Printmaking - Relief Printing

1F pupils experimented with mark-making on foam boards today. There was no teacher demonstration. I wanted the children to experiment with different ways of creating marks on the foam boards. Pupils transferred their designs onto papers using the ink pads provided.

Everyone was engaged in the art-making process. Some children appeared unsure at first. Maybe they expected a teacher's step-by-step instructions. I hope to see our children move away from such structured way of doing art.

As 1F pupils etched their designs and transferred their works onto the paper, they made some discoveries. They noticed different ways of creating marks and how different techniques created very different prints.

Some adventurous pupils used other materials to etch their designs instead of the recommended pencils. I was amused but I did not stop them. I was curious about the outcome of their choice. These children talked about how the kinds of lines created using ice-cream sticks and those using pencils were different. I was impressed by their observations.

Had I conducted this lesson through step-by-step instructions, I would not have the opportunity to see such a wide repertoire of prints created today. This is an important lesson for me as an art educator.

In the afternoon, I was at the Singapore Teachers' Academy for the Arts (STAR). I shared 1F printmaking lesson with the art teachers from various primary and secondary schools as well as the program manager from STAR. I invited them to participate in the art-making process.

I was thrilled to see everyone engage in the activity, just like 1F pupils did. The artworks created were stunning, varied in style and yet every piece was a unique masterpiece. Their enthusiasm was contagious. I joined in the fun too.

A big THANK YOU to all the art teachers @ STAR for the active participation and sharing of such wonderful art-making techniques with our pupils. I really look forward to more of such sharing sessions again.

MLEA - The Giant's Ice Cream

MLEA (1): Class Writing: Having An Ice-Cream Party

The class identified the ingredients that would be used for teacher demonstration and language experience activity. These words are listed on butcher paper for reference. After the teacher had demonstrated how to decorate the ice cream with the toppings, the pupils were encouraged to talk about the process using time-sequence words and imperatives learnt. Their responses were recorded as the Class Writing.

The next step was to check the sentences and edit the ones with errors together with the class. The mistakes were crossed out in red, with the correct answers written above them. The edited writing was later printed for the pupils' reference.

MLEA (2): Group Writing - Our Ice-Cream Sundae
Before starting on their group writing, 1F pupils went through the language experience of decorating their ice-cream sundaes with ingredients given. Through the fun-filled activity, the children had to discuss how they would layer the ice cream with toppings, using imperatives learnt from the MLEA writing experience from 'The Hungry Giant'. I could sense the children's delight during the activity and the positive relationship among them. I feel happy for the children.

After the language experience activity, the pupils worked in groups to record their experiences in decorating the ice-cream sundaes together. I observed that the children were able to work harmoniously with one another. Turn-taking and peer coaching was seen in many groups. For some children who struggled with agreeing with their group members' ideas, I decided to let them settle the dispute themselves. I was proud of them when they ironed out their differences.

Once each group had completed the group writing, the pupils met up with the teacher for conferencing session where they edited the story together. This carried on until every group had their turn. Photos of the conferencing sessions were taken by Kylie and Nicholas.

After conferencing, the children recorded the edited group writings in the writing template below. Photos taken of their decorated sundaes and team members were pasted on Page 1.

MLEA (3): Individual Writing - My Ice-Cream Sundae

For Individual Writing, we discussed about a variety of ice-cream flavours, toppings and syrup the pupils could choose from for their own ice-cream sundae. I am glad to see the delight on the children's faces as they looked through the list of words for their favourite ingredients for their writing. Many of them had great fun describing the taste of their ice-cream sundaes too. The list of interesting words/phrases is intended to enrich their repertoire of vocabulary. I am proud to see the children use the words confidently in their stories.