About this series
Inside Innovative Classrooms is a series of occasional articles that will mainly appear on the district's Web site about the varied creative and powerful ways BC students are being prepared for an ever-changing world. Stories from around the district will be highlighted on this Web site throughout the year. Click here to see archived articles.
Inside Innovative Classrooms
With full-day kindergarten comes early and
important lessons in art
Release Date: February 1, 2010
“We made snakes!”
Some things are not soon forgotten by kindergarten art students.
As students cut and colored for a still-life project on a recent Monday afternoon, they recalled one of their favorite projects from earlier in the year, rolling a coil in clay to make the slithering amphibians. The unit built upon a previous lesson in shapes and lines, and also included a reading of the children’s book, “The Road to Mumbai.”
With full-day kindergarten in effect this year, it is the first time that kindergarten students in BC have dedicated art time. And, they are embracing it with gusto.
“The general philosophy of the Kindergarten program is to let students explore their world through art,” said Melanie Painter, the district’s K-12 art supervisor who also teaches kindergarten art classes at Glenmont. “For example, students learn about color mixing by doing it rather than being told what will happen when they mix yellow and red. Their sense of wonder and discovery is heightened by the exploration that they achieve in art.”
The kindergarten curriculum, which art teachers mapped over this past summer, is based on the exploration of line, shape, color, space, pattern and texture. The students use a variety of painting materials as well as three dimensional mediums.
Often, a unit in art will include a reading or a study of a particular artist or concept. Painter said the instruction in art will help students develop skills that will help them in all subject areas throughout their school day and school years.
“We use art to strengthen students' pre-reading skills and enhance their use of symbolic connections,” Painter said. “We ask students to discuss their artwork and the work of others. Drawing is a way for young children to communicate their ideas and construct meaning.”
For example, the “still life unit” students were working on in January began with the question, “Can you create a space?” Students learned about the artist Henri Matisse in this lesson and used a research-based method known as Visual Thinking Strategies to think about the question and discuss works of art.
The first task was to create a background for a still-life they are creating. They read “Eating the Alphabet” by Lois Ehlert, to get them thinking about their favorite fruit or vegetable, which would help them formulate ideas for the project.
The students’ next unit is, “Color, Color, Color,” to be followed by work in areas such as color mixing, self-portrait, coil pottery and a final piece for the annual art show. Every kindergarten student will have a piece in their elementary school’s spring show. See below for a listing of art show dates and times.
“It is amazing to see them grow so much, both physically and emotionally,” Painter said. “At the beginning of the year, only one or two of them could reach the sink and many of them were still in the scribbling stage. Now they are making meaning and symbols are emerging in the artwork. It really is amazing to see such rapid growth.”
Spring Art Shows
• Clarksville - Thursday, May 13, 4:30-7 p.m.
• Eagle - Thursday, May 27, 4:30-7 p.m.
• Elsmere - Thursday, May 27, 4:30-7 p.m.
• Glenmont - Tuesday, June 8, 4:30-7 p.m.
• Hamagrael - Thursday, June 3, 4:30-7 p.m.
• Slingerlands - Thursday, May 13, 4:30-7 p.m.