Week 1 Touch Middle Years:

My first week back at Collegiate was a welcoming experience. I even got hugs from a few educators! Our lesson today was Touch and Textures, we were making stamps from plasticine and ink. The children were very enthusiastic about the activity. They were able to make the zines with minimal help. And then once we got to the stamping the fun began. It seems on their cart there is a connect 4 game that was very popular. Many of the children made stamps out of the game pieces. It was like a treasure hunt for textures for the children. One even used his hair texture, and another his finger! Overall the activity went very well and the photos of their art turned out excellent!

Week 2 Smell:

Middle Years Group 1:

This weeks theme was smells. We made a map of their home, or neighborhood and were putting stickers of the different smells on their drawings. Today the wildfire smoke was thick in the air, and there was a definite smell everywhere of the smoke. It was an opportunity to discuss what was causing the smell, and why it was everywhere. One 8 year old girl, told me she Googled it and that the fire was 6 hours away in Northern Ontario. One boy, who actually drew the smoke cloud to add to his map also labeled it pollution. That sparked a discussion as to if it would smell like this forever. I assure him, the smoke would be gone soon. However, with wildfires becoming more common, this may happen again.

Middle Years Group 2:

This class we discussed map making and smells. Two boys in the class were actually brothers and wanted to draw their backyard as a map. It was interesting to see each of their takes on the same location. One focusing more on the gazebo, flowers and grass. The other one focusing on the sky and sun, with the gazebo much simpler in the drawing.

Kinders:

I was with the kinder group of children today. I was provided with printed copies of bottles and had an idea to alter the prompt for the kinders slightly. I asked them, if this bottle could be a perfume, and make you smell like anything in the world, what would be in your bottle? I had them draw what they would like to smell like. Most girls drew cookies, flowers and rainbows. One 5 year old boy wanted to smell “handsome” and drew a race car and gems. A touching moment was as I was packing up, a young boy came over to me to show me his jar and tell me he wanted to smell like nature. His jar contained trees, grass, and blue sky. It was a beautiful sentiment.

Week 3 Sounds:

Middle Years Group 1:

Today’s sense was hearing and sound. I gave the children the prompt of what would the sounds look like if you could see them. How would you describe them to someone who couldn’t hear. I played a selection of sounds from my Spotify. Everything from rain, orcas, typewriters, and even a heartbeat. The children took the most joy in the sound of breaking glass. They all tried to draw something being broken like a window or a mirror. It was interesting to see how they interpreted the sounds and which ones they enjoyed and which ones they found “annoying” one child in particular loved the orca sounds but the rest of the children didn’t. She was offended on the animals behalf that they didn’t like the way it talked.

Middle Years Group 2:

This group the educator prefers I do a small table and an invitation to participate rather than requiring the whole class. It works well for the group and several girls joined me at the table. I played sounds that I have previously saved on Spotify of rain, birds, a café, a heartbeat, and a typewriter. I asked them the same prompt I asked the previous group. What do you think these sounds look like? If you could draw something for a person that can’t hear, what would this picture be?

This group of school age girls took the prompt literally and drew what made the sounds. Some drawings were the same across the girls, such as the birds, and others were completely different, such as the coffee shop noise. It was interesting to see the difference in interpretation of rain sounds too. One girl drew an umbrella and rain, while another drew waves.

Kinders:

In class today we focused on sounds and what they would look like if we drew them. I played sounds of everything from Time’s Square, rain, a cow, birds, and a typewriter. After I had played all my sounds we then recorded ourselves making sounds. All the children stomped their feet, clapped their hands, and in the last recording everyone made their favourite animal noise. I played back the last recording for the children to hear and there were a lot of giggles and laughs. They each listened to see if they could hear themselves. There was a loud sound of oinking in the recording of one boy who was next to me while I was recording. The children had a great time!

Week 4 Sight:

Middle Years Group 1:

Focusing on sight this week, I introduced the activity to the children. We were using frames containing clear acetate sheet to draw an image like a photograph of something in the room. The middle years children were eager to get started but quickly discovered that it easier to place the frame directly on the object they wanted to draw rather than holding the acetate in the air and drawing from afar. One 11 year old boy was tracing an Uno card and did a great job. Another boy came up to me to ask if he could see my reusable bag. The bag had an image of a woman on it surrounded by paint splashes. He told me he really liked the colours and he began to find a particular spot he liked.  The children began to collaborate with each other, the boy who drew the Uno card helped a girl trace the outline, and two boys helped each other find spots on the whiteboard to trace. I was pleasantly surprised to see the cooperation that took place doing what had been an individual activity in training.

Middle Years Group 2:

This week focused on sight. Sitting down at the table to begin my quiet invitation, several children immediately came over to ask what we were doing. I showed the children the acetate frames, and how when you held them up, it kind of created a photograph. I wanted them to capture something in the classroom and draw it on the acetate to create their own photograph. 2 boys and a girl went to the windows where the blue sunny sky shone bright. They began to draw the clouds and trees in the distance. Each piece was beautifully colorful. One boy altered his slightly, instead of the green grass field, he drew a beach scene where the grass would be. I asked him about this alteration “why the sand instead of grass?” he replied “I wish I was at the beach.” It would have been a beautiful day at the beach. The weather was perfect today.

Kinders:

Altering the prompt slightly, we reused the frames but instead of drawing what was framed, I photographed it. The kinders were very eager to run around the classroom. Some found interesting things and held them out for photographs. One girl found the word “our” on the corkboard. I asked her specifically what she wanted me to photograph of all of the phrase on the board. She told me “our”,  it was pretty she said. Several other children were holding frames up against the window and wanted me to photograph certain trees, or shadows outside. It was a beautiful sunny day and the photo of them holding up their frames in my opinion, was better than just the trees outside. The kinders were very engaged, but as they found all their things they wanted me to photograph, they returned the frames one by one. They were very polite and happy to participate.

Week 5 Imagination:

Middle Years Group 1:

This weeks theme was imagination. We had printed photos of the school and covered them with page protectors for the children to draw on what they imagine could be in place instead of what is actually there. One 10 year old girl drew a beautiful garden with a cardinal, a bunny, lavender, and her and the school custodian. I asked her why she chose to draw the custodian outside in her garden and she replied that “sometimes when I go home I see custodian outside.” She included someone who is often overlooked at a school. She also drew the person cleaning on her art. She was very inspiring to listen to talk about her school garden.

Kinders:

Today was my last day with the children for the summer. I have been with some of these children since last October. I rolled out large pieces of white paper and set down crayons and paint sticks. When the children say down I asked them to “please draw me whatever you wish was here instead of this school. What would you want to be here instead?” I gave several examples of a waterpark, a playground, a forest, a mountain. The children got eagerly to work. Several children actually drew their homes. One boy did a very elaborate drawing which included a play room, the bedroom, and even a waterslide from his roof. Another child who I had worked with since the fall drew him and I together with a heart between us. He told me he was going to miss me. I told him I had fun making art with him, and hopefully we would see each other again. I felt in that moment that I may not have realized how much I had become a part of these children’s lives. It had now become routine. Thursdays, Miss Katie arrived with some fun art to do. I miss them too.