Putting yourself into the Pop Up Home!

Our pop up place project went really well. First we watched a video of the kids opening a packages with Imagine Me! puppets from Heath, Texas. They were really happy and excited! They took whatever puppets they got, so we had to change the pairs according to that. The kids thought that the puppets were much 'cooler' than the ones they sent.

I had the pop up cards pre-cut, I bought large sheets of card from Suomalainen Kirjakauppa and cut them in 4 pieces, each to be around A4 size, and I cut 3 different strips into each. 

I showed how to make a pop up card first anyway, in case kids wanted to make one at home. After I distributed the pre-made cards the kids made collage and drew on them.

They loved the technique. Some made their rooms, and some cut out and drew pictures of nature. We talked about sounds and smells, and how places can change, like if you are in your room and look out of the window. They put pictures of pets there. I loved that some used the actual strips of paper to draw on, not only to stick pictures, for instance one girl painted apartment blocks on them. 

We had a really great time.

A xxx

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

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Imagination gone wild and furry!

The 'Imagine Me' puppets that came from the 4th Grade students at Amy Parks Heath Elementary School were extraordinarily furry, friendly, and funny! Yes! Seeing them immediately put a smile on my face.

Kathleen Finan, the artists' art teacher, said, "I was given a box of faux fur and knew the kids would love it. We talked about having imaginary friend when we were young and the ways the helped us. Students chose materials from an assortment of goodies and started creating their imaginary friend. They named their  I-friend and wrote on the back how their I-friend helped them."

I am sure their friends in Viertolan Koulu in Vantaa, Finland will be amazed by their new friend's creativity! Oh the amazing things that come out of Texas :).

Imagine Me Puppets from Vantaa, Finland are on their way to Heath, Texas!

Today went really well!  We had so much fun and they all loved it!  We looked at the map to see where Texas is and had such a good time that we lost track of time.

The kids were making sketches in their notebooks and were so happy with their drawings, that we ended up photocopying them from the notebooks and then cutting them out from the photocopy, and then adding glitter and buttons.

The teacher, Riitta-Liisa at Viertolan Koulu is just amazing!

Anastasia Artemeva xx

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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.

Tracing our View

The artists at The English School in Helsinki did a wonderful interpretation of the viewfinder project!  I thought it was so clever how they traced directly onto the clear plastic paper!  It seems like the students were posing for each other too.  We are each other's muses :).  

I'm sure their friends in Prague will be ecstatic when they receive these artworks!

Stories tell you so much

The 4th and 5th grade artists from Mooste Põhikool  in Estonia have a lot to tell their new friends in Arivu School in Mysore, India.  I can sense closeness to the family and to their surroundings.  I think our world is feeling warmer from these string collages.  Thank you!

December Peacefulness in Prague

Dear You,

Last workshop of this year was also my last contribution to this project. As you could sense all around the Panda Learning Center, Christmas are everywhere and I wanted to set up the workshop in this mood. I wanted to create a calm and peaceful atmosphere and to have time to chat with the students. This time we used just markers, scissors and blank white A4 paper. During the workshop we talked about Christmas time and what we would like to give to the students from Finland, which was really fun and I hope that you are going to see it soon. The biggest  source for us was  the licorice world, which we all remember from one of the the previous workshop in which we received pictures of licorice candies from Finland.

In the end, I especially wanted to thank my students for their intense attitude and high quality outcomes, also thanks to stuff of Panda Learning Center for providing me warm words and lunch, students from Finland for their funny letters and last but not least to Arlene Tucker coordinator of this project for patience and trust to give me space and time within Dear You project.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Prague
Veselé Vánoce a šťastný nový rok z Prahy

- Rudolf Samohejl

Being in the moment with sounds in Prague

This time at Central Point International Elementary School in Prague we made a visualization of the music project. 

I prepared for the students a long sheet of paper and than while we altogether were listening to music, we tried to express what we heard. The aim was not to create separate individual results of our observations, but we wanted to get closer to the idea of listening together and also creating together. That is why we used this kind of paper. All the students at some point disturbed each other's drawing and had to deal with each other's drawing space, which brought new element into our working method. Hopefully our friend school in Helsinki will recognize the energy locked into the piece.

We listened to:
Flight of the Bumblebee
Amelia from Montmartre
Japanese relaxation music
433 John Cage

- Rudolf Samohejl 

Mmm... Margot and other Czech sweets!

Our second meeting with students  from Central Point International Elementary School in Prague, Czech Republic was the most difficult workshop we have had together so far. I started the lesson by showing short examples from the history of still lifes to the students; the works from Rembrandt, Picasso, Warhol,etc. I explained what a still life is and how the authors were trying to get closer to depicting the reality by using all their senses.

Afterwards, I put  candy in the middle of the working table and told the students that instead of eating the candy we will use them as tools [that is why I told them at the beginning that this is going to be the most difficult workshop so far]. We first drew the packages of all the sweets on look through paper and than we used the actual candy to „paint with them the smell“ of the different kinds of Candy we have in the Czech Republic. So hopefully you will smell the Margot (famous Czech candy) in Finland soon.

It was a really great afternoon and the concept of our class also inspired other teachers from Central Point School.  In the end, the students looked really amazed what they were able to create and I enjoyed both the lesson and the results of their work.  

- Rudolf Samohejl

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

Randlevskolen working on "Sweets for you"

Tatjana Knudsen and her 4th & 5th grade artists are full of energy after their Efterårsferie holiday! 

"They were very creative and concentrated while they were working on their candy bags. This project lead us to a wonderful talk about the words "candy", which is American and the word "sweets", which is English. I think that all my students now know the difference between the two words.

THIS really is a wonderful way to mix art and language learning."

- Tatjana Knudsen

Great questions from the artists at The International School of Vantaa!

The artists at The International School of Vantaa in Finland are a very welcoming group of 4th Graders!  As I was approaching the school I saw a few kids playing outside and they all ran to me asking if I was Arlene.  Wow!  What a warm greeting for my first time at this school :)

They then took me upstairs to the class where Mary Banda, their teacher, and the rest of the artists were waiting to start creating their first project to be exchanged with Nuuk Internationale Friskole in Greenland.

Mary had the great idea to Google Map where Greenland is in relation to Finland.  This prompted many questions!

What language do they speak in Greenland?

What is the weather like?

How come there is so much snow when it is called Greenland?

Maybe our new friends in Nuuk could help us answer some of these questions.

Here are the Self Portrait Puppets they made.  I like how some artists decided to turn this into an interactive game or took the time create texture with different materials.  They look forward to hearing from their new friends in Greenland!