Arts Learning Portfolio: Observational Drawing Of Leaves

The more you draw the more you understand the world around you. Drawing an object from life forces you to

The observational leaf drawing activity provides an opportunity for students to inquire into the world around them as they collect leaves. Observational drawing assists in the development of visual awareness and enables students to express themselves through visual arts (Dinham, 2014, p. 362). Students are engaged in critical thinking as they organise and process their thoughts and “look closely at what they see and draw it” (Dinham, 2014, p. 374). Before beginning to draw students need to focus on the details of each leaf by using their sense of touch to feel the edge detail and look closely at the shape. Besides the shape, students need to carefully observe proportions, angles, sub–shapes and colours and the

Children’s creativity must be extended by the provision of support for their curiosity, exploration and play. They must be provided with opportunities to explore and share their thoughts, ideas and feelings, for example, through a variety of art, music, movement, dance, imaginative and role-play activities, mathematics, and design and technology.

At all stages (including very early mark making) the children’s work is positively encouraged, valued and exhibited.

What makes children so different even when they are the same age? This is an important question and one that has not yet been fully answered. We do know, however that children’s development is shaped both by intrinsic or personal factors, such as their health, but also external factors such as their family environment and their access to educational provision. This means that while a child may be born with the potential to be a great artist, this potential is unlikely to be realized unless the child has the chance to paint and draw and is encouraged by adults.

Essentially building upon their learning needs brick by brick. Chapter two has a few sections under the theme Characteristics of Thoughtful talk. Ballenger describes the difference between the way some students speak during classroom discussions versus free play when the conversation is not based on academic topics. She states “I may think they are making jokes or wasting time, or that they are confused and need help, like Rubens, when he suggested the sun was alive-but it usually turns out they are thinking in constructive ways. When I have this principle in mind, I participate less and allow the children more room to explain themselves.”(57) This example is how an educator can step outside of expected norms and meet children where their culture and imagination can work

In the beginning of the article, the author illustrates the reasons why a child easy to loose his creativity and imagination when he grows up. She argues that the extract criteria and inflexible grading standard are main elements that can make children disappointed about their art; this not only repress their creativity but also can cause them to stop using the precious talented ability they have.

To create art takes a lot of planning with the mixing of colors and shapes of different sizes. Children will learn decision-making, and will learn from their mistakes when something does not turn out as they plan. (Mincemoyer.)

My lesson will be addressing the kindergarten math standard of identifying and describing shapes. In kindergarten, this consists of being able to identify various shapes such as squares, circles, rectangles, triangles, hexagons, cubes, cones, cylinders, and spheres. To do this we will first go over what each of the shapes looks like and we will also review how to describe where a shape is, above, below, next to, on top of etc. We will make use of Frank Lloyd Wright’s artwork in order to review shapes and location. We will discuss the artwork as a class and talk about the shapes that we can identify in the artwork. We will then label the different shapes on the board as a class, to help children who are still learning the shapes by

1). By externalizing with the creation of an art product, according to Malchiodi (2003) “a drawing, painting, or collage of the presenting problem is a natural way of separating the person from the problem because through art, the problem becomes visible. It allows the person to literally see the problem and think about it as something outside him or herself” (Abromowitz, K, 2013, p.15). In this way, children can separate themselves from the object to rediscover new meaning of this tacit dimension.

The first issue to be considered relates to teachers planning cross – curricular approaches in lessons. Many theorists hold the belief that links between certain subjects are increasingly easier to make than those with other subjects. For example, links between science and design and technology might be more achievable whereas it might be more difficult to make links between geography and music (Hayes, 2010). Even if the links are made educators might imply that it is too difficult to achieve subject progression when cross – curricular links are planned so that creative outcomes can be achieved (Barnes, 2011). Teachers might bear this in mind however it is good practice to make these cross – curricular links as creativity can be promoted. Cross – curricular approaches should be adopted for several reasons, especially to meet the diverse needs of children who struggle in certain subjects. Thinking and learning can be enhanced by choosing a theme which can lead to cross – curricular links as shown in the

The importance of a teacher’s role in supporting specific art experiences, such as the themes explored in ‘The Peppa Project’ (McArdle, 2012) have brought meaning to the importance of teachers being observers in early childhood art classrooms. Throughout this narrative (McArdle, 2012, p.30), the teacher (“Sue”) allows the children to experience the creation of art through thinking about different elements such as space for example, how they are able to place their images onto the blocks (McArdle, 2012, p. 31). The Labrador ‘ Peppa’ is used as a medium by Sue to stimulate the children’s creativity throughout this art experience by allowing the children to have something tangible and ‘friendly’ to relatable to as most of them found it exciting

Observation is something that educators do carefully to gain information about young children. Documentation is the process of collecting evidence that serves as a record. When teachers observe the young children, it provides the information that the teachers need to build relationships with individual children and enable them to be successful learners. The best way the teachers should learn about children by carefully watching them, listening to them and studying their work. When the teachers are watching and listening to children helps us understand what they are feeling, learning and thinking. Observation is an excellent way to track children’s

It is there for very important that the enlightened generalist teacher comes up with ways to speak to the child’s imagination.

After watching my mother in a world of her own, I would eagerly pull out the sketchbook my parents had bought me and attempt to create my own “masterpiece” of scribbles and circles and lines. As I grew up, and I could finally touch the top of the refrigerator without jumping, my interest in art bloomed into a newfound passion.