

It's the fashion!!! A photocall at the beginning of a party or an event is becoming the norm, so, our year 4 students decided they would prepare a photocall for Carnival week.

Moustaches, lips, glasses, hats... were some of the elements coloured, cut-out and stuck onto long sticks, ready for disguising all who wanted to leave their mark. It was a total success! A small corner was set up in the corner of the front porch and the participation was massive! A fun way to celebrate carnival week :D

Project 8: Colours - mixing and experimenting and making magic!

There's nothing our students enjoy more than getting their hands dirty!!!! Getting stuck into painting and mixing with no one behind them telling them not to get themselves dirty!! 

Using our fingers, cotton buds, paintbrushes and anything else our kids want to use, we discover how colours change magically when mixed together... how they get lighter when mixed with a bit of white, or darker when mixed with a touch of black. Magic!!!

Project 7: The Human Body: proportions (All groups) - Spring term

We all know that kids have to go through different stages of drawing the human body before they begin to realise that the head isn't the largest part, that our eyes are in the middle of our face and that our fingers are not tentacles reaching out to another universe!!!

Respecting the natural evolution of our students' drawing phases, we believe it is an important indicator of a child's physical and mental development and, as such, should be worked on and encouraged as much as possible. We like to include this project in our annual planning every year. 

Before drawing themselves, we do some physical activities to be more conscious of the different parts of our bodies and the proportions... we use mirrors to inspect our faces and see the shape and the location of the different parts. Kids love looking at themselves and they enjoy doing their self-portraits. 

Here is a selection of drawings from year 1: