Ballydown P.S. | Teacher Journal

I really love uploading all the photos together. 

I think it tells a story about the events that have taken place without the need for any text or explaination about the task.

I hope these photos in particular will provide you with an insight into the wonderful day Primary 2 had…….it was hectic, exhausting and everyone was lucky that they made it home for 2 o’clock!

IT WAS GREAT FUN!

Look at the photos………..

Can you hear the excitement, enthusiasm and enjoyment ?

Can you see the creativity?

Can you sense the concentration, team work and decision making.

p.s all this work happened as we dodged the rain showers.

Today was very important as a planning day. The children worked well in their groups. It was a joy to watch how they worked with their peers, made suggestions, listened to the opinions of others and came to a conclusion.

It was very important that they had an opportunity to explore outside to see what materials they could use in their landscape drawing.

A very, very busy day indeed! Lots of discussion, team work and investigating.

Day number 5 began with lots of discussion about what has happened so far in the project and a little look at the website.   Primary 2 were enthusiastic as usual, remembering what they have been drawing, looking at and discussing over the past few weeks.

It was time to start practical work and the day was divided into stages.

Stage 1: Children began working in their usual groups, placing and attaching their layered drawings of the landscape altogether in one long, long piece.  The group work was fantastic today. Everyone worked well, sharing ideas, co-operating and carefully working out how to bring their drawings together. There was a real buzz in the classroom.

Stage 2: The group work continued and everyone huddled in circles or around tables to discuss and give their ideas taking care other groups did not hear them.  Everyone looked at the original photos and discussed the colours seen in each layer. The children decided to take turns to record the colours they thought described the different layers.

Stage 3:  Here we go! Outside to begin exploring, investigating and planning.  Photos in hand, each group moved around the school grounds exploring and observing their local environment to see what interesting natural colours they could find to match to the colours decided earlier.

 Thursday morning, art project day 4 and my class had just completed their daily word building when they noticed a visitor walking into the classroom.   Primary 2 were immediately quiet, their eyes following the person who was carrying bags and equipment into the room.  Primary 2 expected to see Ann on the computer screen and whiteboard but instead she arrived into the classroom.  Excited whispers could be heard “Its Ann!”

The excitement in class was building as everyone was meeting Ann the Artist in real life.

We all divided into groups to explore the landscape around our school.  This was made easier by the extra adult help from the teachers and artist who travelled up from Dublin to see how the project worked in my class. 

The layers in the landscape concept and the discussion of only drawing horizontal lines proved a bit difficult for many children to grasp. However I knew that we just need time and more time to explore and examine layers outside. 

Brussel spouts, you love them or loath them!

Day 2. After working last week with larger vegetables the children now were going to peel away the layers of the much loved brussel sprout.  Working very small, producing tiny outlines and taking care to only remove 1 layer at at time was a task that produced lots of excitement and discussion. Scott, Adian, Poppy, Hollie and Naima had a great discussion about how it reminded them of playing pass the parcel, but they wouldn’t like getting a brussel sprout in the parcel! : )

Every year when I start an art project I tell Ann that I start to think like her. (and its only day 2)  I got to thinking about the term “layers” and realised that the art project is made of layers too. 

The art project doesn’t just happen every week.   There is background work that many people don’t see or are even aware of.(Kidsown and all their work, Artists individual planning and website work to name a few)

Then there are the layers that I am aware of most…… Ann and myself spend part of an afternoon or evening planning what is going to happen on our Thursday contact time and then things start to unfold after that discussion.   Planning is our first layer, preparing resources, testing equipment before every session,  discussions/recapping with children, practical work, Mrs James giving a helping hand, evaluating with the children at the end of each day, teacher and artist evaluation too, the website (that I am so slow to update but once started really enjoy doing)  The project is made up of lots of layers, it takes alot of work but it is extrememly enjoyable and very worthwhile for all those involved.

It was time to discover first hand what the word meant that had been constantly mentioned all morning. The children carefully removed each layer of their chosen vegetable and as each layer was removed then the vegetable was carefully and closely drawn around.