The Art Studio

Dramatic Play Centre Transformation

Prior to the Christmas break, one of our students brought to school a piece of art that he created at home.  Ms. Marrella and I decided to display the art piece by the wall next to the classroom door.  As soon as we did this, we made two observations; the boy who created the art piece was very excited to have his creation on display, and students in the class were very curious about the art work (they questioned what it was, and the materials that were used to create it).   

Image of the boy's art piece.

Based on the interest the students showed towards this art piece, Ms. Marrella and I thought it would be a great idea to begin an Art Inquiry. We surprised our students by transforming their Dramatic Play Centre into an Art Studio. 

Our students were so excited to explore this new play area.  We have included some materials for our students to use and explore, and plan on introducing more materials/tools as the inquiry progresses.   Below are some images of our students exploring The Art Studio for the first time.

Our Art Inquiry has just begun.  We look forward to sharing our wonders and discoveries with you throughout this inquiry.

Santa's Workshop

We are so excited to announce that our Dramatic Play Centre has been transformed into Santa's Workshop!  

Here is how Ms. Marrella and I co-constructed this space with our students.        

Dramatic Play Centre
Pre-Transformation

We let our students know that the Dramatic Play Centre would be transformed into a new space for the month of December.  We asked our students for some input.  Once we had our idea (Santa's Workshop), we needed to create a construction sign - we didn't want anyone to get hurt now that we were in a construction zone! 

    

Santa's workshop under construction.
Boots and hats on site!

For two weeks our students were so excited to collect items for Santa's Workshop.  Once we had collected a BIG pile of stuff, we sorted it out into different piles.  

Our pile of collected items.

Our collected items sorted into different piles. 

Once we sorted through that big mountain of Christmas stuff, we made a graph.

Next, we needed to make a plan.  We talked about where the items would be placed in Santa's Workshop.  Then we created a blueprint.  

Christmas Tree, Ornaments, Presents,
Fireplace, Garland, Stockings and Wrapping Paper

Here are some pictures of the students painting the fireplace, creating a computer for Santa, and decorating the Christmas tree. 

Santa's Workshop was ready for the little elves to play in! They can now write letters, wrap presents, measure and repair toys, and use a few digital devices (Santa has now entered the 21st century with his iMac, iPad and iPhone!). 

Co-constructing this space with our students was both a lot of fun, and a true learning experience.  The learning doesn't stop here though!  Our students will have a few weeks to interact with each other and this space.  We can't wait to see them play in Santa's Workshop next week.

A very big thank you to our parent community.  We could not have created this space without your support and generous donations.  Once again, Ms. Marrella and I were touched by your generosity and enthusiasm for this project.  There is no doubt that the students will play, learn and grow together in this space.  Thank you again!   

P.S. The website on the iMac is www.google.com/earth/

Graveyard Café

During the month of October, the kindergarten students transformed their Dramatic Play Centre into a Haunted House and name it The Graveyard Café. 

Our construction sign.  Safety first!

Our students were so excited about this project.  For approximately one week, students brought to school a variety of decorations including skeletons, spider webs, costumes, and pumpkins to transform this space.  Who knew spider webs came in green and orange?! 

We were ready to begin…

First, we sorted through the big mountain of items.  We needed to know what we were working with.  We also had to make sure there weren’t any real creepy crawlers in the pile.  We found one, so we decided to save it for our lunch break!

Then, we transformed the space.  Ms. Marella and a group of students decided on the layout and placement of all the items.

Our Café was almost ready, but something was missing.  A menu!  What would the Ghouls and Ghosts visiting the café want to munch on?  Of course, eyeballs, worms and spiders.  Deeeeeelicious!

Ms. Marrella and I added a tray of money (unfortunately not real!) and a clipboard for the café staff to write down customer orders.  

This project and play area gave students the opportunity to learn while they played (play-based learning).  Students improved their oral communication skills through their interactions with each other.  They experienced, counted and touched money when paying for their meals.  They used crayons and paper to write and draw customer orders.  Finally, they developed their fine motor skills when zipping and buttoning costume pieces.    

 

This project would not have been successful without the support of our fabulous parents.  The donations we received to complete this project were over and above what we originally expected.  The students had a screaming good time playing in their Graveyard Café.