Dear You Art Project

Mail Art + Pen Friends = Dear You Art Project

Sound art from Dubai for their friends in Espoo!

2017, 4 years old, 5 years old, 6 years old, Dear You Art Workshops, Finland, Pre-School, United Arab EmiratesArlene TuckerComment
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First, we watched a video about how our ears receive sound waves. The children had learned already about the 5 senses so we asked ourselves: which of these senses do artists use? Then the students closed their eyes and listened while I made sounds with different items. We tried to draw those sounds using different types of lines. Then we sat outside and listened to the sounds we heard:  birds, planes, cars and trucks, helicopters, children playing, footsteps.

In the second class we talked about the idea of things that happen “earlier” and “later” and spoke about activities we do in these periods. We tried to remember and predict “earlier” and “later” activities and to draw them.

Below are selected artworks from KG2E.

The kids found listening to the sounds outside really fun. Sometimes it was hard to remain quiet and just listen but then we enjoyed the process. What did your kids think about it? Was it challenging? Trying to draw the things that makes sounds from earlier and later periods was a bit tougher for us but we liked thinking about all the things we do outside of school. We drew things like brushing our teeth, playing, eating, and driving in our cars. In Dubai we have to do a lot of driving because the city is big and spread out. We also have big high ways.

What is it like in Helsinki? What animals live there? Do you walk, or take buses or trains to school? What is the weather like? We can sit outside now in shorts and t-shirts in Dubai but soon it will be too hot.

KG2E class from Collegiate American School in Dubai, United Arab Emirates are making and sharing art with the Tigers from Your School in Espoo, Finland. KG2D are making and sharing art with the Monkeys. The young artists are 4-6 years old.

Below are selected artworks from KG2D.

Here now. Feeling silly ; )

2017, 6th Grade, Canada, Dear You Art Workshops, FinlandArlene TuckerComment

Some students could actually hear their heartbeat and their blinking and breathing as we tried it the second time... some just got a bit silly after seeing their "now" drawings.

It was a fun experience, but I think I would have preferred to do it in smaller groups of students, so that they maybe wouldn't be as easily influenced by one or two "silly" students.

To view the Lay of the Land presentation click here.

Kaarina :)

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

Sounds around us!

2017, 4th Grade, 9 years old, Dear You Art Workshops, Canada, Russia, Vietnam, 10 years oldArlene Tucker1 Comment
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This is how we see the sounds that surround us at different times of the day, month, year, our life. It is interesting to see the children becoming aware of and discovering the surrounding sounds. They talked about sounds they hear at night in their houses. Some of the sounds looked like tornado. They described and wondered about the sound of a falling star. They pictured the sounds at school, the school bus, and the sound of the quiet time before bed to create their triptychs.

Great conversations and lots of fun!

Thank you,
Dance A. Vasileska

Вот так мы видим звуки, которые окружают нас в разное время дня, месяца, года и нашей жизни. Интересно наблюдать, как дети начинают обращать внимание и открывать для себя звуки вокруг. Они говорили о звуках, которые слышат ночью у себя дома. некоторые напоминали торнадо. Они описали и попытались представить себе звук падающей звезды. На триптихах они изобразили звуки в школе, в школьном автобусе и тихие звуки вокруг перед сном. 
Спасибо,
Dance A. Vasileska

The 4th graders from Ryerson Public School in Cambridge, Canada are making and sharing art with the 10 years olds from Kepa School in Karelia, Russia. 

Monkeys in the moment

2017, 5 years old, 6 years old, Dear You Art Workshops, Finland, United Arab Emirates, Pre-SchoolArlene TuckerComment

When I told them that our new friends live in Dubai everybody was so excited!! Some of them had been there and said it was so beautiful and hot! One of them said that their Mom wants to go back. It must be a great place!!

We got straight to making art for our new friends. We wanted to tell them about who we are through the sounds we hear in our daily life. We blindfolded our eyes so that we could focus on the moment and draw what we hear. The other two parts of the triptych depict what we hear at other times of the day.

Niila said, "I heard somebody on a bike."
 Luukas said, "I drew my house and my friends."
Erkka said, "I heard a ghost and my heart. Actually, it was the ghosts' heart.
Elle said, "I heard cats and dogs."
Iulia said, "I heard music and the clouds."
Alma said, "I heard an owl in the night. I also heard the wind."
Noel said, "I heard the wind and the other Monkeys."
Jonathan said, "I heard a tornado, fire, and 19 kids."

We all had a very different experience and that's what's so exciting about the artistic process.  Kasper said that he liked to draw with his eyes closed.  The Monkeys are brave for trying new things!

With love,
The Monkeys, Arlene, Ben, and Atafeh

The 6 year old Monkeys from Your School in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing with the 4-6 year olds in KG2D from Collegiate American School in Dubai, U.A.E. 

Ashira heard her heart beating and her friends.

Ashira heard her heart beating and her friends.

The Tigers are Listening, Drawing, & Sharing

2017, 4 years old, 5 years old, Dear You Art Workshops, Finland, United Arab EmiratesArlene TuckerComment

The Tigers are very excited to meet their new friends from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates! They first asked where it is located on the map!  Some of the Tigers have even been to Dubai, but don't remember because they were 3 years old at the time.  But they imagined that it was a great place : ).

After going over where our friends live we talked a bit about different ways to share our space with our new friends. Sharing with our friends what we find in our soundscape, we decided, would be fun to do! Toti and the Tigers were listening to different sounds and paying attention to local sounds earlier in the day as a way to warm up their ears.

We talked about what a triptych is and then made our own.  In the first section of the triptych we used a blindfold and drew to the sounds we heard in the present moment, in the other sections we drew what we heard in the morning and what we will hear in the evening.  This is what we heard and drew:

Misk- I hear the wind in my heart.
Mike said, "I heard life, the wind." When Vihan saw Mike's picture he said that it made him feel like he was in a tornado. How do you feel when you see this picture?

Mike said, "I heard life, the wind." When Vihan saw Mike's picture he said that it made him feel like he was in a tornado. How do you feel when you see this picture?

At night time, V hear's that his daddy is tired so he drew a picture of Daddy yawning.
Adn, "Rainbow, rain, trees, gold coins found in the morning.
Arya- It was easier to draw blindfolded. I heard the blood in my body.
Ath- I heard the monkeys.
Lil- I heard my heart beating. Daddy sleeping and snoring.
D- I heard the Monkeys laughing.
R- I heard the wind.
P- I heard birds.
Neha- I heard bells.
U- I was sleeping in my bed and heard raindrops. (I kept my eyes open. I didn't like to close them.)

The Tigers said, "Dear friends, we would like to invite you to Finland! Far and close from us.

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

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. 

N heard birds in the morning!

N heard birds in the morning!

Sensing through making art!

2017, 6 years old, Dear You Art Workshops, Mexico, United Arab Emirates, DubaiArlene TuckerComment

I started this project by explaining we were gonna have new art buddies in Dubai and I showed them how far away it is and some pictures of the city and school. 

They got really excited and the project matched our curriculum perfectly since we are learning about senses and habitats. 

I got them to experience different sounds so they could imagine how their creations would look like.

It was funny to hear them say 'I've got it! Mine will be a beach, cause that sound like a wave' and 'That sound gave the idea to make a fairy land, cause that sounds like magic'. 

I enjoyed watching them pay attention to what they were hearing, imagine and create unique pieces of art for our special friends in Dubai. 

xoxo,
Mrs. Vicke Benavides

The 6 year olds in Prepri C from Colegio San Patricio in Monterrey, Mexico are making and sharing art with the 4-6 year olds in KG2C from Collegiate American School in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

From Candy Land Finland to Karelia!

2016, 2nd Grade, 8 years olds, Finland, RussiaArlene TuckerComment

Hi Arlene! Yesterday we did the workshop in SVK with 2b class. I think everyone was interested in mobiles. I showed them the mobiles the Karelian kids made. There wad no letter from Russia. I think our workshop went fluently because everyone could make their favorite character in the environment that they like.

Everybody had different approaches to their environment. A few girls drew their favorite pets or just animals and the environment was candy land. Some drew magic land without characters, I thin there was Rapunzel and her tower in one drawing. Many drew animation and game characters.

Kristina Laine

The artists from Кепская школа им. Ортье Степанова (Kepa School) in Karelia, Russia are making and sharing art with the artists from 2B at Suomalais-venäläinen koulu.

Making art by listening to our surroundings

2017, 6th Grade, Canada, Dear You Art Workshops, Finland, JanuaryArlene TuckerComment

We listened to the silence and very loud noise and made notes.  In the third section, I asked pupils to think about the sound of a place where they feel happy and relaxed.

They all liked the task and concentrated really well.

Päivi

The 6th graders from The English School in Helsinki, Finland are making and sharing art with the 6th graders at Ryerson P.S. in Cambridge, ON, Canada.

Spirals from Russia!

10 years old, 2016, Dear You Art Workshops, Finland, RussiaArlene TuckerComment

Ученики Финско-русской школы в Хельсинки получили художественную посылку из России. Ребята из Кепской школы им. Ортье Степанова  (п. Кепа, Калевальский район, респ. Карелия) рассказали об окружающей среде в в которой живут их герои, нарисовав ее на спиральных скульптурах. 

Это третье задание 4-х месячной сессии проекта Дорогой ты осень-зима 2016г. Присоединяйтесь к нам! 

The artists from Кепская школа (Kepa School) in Karelia, Russia are making and sharing art with the artists from 2B at Suomalais-venäläinen koulu.

Finland is feeling the love!

2016, 5 years old, 4 years old, Finland, MexicoArlene TuckerComment

Dear friends from Finland:

Happy New Year!!  We received your projects!!

We are so excited, we received your projects and we loved them!!  Thank you so much, we hope you enjoy our projects too. Did you receive Elmer?

The kids were so happy to see the packages, we opened them and we saw all the projects you made for them, they were talking about it, they loved Elsa, Pickachu, the robot, etc...

We have a special place for all your artworks.

We hope you like it! 

Love, 
K2B, Ms. Gaby and Ms. Kasandra

The 4-5 year olds in K1 from International School of Helsinki in Finland are making and sharing art with the 4-5 year olds from Colegio Bosques de las Cumbres in Monterrey, Mexico

Venturing with the artists at Viertola School!

2016, 4th Grade, Dear You Art Workshops, Finland, CanadaArlene TuckerComment

For our 4th meeting in Viertola School, in Vantaa I had prepared a slideshow of different modes of transportation. The images inspired us to think how these machines work, and we discussed ways to travel to places, for humans and fish, birds, and animals. Looking at inventions such as child seat on a bicycle or a sleeper train, we talked about journeys we take on our own and with a friend. 

The artists talked about their own travel experiences. Some travel home to a different country almost every weekend! 

Reflecting on the collective piece of art the artists created

Reflecting on the collective piece of art the artists created

Recycled materials worked well, I was very pleased to see students sharing materials with one another and creatively approach not only the design of the machine, but also of the environment around it. One artist even changed the “Air, Land, Water” to “Past, Present and Future”, to suit his time-travelling apparatus. 

As the artists were finishing their work, we gathered around the table in a Dear You corner that Kirsti had created, displaying artworks and letters from our friends, and talked about the scratch art homes that had just arrived from Canada. We had some exciting discussions in small groups, trying to guess where each of our friends’ character lives. Thank you for sharing art with us, teacher Dance and your wonderful students! 

Artworks from their friends at Ryerson PS in Ontario, Canada

Artworks from their friends at Ryerson PS in Ontario, Canada

Anastasia, Kirsti, and 4A class of Viertola School

The 4th graders from Viertolan Koulu in Vantaa, Finland are making and sharing with the 4th graders from Ryerson PS in Ontario, Canada.

Opening our homes to you

Mexico, GermanyArlene TuckerComment

I am so happy to see this artworks, there are beautiful, I am sure that the kids will love it too. We have been working with the project of our houses, 

The kids are really excited about this, and we want to share with our friends in Germany where we live, how are our houses, what color are our houses.... 

Here are some stories of our pictures......

Ms. Angie: This is my house, I live with my parents and brothers. My house is white and it has a balcony and two windows
Diego: I have a car and a big window.
Ivanna: My house is brown and white.
Leo: My house is big and there is a tree, I live with my parents and siblings.
Bella: My house has two windows
Gonzalo: My house is red, it has two floors and I have a white car.
Romina: My house is white and with a big tree.

We hope you enjoy it as much as we did, thank you for this fantastic experience!!!!!

Happy New Year for all of you!!

Ms. Angie and her group K2 "A"

Ms. Angie and her group of 4 year olds artists from Colegio San Patricio in Monterrey, Mexico are making and sharing art with Lusin Boyajyan from Kita Felix and Friends in Berlin, Germany.

The Monkeys collect, make, and mail art!

Pre-School, Finland, MexicoArlene TuckerComment

The Monkeys explored travels in the deep sea all the up to space. We first discussed all the ways one could travel. And then we put a twist on it since anything is possible in our imagination! From then on we had space rockets that could also act as airplanes and we had boats that could change to a million different speeds!

Continuing with the goodness of recycling, we used old candy wrappers and other papers to make our artworks.  The Monkeys thought, is there Fazer chocolate in Mexico?  They really hope so!

Looking forward to receiving artworks from our friends in Mexico! Thanks!

Our best,
Arlene & The Monkeys

The Monkeys from Your School in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing art with Rocio Fernandez and her artists from Prepri B from Colegio San Patricio Cumbres in Monterrey, Mexico.  Both groups of artists are 5-6 years old.

Our world is big, connected, and full of creative ways of getting from here to there :).

Our world is big, connected, and full of creative ways of getting from here to there :).

The Tigers make their way to Mexico!

2016, 4 years old, 5 years old, Dear You Art Workshops, Dear You Workshop Leader, Finland, MexicoArlene TuckerComment

I was so very impressed with how imaginative the Tigers were!  Some even made a three-dimensional boat to travel to their friends in Mexico!  Before getting started on the artworks we first had a good conversation about what vehicles were and how different vehicles travel.  The Tigers then decided to try to make some that fly, float, and go underwater!

The Tigers collected ice cream wrappers and candy wrappers from a recent birthday party to use for the collage. Have you ever had Penguin ice cream?

Thank you!

With love,
Arlene & The Tigers

The Tigers from Your School in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing art with Nursery A from Colegio San Patricio Cumbres in Monterrey, Mexico.  Both groups of artists are 4 years old.

Our connected world!

Our connected world!

K1 makes creative connections!

2016, 4 years old, 5 years old, Dear You Art Workshops, Dear You Workshop Leader, Finland, MexicoArlene TuckerComment

We have been getting to know ourselves and the world through making art.  Now let's put all the pieces together and make a collective piece of art which shows different ways to get to our friends in Mexico!

As we were using recycled materials, the artists realized that this was also a sensorial experience! They smelled the empty coffee bags and thought that this could help with the travels :).  Some K1ers said that Mommy likes to drink coffee.

Submarines, flying helicopters, jets, and more!

Thank you!

Our best,
K1 and Arlene Tucker

The 4-5 year olds in K1 at International School of Helsinki in Helsinki, Finland are making and sharing art with the 4-5 year olds in K2B class from San Patricio Colegio in Monterrey, Mexico.

Here's a panoramic view of K1's world!

Here's a panoramic view of K1's world!

A school of fish create a sea of inspiration!

2016, 4 years old, 5 years old, 6 years old, Dear You Art Workshops, Finland, MexicoArlene TuckerComment

The artists in Finland were very excited to have received their artworks from Mexico!  When they saw the fish we thought it would be great to create a collective piece of art and make a giant ocean. You will see colorful fish, mermaids, ships, and sharks!

Thank you, Ms. Laura Garza and Prepri A, the group of 6 year old artists from San Patricio Colegio in Monterrey, Mexico.

With love,
Arlene Tucker

Spiraling their way from Canada to Finland!

2016, 4th Grade, Dear You Art Workshops, Canada, FinlandArlene TuckerComment

We received the spirals and shared them the class. It was interesting to watch the kids guessing the day/night side of the spirals.

Our art is on the way. The characters are traveling using different kinds of transportation.

Our spirals (project #3) should arrive at the same time with the project #4 (different kinds of transportation). The kids wrote letters in English. There was a group of students who were eager to write in Finnish Language. They used Google Translator. We are not sure about the accuracy of our translation, but I am proud of the kids who came up with this idea. 

Dance Agapieva-Vasileska
Grade 4
Ryerson PS

Dear You art project, Look around

Dear You art project, Look around

The 4th graders from Ryerson PS in Ontario, Canada are making and sharing art with the 4th graders from Viertolan Koulu in Vantaa, Finland.

Creative inventors in Berlin find a way to reach their friends in Mexico!

2016, 4 years old, 5 years old, Germany, MexicoArlene Tucker1 Comment

I am happy to send you some pictures of our creative discoverers from Berlin. 

The kids did not stop surprising us introducing the most unbelievable ways of getting to their friends in Mexico: starting from making a bridge and walking all the way to Mexico till the most innovative technologies with flying cars and submarines....

Here are some of the the stories and pictures of our journey: 

Emil: under there is water and up there is air and we break the air to get to Mexico.  
Raphael: From Germany we take a submarine and it sinks totally under the water. The clouds make lots of fog and we cannot go further for a time.
Basti: We take the submarine and the sun is there, the full moon and the earth. 
In case someone attacks us (the sharks) we can take the other submarines.
Aya: We can fly with an airplane and drive with a car. There is enough splace for my mama and papa.
Tarja: These are my parents and me. We build a bridge to Mexico and walk there.
Samira: We are in Germany and we go always around and around and when we want to go to Mexico we have to go out of this circle and take this way. This boat has wheels and this is an airplane and a smaller airplane.
Sonia: This is a girl who swims to Mexico. She puts up wings so that she can fly over the water. The airplane broke and the submarine broke as well. The girl has left her mask in the broken airplane. The sun gives warmth to the girl. The girl takes the snail to Mexico because the snail lives there.
Leiff: The boat pulls the car all the way to Mexico. 
Mia:  It's a car with ten wheels. This car can go up because of the sticks and the airplane can fly the car behind it. We go to Mexico all together, my four brothers and sisters and my father and my mother. 
Leyla: There are two boats, a ship and a submarine, my family goes in a ship and I am in the submarine alone. The airplane is for the seagull that wants to go back to Germany.

Best regards and thank you very much for organizing this beautiful project.

Happy Holidays and all the best!
Lusine 

Lusine Boyajyan and her group of 4 year olds artists from Kita Felix and Friends in Berlin, Germany are making and sharing art with Angy Castillo and her  Kinder A group from Colegio San Patricio in Monterrey, Mexico.

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

2016, 4 years old, 5 years old, Dear You Art Workshops, Pre-School, United Kingdom, MexicoArlene TuckerComment

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.

From Canada to Finland- we are making connections!

2016, 6th Grade, Dear You Art Workshops, Canada, FinlandArlene TuckerComment

These are the images of student vehicles that they created. They had the option to use any materials in the class or from home. They could create a real or fictional vehicle and describe whether it was for land, air or water travel.

A few students (large yellow wheels) and a long one with a parachute and green propeller actually wired them to operate (electricity was our first big project of the year).

Teacher Kaarina Losey

The 6th graders at Ryerson P.S. in Cambridge, ON, Canada are making and sharing art with the 6th graders from The English School in Helsinki, Finland.