Issuu

Materials in Dialogue

Every material has its own qualities and personality and over time the material becomes a part of your language. ‘Materials in Dialogue’ led you on a magical journey of becoming active participants in your learning, as you constructed your own knowledge when interacting with materials, the environment and each other. Throughout the year, as we explored and researched our chosen materials and their properties, it was very obvious to see your creativity evolve, along with your ability to think critically about the world around you.

What range of possible transformations could these materials undergo?

To fully engage with and explore the materials, a deeper understanding and dialogue occurred as you built on previous experiences and knowledge. You became artists, scientists and researchers. What follows is a wonderful dialogue between the materials as you met, discovered and ultimately transformed them.

Ms. Penny (Pedagogista)

“A hundred worlds to discover. A hundred worlds to invent.

A hundred worlds to dream.”

Loris Malaguzzi (from the catalogue of the exhibit ‘The Hundred Languages of Children’)

Ice painting

Collaborative art

“You cannot use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”

Maya Angelou

Collaborative art

Ice Painting

Dear Dahlia

What a wonderful time we have had together, making memories, learning to share and bonding while falling in love with each other and our environment. This year has been magical, and it is all because of your unique personalities that made it so special.

We started this year new and confused but quickly developed a sense of belonging and found joy in friendships and playing together. We have seen you go from playing alone to gravitating towards certain friends and quickly forming strong bonds with each other. The friendships found and made in Dahlia were truly spectacular this year.

From all the love and laughter we shared, to the explorations that taught us so much. We had amazing times and experiences that will forever stay in our hearts.

Thank you for all the great times, the love, the care, and the fun you brought to class with you every day.

We love and appreciate all of you so much.

Always with us in our hearts,

Ms. Zelke

How could we explore colour in a meaningful hands-on way?

Let Us Colour Our World

Our year began with a journey through your senses.

We introduced wonderful shaving foam. A delightfully tactile material, that feels silky and soft to the touch, gliding over surfaces with ease. With the addition of dye perhaps you would discover magic.

We noticed how excited you were to spray the shaving foam. Some of you bravely dipped your hands and even your faces into the foam, whilst some of you preferred to touch gently and cautiously.

Once you saw the dye your faces lit up and we noticed little eager hands reaching for the assorted colours. Squeezing the dye over the foam, you then used thin bamboo sticks to create marbled patterns in the foam. Swirling and twirling.

The trays filled up with your glorious foam and colour and I could see you were enjoying the texture between your fingers. Was it soft and silky? After exploring and enjoying this tactile sensation you placed a piece of paper onto the colourful foam, pressing gently and then lifting to reveal the magic of your print, your faces full of amazement and joy.

20 Marble painting

Travis

Marble painting

Ethan

Marble painting

Chiyono

Marble painting

Sushi

Marble painting Chloe

Ice-Ice Baby

Your interest in colours continued to grow as we introduced ice painting. We invited you to explore painting ice blocks with new-found tools and the outcomes were completely unexpected. At first, you took your time inspecting the pieces of ice and when your little hands acclimatised to the cold touch, you began painting the ice with different colours.

Painting

Collaborative art

Ice

The colours mixed together as the ice started to melt, making beautiful swirls on the canvas around us. You must have been fascinated with what you saw as some of you picked up the colourful ice and played with it in between your hands. You smashed it, rolled it and watched it melt. Some of you even enjoyed painting with the coloured ice. Exploring ice in this way was so new to you, and it continued to engage you over a long period of time.

Eyedropper painting Collaborative art

Pipette Wonderwall

The Dahlia class is not new to using their fingers to squeeze, press and create. We put it all to the test by exploring painting with pipettes. We had not used this tool before, and you were all very curious to try it for the first time. You each grabbed a pipette and started squeezing. There were bowls of red and blue paint for you to use. At first, you dipped your pipette into the paint and used it as a pen, drawing on the elevated canvas.

Not long after, some of you realized the pipette drank the paint when you squeezed it, and the excitement grew. You practiced squeezing the pipettes and out came squirts of blue and red paint. Because the canvas was elevated, the paint dripped down leaving beautiful lines of colour that gathered at the bottom.

When your fingers were tired of squeezing the pipettes, you continued using your hands to mix the paint that had accumulated at the bottom and smeared it all over the canvas. It was beautiful seeing you get fully involved with the paint and colours. You did not seem to mind getting paint all over your hands and feet, which became a part of your exploration.

Gia Huy Mitsuki

Meta

Smell the Daisies

With nature surrounding us and Dahlia being obsessed with painting, we combined your interest in nature and colours by making special paintbrushes from sticks, flowers, and a variety of leaves. You were then invited to express your creativity by choosing your nature paintbrush and making your mark in interesting and unique ways.

Ice Painting

Collaborative art

We are used to painting with all sorts of materials in class, but painting with natural materials made for unique and beautiful mark making. The focus during these provocations was mesmerizing as you all observed your paintbrush holding onto the paint in unusual ways and continued leaving beautiful strokes of colour on your canvas. The paint strokes and lines each nature brush left behind were beautiful in their own way and I could see you all felt proud of your work as you shared your happiness and gestured to your friends to see what you had accomplished.

Long-term collaborative art, Eyedropper, sharpies and ice painting

Walking in the Jungle

We introduced scissors early in the year and were delighted to see your interest and confidence in cutting grow. The diverse ways in which scissors were being held and used inspired us to explore this further.

Eyedropper painting Collaborative art

We were also very aware of your deep interest in animals. Perhaps we could visit our garden to forage for leaves and twigs – all the things your animals might like. We went walking in the garden with our scissors, cutting leaves, grass… anything that caught your eye. It was so lovely to move away from paper and cardboard and to find the joy in cutting natural materials.

Over time, a wonderful collage of leaves and green glue emerged, creating a home that your animals loved!

Lights, Animals, Action

To further your growing interest in nature, we incorporated the magic of light into our animal and natural habitat investigations. Whether on the farm or in the jungle, Dahlia is obsessed with animals. We wanted to make your animals magical through the inclusion of light.

“Lights are everywhere round us, but to see them we have to illuminate them in our minds.”

Loris Malaguzzi

Light is a brilliant way to explore shadows and the power it holds. We used the overhead projector to inspect the shadows of various materials. First, we explored the shadows of our hands, fingers, and arms to form a distinct perspective. You then got curious and explored the shadows of different animals and plants.

Seeing the shadows of your favourite animals sparked your excitement and you started mimicking the sounds and movements they make.

”Look an elephant!” (Ethan)

“Giraffe” (Mango)

”Hippo” (Chiyono)

”ROAR!” (Nep)

True Friends

The magic we experienced in Dahlia throughout the year was one out of a storybook, but nothing comes close to the friendships we made through love, laughter and sometimes a few tears. We learnt to share and play together and through these moments we built friendships that will stay with us for a long time.

“The true strength in our classroom lies in the collaboration of learners not in the knowledge of one expert.”

Loris Malaguzzi

We noticed friendships blossoming, along with your growing sense of well-being and belonging. You made connections with each other, and with your environment. You showed compassion to friends who were sad, and rejoiced with friends who were happy. Through these experiences, you fell in love with one another.

Forming and maintaining friendships brings pleasure, comfort, sometimes distress, and almost always important opportunities to learn and develop in a social world. In fact, establishing relationships with other children is one of the major developmental moments of your childhood. These are special moments to be treasured.

“Sarah is my friend”, Ethan.

“I love Ethan”, Chloe.

Researchers

Sushi

Gia huy

Mitsuki

Mango

Lica

AURORA INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF THE ARTS

11 - 11A - 13 - 15 Tran Ngoc Dien, Thao Dien Ward, Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. +84 (028) 3744 2991 info@auroraschool.vn www.auroraschool.vn Academic Year 2022/2023