So here are some "brush strokes" of the work we have been doing in class this last couple of months:
Hello new colours!!! (First year students)
Pupils from infant education and first year primary did an activity where they dipped their hand into a primary colour paint, their partner dipped into a different colour, and they greeted each other like two old friends: "Hello! How are you? Nice to see you!"... all the while shaking hands. When they separated their hands it was like magic for them... a new colour!! The resulting colour was printed on a mural and the kids had a whale of a time!!!!
We all know the benefits of Learning Environments (Ambients) and in our school we love allowing our children to experiment, manipulate and discover what they can do without adult direction. It helps them to become more open-minded, sociable, interested in their work, creative and basically to have fun! In the first year, the learning environment is mostly related to fine motor skills which are not completely developed in children of this age.
Carnaval, carnaval!!!!
Lots of different things were going on in our school for carnival! We had great fun dressing up in something different every day, following the instructions of the Carnival King "Rei Carnestoltes". In our art class, the eldest students set out to form a production line and make mini mask pins to sell to other students and family members to raise funds for their school trip this spring. The production line (otherwise understood to be cooperative learning!) worked out really well. We talked about the way factories worked and about the importance of each person doing their job well, however unimportant it may seem, in order for the end product to have the desired quality. The kids loved the idea of doing a real job in a factory with an end product and were very consciencious of their work and respectful of what their classmates were doing too! The end product: this pretty mask pin which was seen being worn around the school by students, teachers and parents!
Future architects and engineers!! (Second and third year students)
It's amazing what children can do with basic material!! It never ceases to amaze me the ideas they can concoct in those little heads of theirs. So I gave them some brown plasticine and some toothpicks and they came up with a load of different ideas, wonderful creations, working together, observing what their classmates were doing and solving problems of wobbliness, lopsidedness... They had a great time creating their structures, just look!!
