We are starting a very exciting new school year in the art studio. I like to start the year with explorations of the art materials. Developmentally, two and three year old children are natural explorers. They like to see what the materials can do and what they can do with the materials. These explorations lead to discoveries, the discoveries lead to understanding (aha moments) and this all leads to ideas (I can do this, with that. Or, I can use this to do that).
Each of the classes is doing a series of explorations with different materials. This way, when we begin to make specific things, the children will have a tactile and visual vocabulary from which to draw.
When we explore the tempera paints, we begin with the three primary colors. I demonstrate and explain that we can make every color in the rainbow and brown by using red, yellow and blue paint. The children then enthusiastically make the magic happen. They blend and mix and enjoy the flow of the brush stroke as they make the colors change. The four year old children also like to explore, and they have a story to tell which explains the action of their paintings.
Our paper exploration begins with the question “what we can we do with paper?” The children’s answers include paint on it, draw on it, glue things to it and make a paper hat or airplane. I then show them a large piece of paper as I rattle it and it produces a noise. This is very funny and unexpected. I then tear, crumple, twist, roll, fold, ruffle, stack and demonstrate sculpting with paper; the children are very excited to try it. It is quite difficult to tear paper as they develop their fine motor skills, but they figure out how to manipulate the paper to make tearing easy.
Our clay explorations include noticing the coldness and wetness of the clay. The children change the clay by pounding, poking, flattening, rolling, stacking, blending , smoothing and the list goes on and on. Both the paper explorations and the clay explorations are beneficial to fine motor skills as they both focus on manipulating the material with their fingers.
I have just returned from Reggio Emilia, Italy, where I attended a conference on the teaching philosophy of the municipal schools of Reggio Emilia. This philosophy is based on the writing of Loris Malaguzzi. Malaguzzi believed that there are 100 languages of children, or in other words, that each means of expression- exploring art materials, movement, wonder, music, play… are languages with which to communicate the meaning of the world around them. Another important aspect is that curiosity leads to learning, as this will lead to research and exploration and then expression of understanding.
I was inspired by my trip to Italy. I am looking forward to a creative year.
It has been a pleasure becoming familiar with Washington Market School and meeting your children. With the opportunity to develop a year long curriculum, I am always reminded of my very first days in undergraduate art school.
My first class was “2-D Design”. We studied COLOR, MARK MAKING, COMPOSITION, etc. I was nearly 20 years old. Since this experience, my approach to teaching children, even children as young as two years old, is to begin with these very same basics. An advocate of this approach, the instructional designer, Jerome Bruner, suggests that a learner (even of a very young age) is capable of learning any material so long as the instruction is organized appropriately.
Another important concept that I keep in mind with each project is fine motor development. I’m always thinking about ways to strengthen children’s fingers and hands - all the while - encouraging independent decision making, familiarity with basic art materials and tools and aesthetic expression.
Each time your child visits the art room, we begin with a conversation about art while sitting around the blue carpet. This helps establish a quiet and calm setting. Children can acclimate to their new environment while we have a short discussion about art and how it relates to our next art project.
There is more than meets the eye with each of the art projects your student has participated in. I would love to take this opportunity to describe a few of the art projects we’ve accomplished so far this year:
Color Wheel Playdough Mixing: In order to strengthen our fingers and to explore the wide world of color, we used Playdough. We began with the primary colors: red, blue and yellow. We chose two primary colors to “smoosh and smash,” “mix and mash” to create orange, green and purple. Color theories were appearing before our very own eyes!
Tissue Paper Paintings: This project reinforces what we learned with our playdough explorations. Using pink, blue and yellow transparent tissue paper, watered down Elmer’s glue, and paint brushes, we practiced “overlapping” the paper and found that wherever it overlapped a new color was created. This was a project that also involved paying close attention to using our fingers carefully to only select one piece at a time and not a clump of paper….more fine motor attention.
Markmaking: There are so many ways to use a crayon! Straight lines, “zig-zag” lines, curvy lines and scribbling; after we explored this variety of ways to make marks as a group, we explored how to turn our marks into pictures. Making marks with Craypas and also with paint and paintbrushes, Duane PM students have created very colorful and action packed compositions.
Our most recent projects have focused on all things “sticky”. We are exploring how to use Elmer’s glue and glue sticks and tape. We are also practicing how to take very good care of our art materials by learning how to open and close these supplies to keep them from drying out.
In conclusion, strong hands, a familiarity with a diverse list of concepts in art and – of course – fun are a few of the goals in the Duane Street Art Studio.
You are always welcome to drop in and check it out!
Hello Duane Street!
We are all-systems-go for another great year of chess. I've been teaching at WMS for 4 years now, but last year was the first time we had chess over here at Duane St. Some of the students have moved down the road to Hudson Street, but some have stayed. This gives us a great dynamic in the classroom. Some of the children have never heard of chess before, and some of them know the game. So as you can see, there are many different levels of chess expertise roaming around these halls. I can't wait to go through all the rules again, tell stories, and impart all the benefits of chess to your children.
Here at WMS we teach chess with stories! Over the course of the year, I tell 20 stories that explain WHY pieces move the way they do. I personify all the pieces, and give them memorable stories that cement the rules of movement in the kid’s mind, in a fun way. So the first two weeks, we've been talking about King Fishcer, and King Spassky, the two kings. Both of the kings move SLOW. King Fischer moves slow because he eats too much and has a huge belly! King Spassky moves slow because he grew up in a pillow castle, and is afraid of going outside, so he tip-toes every where he goes. I never tell the kids the Kings move one square at a time, they can figure it out themselves through these stories. This is an example of how we teach chess here. Every piece is a character, and every character has a story.
So come in and observe chess, because before you know it, your child is going to want a game with you.
Here's to another great year!
This year, the morning classes at Duane Street will be taught by Anthony Taddeo and afternoon classes by Oran Etkin. Oran and Anthony work closely together and draw on the Timbalooloo method, a comprehensive method developed by Oran Etkin with classes that progress from infancy through school age, eventually leading into playing instruments, composing music and really understanding how it works. It is based on the belief that music is a language. Through the proper approach, children can attain full “fluency” and comfort within this language. Just as one would talk to a child with a full vocabulary, we draw on the full musical spectrum, teaching the children to play and sing songs by the musical masters from many cultures (from Tito Puente to Duke Ellington, Babatunde Olatunji to Mozart). We use original Timbalooloo games, songs and stories that teach the fundamentals of music in a fun and intuitive way. The stories also incorporate cultural and historical awareness while the rhythmic games develop speech, math, coordination and listening skills. Through the Timbalooloo website, parents can continue this learning at home, with sound and video of songs we’re learning at school!
What we have been doing:
The children have met Ngoma, a drum from Kenya. They have learned to make it “talk” by playing it and met its family, “percussion”. We recently started exploring the piano, learning about Herbie Hancock and singing his classic composition, Watemelon Man!
What we will do next:
Our exploration of the piano will lead into games exploring pitch (high/low) through bird and cow sounds (birds fly up high, make high sounds and are small, while cows live low, make big sounds and are even bigger than a tuba!). After our Herbie Hancock unit, we will learn about Brazil and Samba!
Follow along…and sing along at home through the web!
We encourage you to visit www.timbalooloo.com throughout the year. As we go along, we will continuously update the site with recordings and lyrics of the songs we are learning, including the original recordings and videos by Herbie Hancock and others!
Oran Etkin and Anthony Taddeo