Mail Art + Pen Friends = Dear You Art Project
Here are the pics of our table cloths. Pupils did like the task. It was easy enough and we discussed a lot about Marimekko designs.
Päivi Huhtinen and her group of 5th graders from The English School in Helsinki, Finland are making and sharing art with Kaarina Losey and her 6th graders at Pioneer Park P.S. in Ontario, Canada.
So turns out when we are eating, the thing we want to see the most is food. Second favourites include looking out the window, listening to the birds singing. We enjoy having a meal in the company of our family and pets. On the other hand, we don’t so much like sharing our food with ants.
My last sessions with 1 A and 1 B classes very really fun! We made two very different, but beautiful ornamented table cloths. The artists drew their own patterns on graph paper, and then we all spent some time together joining our creations to make one large picnic blanket. When we finished the artwork, we took some time to write a letter to our friends, saying that we wish they enjoy their meal. Hyvää ruokahalua!!
Anastasia Artemeva
The 1A artists at Viertolan Koulu in Vantaa, Finland are making and sharing art with the artists at Кепа школу (Kepa School) in Karelia, Russia. The 1B artists at Viertolan Koulu in Vantaa, Finland are making and sharing art with the artists at Sheppard Public School in Ontario, Canada.
Now we have almost finished the table cloth, the gift to our friends in Texas. The kids are so proud of their work! We had a lot of fun doing the project „Come have a bite to eat with me“, and the kids liked thinking that their friends abroad would go out for a picnic using the table cloth that was made here in Iceland. Ithas lively, happy colours as we would like to feel when we go out together and have a good meal!
On Wednesday, we will have a school exhibition where the kids are showing their work to their parents and inhabitants of our town are invited. We really want to have the cloth there for them to introduce this wonderful project to them. After that we will send it to you.
Best wishes to you all,
Halla and Guðný
The 1st and 2nd graders at Grunnskóli Fjallabyggðar in Siglufjörður, Iceland are making and sharing art with the 2nd graders at Amy Parks Heath Elementary School in Heath, Texas.
Printmaking and putting it to use is not only fun, but so rewarding for everybody. In this case, the Texans' friend in Iceland will enjoy their food even more when looking at such lovely designs!
Kathleen Finan and her group of 2nd graders at Amy Parks Heath Elementary School in Heath, Texas are making and sharing with the 1st and 2nd graders at Grunnskóli Fjallabyggðar in Siglufjörður, Iceland.
What a creative and colourful project this was!
We have learnt so much about ourselves and our friends across the oceans by doing this project. The children were so excited to show off all of their new geographical knowledge. We have marked all of the places we know on a large map, so now we can easily find them.
We remembered all of the projects in this series so far, our masks decorated with skin patterns, our rhythmic paintings using so many painting objects and our food book. Now it's time to combine them all! We started a discussion about our dinner table, and what we need to put on it. Plates, knives and forks, chopsticks? What about under them? We need a beautiful table cloth or placemats. We gathered a range of objects in different shapes and sizes. We found cd's and blocks, triangles and rectangles and squares.
We started by choosing one shape and we made some traces with it. Then we chose a second shape and then a third if we wanted. We watched how the lines overlapped and it made different shapes on the inside.
When we were finished it was time to colour! We coloured each section with a different colour. How amazing and bright they looked with all these beautiful colours.
When we were finished we all looked at each other's and tried to put them together to make one big table cloth, but we decided that it was much more exciting if each guest at our international dinner table had a different piece of art under their plate.
The children have absolutely loved being a part of the Dear You project. Now as the little Tiger cubs and Puppies graduate their last year in kindergarten, they enter big school with knew knowledge of cultures, geography, creativity and wonder.
Thank you for letting us be a part of this project and we hope to continue work with you in years to come.
Lots of love to our friends overseas,
Teacher Steph, the Tiger Cubs and the Puppies.
Below are pictures from the workshop with the Puppies.
Below are pictures from the workshop with the Tiger Cubs.
The 4 year old Puppies from Just Kids in Hanoi, Vietnam are making and sharing art with the artist Tigers at Your School in Espoo, Finland. The 4 year old Tigers at Just Kids are making and sharing art with the 3-6 year olds at Oakdale Montessori School in Cape Town, South Africa.
Здравствуйте! Посылаю фото масок и книг, думаю. Напишу, когда начнем делать след задание. Всего наилучшего!
Эльвира
"Hi! Here are photos of the books and the mask. I will message when we start making the next task. All the best!"
Elvira
The artists from Кепа школу (Kepa School) in Karelia, Russia are making and sharing art with the 1A artists at Viertolan Koulu in Vantaa, Finland.
Hi,
Today we had a great pattern workshop. I had big magnifying glasses and apparently it was the most exiting thing. I instructed kids about the patterns, and they made things that they had seen through the magnifying glasses. For texture making we used simple color pencils so they are not that flashy. Kids were happy about the masks so I let them have it for a day.
Tomorrow I am going to collect them and send to Estonia.
Best,
Kristina
Kristina Laine and her 4-5 year old artists at Kalinka Päiväkoti in Helsinki, Finland are making and sharing art with Evelyn Müürsepp and her 4-5 year old artists in Mooste Preschool in Mooste, Estonia.
It's a great idea and kids are natural pattern creators. One thing confused them though- namely magnifying classes, I should have left these out and just focused on patterns we can see with our eyes. Otherwise it is too much information packed in 1 project: patterns and magnification and ones skin and masks. Otherwise kids really loved their masks and did not want to send them away, but when i reminded them that they get masks in return from other kids in Finland they agreed.
So cant wait untilyour masks arrive.
Best greets,
Evelyn
Evelyn Müürsepp and her 5-7 year old artists in Mooste Preschool in Mooste, Estonia are making and sharing art with Kristina Laine and her 4-5 year old artists at Kalinka Päiväkoti in Helsinki, Finland.
Thank you Puppies! We OBVIOUSLY love our pattern masks you made us!
The Tigers are 4 year old artists at Your School in Espoo, Finland. They are making and exchanging art with the Puppies, 4 year old artists at Just Kids School in Hanoi, Vietnam.
WOW! What an interesting project, we learned so much about ourselves and the world around us!
We started by looking around our classroom and noticing some repeated patterns around us. Particularly during the winter months, we can experiment with some interesting and wonderful patterns on our clothes.
Then we decided to go a little deeper, and we got some magnifying glasses and started looking at our skin. The wrinkles, the lines, the hairs. How interesting we are! What about our friends, what do their faces look like?? What happens when we pull funny faces?? when we raise our eyebrows??
Remembering what we saw, we got straight onto making our masks. we remembered the lines, the spots, the hairs and we made our masks with the patterns from our skin. But of course we had to add some colour! I hope our friends in Finland and our new friends in South Africa enjoy our masks!
Teacher Steph, the Tiger Cubs and the Puppies.
The 4 year old Puppies from Just Kids in Hanoi, Vietnam are making and sharing art with the artist Tigers at Your School in Espoo, Finland. The 4 year old Tigers at Just Kids are making and sharing art with the 3-6 year olds at Oakdale Montessori School in Cape Town, South Africa.
The headline "I'm a walking pattern" made my 3rd graders wonder how they actually could be walking patterns, but it didn't take long before they started to examine their hands, fingerprints, eyes and skin. As a teacher it was an interesting process. My students were so absorbed in their study that they didn't really need me in the room.
Very fast my students discovered that our body really is a walking pattern. One of the students even said: "Tatjana, it is so amazing our body is full of different lines and patterns......each and every one of us is a little miracle". Wauw!
Another student asked if they could have magnifying glasses, and of course they could. Within a few minutes I saw 19 young detectives investigating patterns on their hands, fingers, and skin.
I asked my students how we could make a piece of art, that could show what we had discovered about our magnificent body. One suggested that they made drawing of their fingerprints, another said that It would be fun if they could make a print of a hand walk. I was into the last idea, and I must say that I think the results are so full of creativity. I'm proud of my 3rd. graders and I hope that our friends in Canada will be pleased with "the walking handprints"
My best,
Tatjana
Tatjana Knudsen and her 3rd grade artists from Korsholm Skole in Hinnerup, Denmark are making and sharing art with Elizabeth Goldsworthy's 1st graders at Sheppard Public School in Ontario, Canada.
The first impression pupils had on this task was "creepy". Observing their own skin was not so interesting for them. Finally they choose to take this project with eager minds :) They are very curious about their new Canadian friends. I let them to see and read the letters we have received this far.
A few did masks using different materials. Many borrowed faces or part of somebody else´s face using the magazine photos. They enjoyed playing with the Mac photobooth.
Br,
Päivi Huhtinen
Päivi Huhtinen and her group of 5th graders from The English School in Helsinki, Finland are making and sharing art with Kaarina Losey and her 6th graders at Pioneer Park P.S. in Ontario, Canada.
Halla and Guðný, teachers of 1st and 2nd grade artists know how to get everybody excited! What a wonderful idea they had to use microscopes!
The 1st and 2nd graders at Grunnskóli Fjallabyggðar in Siglufjörður, Iceland are making and sharing art with the 2nd graders at Amy Parks Heath Elementary School in Heath, Texas.
My students used magnifying glasses to find interesting patterns on their hands and arms. We all made heart shape finger prints to see the different line patterns on our thumbs. Then I let them lose to create a mask with patterns they found on their body.
Kathleen Finan
The 2nd graders at Amy Parks Heath Elementary School in Heath, Texas are making and sharing with the 1st and 2nd graders at Grunnskóli Fjallabyggðar in Siglufjörður, Iceland.
All the children were introduced to the theme during circle time. My teachers explained to the children that our skin is made up of cells and that our finger prints are all different. The children were asked to describe what they can see on their skin and fingers. Some children mentioned that we have holes in our skin were the hair comes out, others mentioned that we have lines and creases on our hands and feet. We told the children that their hands and feet are unique and the children compared their hands with the person sitting next to them in the circle.
The teachers explained that we are going to decorate a mask using the patterns we see on our skin, hands and feet. The children decided to use ear buds, sponges and the back of paint brushes to try and make up the patterns. We used food colouring/dye for this exercise not paint.
On the back of each mask is the childrens name, date of birth and Pink for girls and Blue for boys.
Lots of fun was had by staff and the children – we cannot wait to start the next project. The parents have been informed about the initiative in our weekly newsletter and are very supportive of this fantastic idea.
Kind Regards,
Rebecca
The 3-6 year olds at Oakdale Montessori School in Cape Town, South Africa are making and sharing art with the Tigers, 4-5 year olds from Just Kids School in Hanoi, Vietnam.
What?! How can that be? Where did that come from?
Things started to look very different when put under the lens. The Tigers were explorers and made art inspired from their explorations. The world may look different after some close inspection : ).
The Tigers are 4 year old artists at Your School in Espoo, Finland. They are making and exchanging art with the Puppies, 4 year old artists at Just Kids School in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Our exploration with the magnifying glasses brought us to closer to what is around us! Can you figure out where the Monkeys found their inspiration for their masks?
The Monkeys at Your School in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing art with the Full Moons from Moonstone Preschool in Philadelphia, PA.
The January Project was fun. In Estonia we have the days "Kadripäev" and "Mardipäeav" where we make masks. The children wanted to immediately start to draw. They were looking for patterns on their skin and clothes. Fortunately, the children were wearing very colorful
clothing and the masks are completed soon. It was a great idea.
Aili Vassil
The 8 year old artists from Mooste Põhikool in Mooste, Estonia are making and exchanging art with the 8 years from Evangelischen Volksschule am Karlsplatz in Vienna, Austria.
