2nd Workshop of Music: Sounds of the World

Monday, February 22, 2016

Not every child has the opportunity to contact with a wealthy musical environment. The educational institutions should provide to every child a quality musical experience in a way to develop the aesthetic sense of each child and to open its horizons for new situations and challenges.

In this workshop we were challenged.

During the warming up we participated in some exercises that develop the rhythmic sense, time and pulse.

We had the chance to experience a big variety of musical instruments.

The whole group played djmbé under the teacher’s instructions. We also learned how to play the song “Bella Mamma” in the guitar.

All this work led me think.

There are different sonorities around the world. Each culture has its own sounds, rhythmic and harmonies.

When the child has the opportunity to play a musical instrument it is filed with joy and pleasure. The wealthiness of sounds will develop in the child its acoustic dimensions. By contacting with a big variety of musicalities we will be able to find who we are in music.

Music exists everywhere! When children listen a song that belongs to a total different part of the world they will not just hear notes, chords or rhythms, they will also listen history, cultural aspects ,emotions and feelings that belongs to a whole nation.

2nd Workshop of Textiles: Printing and Embroidering

Friday, February 19, 2016

Art was born since the human took his first breath. 

Arts exist in all of us. It is wonderful when we allow it to flow.

Nature provides us wonderful elements that can inspire us.

In this workshop we were challenged.

In this workshop we learned the wonderful fabric printing technique. This form of art gives us the possibility to create marvelous patterns and to play with interesting shapes and colors in a piece of textile. You can print several silhouettes from different kinds of elements.

You can think about interesting shapes to create new printing´s patterns.

Thinks that you can use for this technique:

       Hands and foot;

       Nature’s elements (leaves, flowers, vegetables and fruits);

       Sponges;

       Stamps;

       Bubble´s plastic;

       Other objects from our daily life.

The teacher asked us to print three pieces of fabric and try to respect the order of the elements along the space.

During the second part of the session we created an embroidery piece using a needle and threads. These materials can be used in different ways. It exists different kinds of threads and needles, adapted for the different types of works.

All this work led me think!

Printing on fabric can be a very ecological technique. The colors used in the printing should be chemical-free. This technique allows the children to make new and beautiful patterns in an old piece of textile. They can also use it to decorate t-shirts or to ornament some of the classroom’s textiles, like, for example, pillowcases, carpets or storyteller’s mat.

Directly into the fabric, the child will compose a harmonious  “text” made of figures and colors.

The child uses mathematical knowledge along the work. It organizes the elements over the textile and respect the sequence of the figures, while the pattern is being created. This demands working with mathematics.

Embroidering can be very relaxing. This kind of activity transmits tranquillity. It brings the child to a calm state of mind.  When a child seems being restlessly this is a good way to cool it down.

When a child enters into the embroidering process the world seems to stop for a while.  This kind of tasks requires a lot of concentration. During the handiwork hands and brain got deeply attached to each other.

The small and gentle finger´s moves develops the fine motor skills from the child. For children can be easier to embroidering in a cardboard because of it's stable and firm. The child can perforate the cardboard as its wishes, creating new shapes.

When the pedagogue prepares this activity must organize properly the threads, so can be easy for the children to use the materials.

In such tranquillity and relaxing labour, the child will meditate with a needle and a thread on its hands.

2nd Workshop of Drama: Multiple us

Thursday, February 18, 2016

Every time we plan a pedagogic program we have to think about the characteristics of each group, otherwise it would be much harder to connect with them and to get them into the process. Being in a drama session can be a little bit intimidating. It is important try to find strategies to captivate their attention and confidence.

A puppet can be a very good helper to a drama session. The children are familiar with those characters in many kinds of situations.

When an educator works with puppets must be credible. It is really important to believe. If we do believe they will follows us!

In this workshop we were challenged.

In the first part of the workshop we had to create a sock-puppet as a helper for our drama session.

It is crucial to give life to the puppet. Make it real. Create a background to the little helper. But we must be careful with its role during the moment. The puppet shouldn’t be a dictator.  We can involve it in the activity but, at the same time, must be aware that the session cannot focus on it. The puppet it is just a helper.

The books are always a very strong source of inspiration. They open the door to our creativity and to the children´s universe.

Every question that rests in the child’s souls can be found in the book’s pages.

We had to develop a drama session starting from a book. After the planning we had to put it on practice and join our colleagues inside the session.

Our group choose a story about an egg with some identity problems. I think that is a familiar problem to everyone.  We spend a lifetime trying to figure out who we are without ever getting an answer. So my group and I decided to play a little bit with that problematic. The sock-puppets were used in the beginning of the session. We gave them a very shy personality to create some mystery around them and to captivate the attention from the group.

We started with a very calm moment. Forming a large circle in the floor, we asked our colleagues to close their eyes and to travel deep down on them. We asked them a few questions  “If you were not you what would you be? In what would you like to become? Would you like to be a butterfly? Maybe a very wealthy man? Or a banana?” Each participate had the opportunity to share its wills and to play with the desired character. "And you? What would you like to be?"

 Al this work led me think!

Working with the creatures that lives deep inside us is way to discover more about ourselves and to arouse the imaginary part of us.  The fantastic inside world of each one is a very interesting place to visit and to explore. Dramatic expressions can play with that part of our selves.

Sharing this kinds of thoughts puts the child in a very exposed position. We should provide an environment of trust between the children. The puppet can help us on that. When children participates in the activity the educator must listen their thoughts with very attention and valorize the ideas that come from their heads. We must look to their development in a very closely way and be there to explore the beautiful part of the human’s mind.

2nd Workshop of Art: Give it back

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Trying to use the old to make the new!

During our lifetime we accumulate a series of objects and materials that lose their value in an instant. If since an early age we learn how to give it new life we will be conscious about alternatives ways of reusing.

The ecological sense of each human being should be a priority in schools. The situation of the Earth Planet, our home, demands big attention!

The youngest generations are responsible to change the condition of our planet. They are the future. They need to know what is waiting for them and which battles they will need to cross.  

In this workshop we were challenged.

During the first part of the class we learned how to make recycle paper and the papier-mâche technique.

These two processes are incredibly wealthy in sensations.

The unwanted journal it will be transformed in something new. It will receive new life. Quoting Lavoisier “In nature nothing is created, nothing is lost, everything changes.”

Paper-making

I. Materials

Newspaper, warm water, a bucket, a blender, a wood frame with screen stapled to it (you can have it in various dimensions), toilette’s paper, paints, glitters, sand and other kinds of ornaments.

II. Step-by-step

- Cut the newspaper into shreds.

- Fill your bucket with the shredded and add enough warm water to cover it all.

- Blend the paper shredding and water into a fine pulp. 

- Deep the screen into the pulp and allow a thin layer of pulp to coat the screen.

- Press the pulp in order to remove the excess of water.

- With a paper press out the remaining water.

- Use a journal to press the remaining water. Leave the journal in place and flip the frame over on to a flat surface.

- Gently tap the backside of the screen and the paper should easily fall off.

- It is possible to decorate the paper with sand, little seeds, colors or glitters… whatever you want it to try. In order to get a regular tone It is also possible to add some colors in the beginning of the process.

MORE IDEAS!
Leaves, flowers and petals can also be a beautiful option. Those elements must be involved in the pulp with the water.

You can use the recycled paper to do creative cards. This can be done in special occasions like Mother’s Day. Resorting to this technique each child can also do its own notebooks, for example.

When a child participates in the genesis of something it will get a sense of pride.

Papier-mâche technique:

I. Materials

Thin shreds of paper, glue, a bucket, warm water, a blender, a piece of textile and colors paints.

II. Step by step

- Fill the bucket with warm water and with the little shreds of paper.

- Deep your hand into the glue and put it into the bucket.

- Blender the paper shredding with the warm water and glue but BE CAREFUL! Paper cannot form a uniform pulp.

- Place the pulp in a piece of fabric, wraps it on and squeeze it to remove the excess of water.

- Papier-mâche allows you to create different silhouettes. Get inspired and start creating!

- Let your figure dry.

You can add colors during the first steps of the process or you can paint the figures later.

This technique leads the group to think about the amount of options that the unwanted paper provides.  By knowing this plastic technique the children will think it as an option to create new props.

On the second part of the class we explored the clay and its potentials.

This is a very ecological material that can be reused several times. Clay can have different kinds of textures and thickness. Some are darker and softer while others are lighter and granulated with tiny pieces of sand that can be felt by touch. Each student took a big piece of each type of clay. Along all the experience the teacher had clearly lining-guides for the group.  First he asked us to compare the differences between the clays. We used our eyes, flair and touch to find every little thing that distinguishes them one from the other. We could pressure them with the feats or even taste them.

The teacher asked us to take a big piece of clay. With that same piece we had to squeeze it with our own hands, harder as we could, forming a really funny shape. That would be our new best friend. We could compare it to the others from our colleagues. Thanks to the different textures and thickness of the clay each “best friend” were assuming different silhouettes. Clay is made by earthenware. It is a natural material offered by our dearest Planet Earth.  If we let a piece of clay in the outdoors, next to a tree it would transform in new matter again.

It is amazing the clays ability to work with the language. With some concepts referred by the teacher (like the longest, the shorter, the roundest, the thinner, etc.) the group had to recreate them into clay. While the teacher was launching the terms we were handling the material. With our creations and in groups of 4 we build a tower, high as possible. The teacher asked us to close our eyes and started to ask questions about it. “Where have you found such tower?  What does it smells? When you enter into the tower what can you see? Is it dark inside? Can you ear any sound?” It was amazing! During the narration my head was full of sensations and beautiful images. The educator should have the right tone of voice and the right choice of words to involve the children in the moment.

The last part of the workshop was focus on the work with play-dough. Plasticine is a really soft and manipulated material very used in the work with children. There are also different kinds of play-dough. Between them you can find different smells, tastes and thickness. Through this material we worked the emotions. Once more, in the material´s silhouette and shape were represented feelings.  It fascinates me our ability to communicate without using words. It really exists something about life that allows us to find language in every little thing created by us. Through every gesture we “talk”. 

All this work led me think.

Ecology was one the main focus during the class. The entire session was appealing our conscience to an ecological way of work.

We all have heard before that the most natural processes and products are the bests!

By creating new things the child becomes capable to look at the unwanted materials with a new vision. Starts to give more value to objects and it gets inspired to invent something completely revolutionary from the old.

The clay is so also a really ecological material to work with. It comes naturally from Nature and, when gets wet, can return to its natural form. Comparing it with the play-dough it´s much more pleasant to the touch and can be used more than once.

By knowing more about the material´s properties the child will also learn about physics and chemicals reactions, sciences and about the world in a very large way.

Sensations and emotions were also extremely presents over the workshop.

These activities pull the children into the sensation´s net.  The warm water, the glue´s texture and the lightness of the paper deepen in water stimulates the child´s senses. The clay´s texture, the play-dough´s colors, their smell, softness and taste will also be really captivating to the senses. Over the process the child it will use specially the touch as a guide for its action.

The possibility to participate in any creative process enables the child to discover new harmonious relations between different plastic´s materials. Having the chance to learn new manners of work it will allow the children to be receptive to new forms of art.

It is possible to find mathematics and language since the beginning of the session.

In the first part of the session:

For these challenges the child has to follow the process step-by-step like if it was a recipe. It will need to pay attention to time, to solidity and to the mixture of the colors. To achieve de desirable consistency of the paper, the child will have to compare and analyze constantly the mixture of the paper with the water. Compare belongs to the huge mathematical world.

Both of these plastic´s work are develop through language. The educator will give some instructions to the group and it will lead them over the activities. However, we can´t forget that language goes much farther than words. When a child is creating its own paper, card, or figure it is communicating with the world.

These challenged can be done in groups. It is important to give permission to the group share thoughts and ideas with the other mates. When children share a dialogue they will talk about mathematics, sciences, emotions and a lot more in a much deeper way than when they do it with a grown-up!

These two processes demand a lot of support from the pedagogue.  The group has to know some security rules before the challenge start to have more autonomy in a near future.

In the second part of the session:

The educator it will guide the entire session with a lot of control.

It will be using language and mathematics terms over the activities. The group will follow the leader during the whole class while it manipulates the materials. By comparing the different matters the child will be working with mathematics and it will appropriate the language to communicate their own experiences with the rest of the group. The entire group will be sharing ideas in a harmonic way.

Experience the clays and try it in a very large scale of manners provides the child a chance to discover more about physics and sciences. From that little piece of clay it will find a tiny piece of the world.

This work payees also closely attention to the sensorial and emotional part of the human. When a child represents one emotion in a piece of play-dough it is reflecting about its inside world.

Quoting Lori Malaguzzi (the founder of Reggio Emilia, 1920-1994),
“No way. The hundred is there. The Child is made of one hundred. The child has a hundred languages. A hundred hands. A hundred thoughts.”