We are larger than life!

Toti, Zeynab and the Tigers were getting ready to create pop ups! They could not wait to show me and their friends in Dubai the dinosaur helmets they made!

We started the workshop with taking a mental journey to our home. What do you we see in the living room? Which couch do we like to snuggle up on? How does that couch feel? After taking a tour we looked closely at different kinds of texture. We then practiced different drawing techniques on how to create texture.  Putting all of our knowledge together we created our pop-up homes that tried to capture what we like the most in the place we feel at peace.

Nit: A chair I use to relax. All my family can sit on it. It's gray, black and white and it's very smooth.

Neh: I have a sofa in my living room I use to relax and watch tv. It's made of hard cushions. I also have an eating chair.

Raf: I have a soft bed with pillows. My home is very colorful.

Vih: I have a gym room in my home where my mommy keeps my cloths. I have a toy dinosaur that is rough and I play with it.

Ume: My home has a seat in the living room. We eat there. Our seat is big. It's cold and icy, it's blue and yellow. We have pictures of stars, moons, and snowflakes.

Pau: This is my sofa. It's in my living room and it's white. It's a little bit hard and it's made of wood.

Adr: In my home there is a sofa in the middle and there are some decorations on the carpet. The sofa has white, red, green and brown decorations on it. The sofa is made of wood and has comfortable cushions.

Dha: This is my home when I was a baby. The sofa was brought by my mom and dad. And while my big sister was at school I always sat on the sofa with my mommy. The sofa is brown. It was soft and comfortable, but now it's a bit old.

Lil: This is my kitchen where I eat food. There are 2 chairs. One is my sister Elle's and the other one is mine. My chair is made out of wood and some soft material.

Ath: Here is my living room. There is a big tv and black curtains. We sit on the ground and chairs. The ground is soft and brown. I like to sit on the ground to watch tv.

Welcome, friends, to our home!

With love,
The Tigers, Arlene, Toti, and Zeynab

The 4-5 year old Tigers from Your School in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing with the 4-6 year olds in KG2E from Collegiate American School in Dubai, U.A.E. 

Diving into worlds!

We discussed and demonstrated a few different ways that they could get things to be 3D and "pop" from the page. I showed the fold and snip, we talked about tabs of grass they could glue on, and also how they could do an accordion pleat of paper on the back of a shape as well. I did share the video about "Houses" that was posted on Facebook and shared some of the photos Päivi had shared with the entire class, but many were already partway through the project.  My students were very excited, and think that the English class are all much better artists than they are!! :)

I am hoping to set up a display in the library or a glass cabinet of both the places and the puppets when everything arrives.  I'll send photos once I get it organized!

Enjoy your week!
Kaarina

Kaarina Losey is the 6th grade teacher at Pioneer Park P.S. in Ontario, Canada.  Her group of artists are making and sharing art with the Päivi Huhtinen and her group of 5th graders from The English School in Helsinki, Finland.

December Pop Ups!

Here are some pictures of the Pop-Up cards the 5 year old artists in Berlin made for their friends in Mooste.  Their teacher, Lusine Boyajyan said, "The kids liked them so much that they made some cards for mummies and family :)."  And the love continues!

Pop Up Tigers and Pop Up Season's Greetings!

Once The Tigers mastered the art of making a pop up box everything became possible! Nachu was experimenting with writing her name in cursive. Jonatan made a pop up reindeer. Sreya said she wanted to give the sun to her friends in Vietnam.  That's so thoughtful considering Finland could really use some right about now :).  Ida went beyond the twofold card and made a pop up book! 

The Tigers will mail these warm wishes to the Mice in Vietnam.  Hyvää Joulua and Happy New Year!

All That Talent for Christmas!

Do you know how to play the guitar, do the baby freeze or do you just know really much about ice hockey? I surely don't but the talented fifth graders in Helsinki English School know!

This time at The English School we looked at our gifts. We pondered about how can we give them as presents to our friends. The word present has two meanings: one is something you give away and the other one is something you receive right at every moment, at the present. So a gift in it's most heartfelt way is you being present to the people around you. That means everyone of us can give a special gifts this Christmas by just being present and using the talents we have.

Some of us had a hard time seeing our own talent. But we needn't worry too much! Help was always near when friends cheered on at how good someone was at so many things. Sometimes we can't see our own talents because to us they're just everyday things while to others they might be a wonder. If you know how to do something really well, you might just need a reminder now and again from your friends on how good you actually are! We drew our talents in the stars that we sent to Prague and hope that they'll bring at least as much cheer there as we experienced when making them.

This gift giving doesn't have to stop at Christmas. We can all use our gifts and talents, no matter how small we think they are, every day and bring cheer and ease to others around us.

Let's have a gift filled Christmas and a talented new year!

- Nooralotta Ikonen
http://laiskia.blogspot.fi

The Monkeys send warm greetings to Nuuk!

The Monkeys in Espoo, Finland were so happy to receive artwork in the mail from their friends in Nuuk, Greenland! We read each other's letters and messages.

Learning more about our friends gave us great ideas on how to make our Pop Up Holiday Cards.  Since Leon's friend liked football, he decided to draw him a spotted football greeting card.  Ella wanted to ask her friend questions about the painting she received.  Ella wondered, "what animal did Misu draw?  I think Minea's friend will surely like the surprise cat she made! hint: meow :)

A Message from Moonstone Pop Up Pros!

Hi,

We had a great time with this project.  We practiced the day before we made the cards and now we are all pop up pros!  One boy told me he couldn't wait to teach his older brother how to do this! I will be sending them out tomorrow morning.

Have a great day and enjoy the holidays,
Michelle

Sweet Times at Helsinki's English School

Have you ever eaten a small black square that tastes like salt and medicine? Well, it's called Salmiakki and it's considered quite a treat here in Finland.

This time in our Dear You workshop we shared delicious tastes and sweet sights as we made candy arc pop-up cards for our friends in Prague.

We drew some candy and glued our art on our pop up card arcs. Then we described in writing what our pictured candy tastes like. Some of our candies were real while others were make believe. They all looked pretty delicious to me!

Everyone can enjoy these sweets, even the ones who are missing a sweet tooth. I hope they munch these sweets up with their eyes back in Prague!

- Nooralotta Ikonen
http://laiskia.blogspot.fi