How We Express Ourselves

Today we began a class rotation designed to unpack the central idea of our unit of inquiry. The central idea for this UOI is :

'How personal perspective influences how we create art'

Children engaged in several tasks. Some looked at the central idea, discussing what the vocabulary actually meant. Then they wrote their own central idea - putting what they thought it meant into their own words. Here are some of their attempts:

'All of us have different personalities and perspectives and that changes how we make art '- Lucas

'We all feel different when we see different things' -Sounavann

'The way that we think affects the way that we make and view art' - Samir

'How we make art makes us feel different ways' - Boramey

'Some people view things in different ways and how we feel isn't always the same so how we make art is different' - Hana

'We all have different ideas, and people are different, so our art will be different' - Sothearath

'How you make art shows how you feel about something' - Ngy Meng

'People are different, so their art is different' - Erika

In other rotations, learners engaged in art activities designed to spark their creativity and imagination. Here are children working on their 'Not a Box' creations motivated by the book by Antoinette Portis. They had drawn up plans as part of a home learning activity, and today some of them began bringing their drawings to life.

We also had a group looking at creating their own piece of original art using nothing but strips of paper and glue. Children were encouraged to reflect on their work through our key concepts.

What is it like? (Form)

Why is it like it is? (Causation)

What are the points of view (Perspective)

The imagination of children never ceases to amaze me. They wove, curled, folded, and cut the paper into unique and original pieces. They are learning to explain why they chose to create it how they did.

This stunning example by Sophia M, became the topic of hot conversation! Children all viewed it with completely different perspectives - linking us directly back to our central idea!

Sophia explained that her design represented 'friendship'. When others looked at it...these are the thoughts it evoked:

'It reminds me of a trampoline'

'I think it is a bunch of flowers'

'I think she was making a rocket ship'

'I think it's like a volcano'

'Maybe the artist was making it look like a jellyfish'

'I don't know what it is...but when I look at it, it reminds me of my grandmother as she loved sculpture'

Wow! Perhaps 'personal perspective influences the way we create art' after all. It clearly influences the way we view it!