Making, sharing, and then talking on the phone with our friends about it!

Kids were really excited about this project, they kept thinking about places were their characters could live and almost everybody came up with more than one idea, and so, they asked for the opportunity to make 2 or even 3 projects. 

Andres said that his character lived in disney because it was the happiest place in the world. 

Renata said that her character could live in the beach because he loved to swim in the ocean. 

Anabella and Sofía Ayala came up with a make-believe land were their character could live, because after all, characters should be able to live anywhere we can imagine!

This was by far the most enjoyable project for my kids and I was delighted to see them so excited creating beautiful pieces for our friends in Nottingham!

Global Classroom:
The day finally came when we were going to meet our art pals! Kids came really early to school so we could make the time difference work for everybody. 

We had a computer ready to make the facetime call but for some reason the connection was not being successful. So, us teachers exchanged our phone numbers and used our mobile phones to make it happen. 

My students' faces were priceless when they saw their friends live! They sand and danced for them, and they watched their friends do the same for them! They exchanged questions and got to know some differences about our schools. I have to admit they were kind of jealous because in Nottingham they get 3 breaks and they only get 1! We got to sing happy birthday to a beautiful girl who happened to have a birthday that day!! 

They asked questions about what was the time, how was the weather, how they get to school, what do they eat for lunch, etc. 

For the rest of the day they kept talking about this amazing experience, and can't wait for us to have another global session! 

I can't thank you enough Arlene and Nina, for making this happen!!

Xoxo,
Vicke Benavides

The 5 and 6 year olds in Prepri C from Colegio San Patricio in Monterrey, Mexico are making and sharing with the 5 and 6 year olds in Class 1 from Sneinton C of E Primary School in Nottingham, UK.

Pencils dots piece together wonder

Hallo,

At the beginning children made a variety of exercises. For example, how can a pencil dot and line can make art.  Then using those skills, we drew nature we would we want to see by looking out the window in Mooste.

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.

Vienna in autumn looks like a magical place to be!

Hello!

In Vienna, we had autumn when we were doing the pictures. Trees have beautiful colours, apples are falling down, it is getting cold. So the kids made pictures from our season outside. They had a lot of good and funny ideas to show this! :) You will see it in the pictures!

Hope you are all fine!

Best wishes,
Simone

The 7-8 year old artists from  Evangelischen Volksschule am Karlsplatz in Vienna, Austria are making and exchanging art with the 8 years from Mooste Põhikool in Mooste, Estonia.

From Finland to Canada, our atmospheres come together

Here comes a few of the latest artworks. We first practiced with portrait drawings. The landscapes were done in small groups.

This time my pupils were more eager to write letters rather than concentrate on their drawings.

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.

Sharing our atmosphere!

Our shared atmosphere was fun to do, to connect and share!

First Viertola´s schools 3rd graders from Maija Pitko´s class were standing in their chairs eyes closed and imaging the atmosphere and landscape between Finland and Denmark and flying in their imaginary trip! Then they started painting landscapes and drawing all the important details from their "imaginary trip". I could almost hear the imaginary airplanes and under land diggers!

- Eliisa Sorvali

The 3rd Grade artists from Viertolan Koulu in, Vantaa, Finland are making and sharing art with the 3rd Grade artists from Korsholm Skole in Hinnerup, Denmark. 

K1 paints a beautiful landscape for their friends in Vietnam!

K1 has been talking about life in the Atlantic Ocean these past couple of weeks. This project allowed us to combine all the great things about life on land and life in the water! Originally I thought we would use oil pastels and colored pencils, but as I was explaining to them that this painting was about the ocean, they suggested we use watercolor paints. How perfect! So we got them out and added them to the mix!

Before we got began we first looked at the Pop Up Homes the Tiger Pups in Vietnam made for us. That started churning the imagination wheels in our mind for our landscape. After we finished our individual paintings of land and water we taped them together to make one super long Shared Environment. Now we have received the Imagine Me Puppets, Pop Up Homes, and soon we'll have the Shared Environments from Hanoi. Our world is piecing itself together and our Tiger Pups are getting insight as to who we are what our lives are like way far up North : ).

Thank you everybody for going on an adventure with us!

With love,
K1, Arlene, Kristiina, and Bibiana

The 4 year olds from International School of Helsinki in Helsinki, Finland are making and sharing art with the 4 year olds from Just Kids in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Together we make it our world

Our third meeting, where we where making Our Shared Atmosphere went really well. At the beginning we made time to watch the video message we received from our friends at Amy Parks Heath Elementary School in Heath, TX, USA, which was very sweet and encouraging for the kids. Then we spent a few minutes learning how to fold the paper to make the line that will unite our individual works, turning them into a collective art work.

It seemed like a good idea to stick to only using grey pencil, which allowed us to focus on the mark-making techniques and on expressing feelings, sounds, light and shadow. We talked about how some students came to school early and it was dark and rainy, and how one hour later, for other students the walk to school was bright and sunny.

I think our time was managed really well this time. At the end we stuck all the drawings together with tape, to make one reeaaallly long picture of autumn time in Vantaa.

At the workshop we speak both English and Finnish - well, I mostly speak English and Riitta-Liisa translated, to make sure no one is left out.

A xx

Anastasia Artemeva is the Dear You Workshop Leader for the 4th grade class at Viertolan Koulu in Vantaa, Finland.  This group of Finnish artists will be making and sharing art with Kathleen Finan's 4th graders at Heath Amy Parks Heath Elementary School in Heath, Texas.