The power of observation

After an inspiring first art lesson, with local artist Tracey Kobus, our class ventured outside on a chilly morning. Some were unsure as we changed to our outside footwear, dressed in coats, toques and left our cosy classroom, sketchbooks and pencils in hand. On our trek to sit under the trees we were amazed by the number and variety of mushrooms emerging from the dew covered grass. It became an adventure to arrive at our spot without crushing any mushrooms under our feet. "Here's another one", could be heard. "Where can I sit, there are mushrooms here too?" Finally settling down upon our homemade 'sit upons' (newspaper inside garbage bags secured with masking tape) we began using the skills we had developed in our first session to observe what was around us. Some learners  noticed the colourful leaves, others focused on the mushrooms, and some chose sticks and needles as their objects of focus. Although our hands were chilly our pencils were busy holding onto our thinking - sketching and writing. To gain another perspective we travelled to another location on the school grounds and changed our gaze to the trees in the distance. Tracey guided us to consider the shapes we were observing and suggested ways to represent them in our sketchbooks. Back inside we used our outside experience as a launch for our larger drawings.

The morning may have been dew covered and chilly but the children's brains were alive.

When we had our 'Sharing our Thinking' time near the end of the day their wondering questions made it very evident that they had been keen observers and inquirers.