And so it begins....

And so a new school year has begun. This new beginning brings with it 14 capable and bright seniors, 10 sweet eager and playful three year olds and a new co-teacher that is truly thrilled and inspired every day to nurture, listen to and make art with this terrific group of preschoolers.  We started the school year off by talking about friendship. Some of us know each other well while others we are just getting to know.  The first art we made together was a painting that was done individually, side by side and then pressed together to make new paintings . The new creations were a little bit me and a little bit you. The paintings were done with  single primary colors for each child. The secondary color that emerged became the partners friendship color. While the art was being created the children were encouraged to ask each other a few basic questions to get to know one another better.




The theme “Me alone, Me together” began to take shape. 

Who am I? What things do I like? What things can my body do? 

Who are you? What things do you like? What things can your body do?

What do we have in common? What are our differences? 

We explored our face through various mediums side by side with a new partner. 

Using  mirrors we took a good look at our faces. Loose parts were provided and allowed for some moveable, impermanent representations of our unique yet similar faces. We look different but we all have eyes, noses etc. 




The loose part creation was then photographed . These photographers were used in a provocation that invited the children to use clay to make a three dimensional representation of their face.


Along with our exploration of our individuality we have been having many conversations about the way we are connected. This word connection keeps coming up for us. Getting to know each other and feeling like we belong together in this group, a team, a family of sorts. How do we function as a group? What works and what doesn’t? We agreed that cooperation and kindness are important for us to be happy as a group. If we don’t help each other out, if we don’t practice kindness our group, our family doesn’t feel as comfortable. As a class we came up with many agreements that would aid us and keep all our friends safe and feeling like they belong.







This concept of connection is something we are exploring in a tangible way through a few art projects. The first being drawings of ourselves on cardboard and then we connected our portrait to our classmates portrait. We can feel connected because we have so much in common but we can be physically connected as well, like when we hold hands. 




We used our hands and our eyes to make beautiful beaded strings of beads. Each child’s strand were then connected to another child’s strand and all of them together have added a beautiful new addition to the birthday mobile we have hanging in our kitchen. We all have a birthday and that’s just another way we are the same. 





The concept of connection was explored once again this time using balls of yarn. What fun we had connecting just about everything that could be connected in our red room. It made the children think of spiders and their webs. The children found ways to work together and share the yarn passing it to each other or throwing it. In the end we had the most awesome, crazy yarn web of connections.




For me a new year is full of mystery and possibilities. I never know just where the school year will take us. What discoveries are out there waiting to be uncovered? What are the interests of this particular group of children and what direction will this lead us?  The new school year is a long journey into the unknown and as I settle down into this group of children I am excited and hopeful as I ponder the wonder that lies ahead. EO

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