Capable, confident and creative children
This is our mission statement that drives everything we do at John Brotchie and what we strive to instill in our children. The creative child is one of the reasons our art program began.
We believe art is a language the children can use to communicate their ideas, feelings, creativity and understanding.
Our art program is integrated into our play-based curriculum and linked closely to the children's interests, conversations, play and projects.
Our approach to art here at John Brotchie has been inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education.
Principles that we have embraced from the Reggio approach include; art studio, art teacher, process and the product being equally important, the image of the child as capable and confident and the use of art for children to express themselves and their understanding.
Some of the important aspects of our art program:
Art studio:
We set up our art area in the beginning of 2011. We wanted our art area to allow for discovery and experimentation, provide opportunity for active engagement and sustained involvement and encourage intrinsic motivation by providing children with choice.
Our art area has large tables and easels that allow plenty of space for the children to create. It has many open shelves full of art materials such as good quality art paper in different sizes, a large variety of tools such as scissors, sticky tape and string, as well as many different mediums for the children to make marks with including, pencils, textas, charcoal, pastels and many different coloured paints.
We believe that these high quality materials empower the children to feel like real artists and allows them to make marks and create with a wide variety of materials and techniques.
Role of the Educator:
In our approach to art we use a variety of teaching strategies to support and guide the children:
- child- centred- complete freedom, no intervention, unstructured
- teacher – guided – facilitation- A facilitator or guide is readily available without monopolising the experience. A facilitator or guide is a keen observer who knows when to subtly step in, intervene, ask questions or pose a problem.
- teacher –directed- direct instruction, structured
At John Brotchie, children who need or want assistance know that the teacher is always available to share their knowledge, skills, time and attention.
Art gallery excursion:
Our visits to the Art Gallery of NSW allows our children to learn about art.
Our visits to the Art Gallery of NSW allows our children to learn about art. The children have the opportunity to develop an appreciation for art, viewing and learning about Australian and International artists.
The children study and become inspired by John Olsen, Sidney Nolan, Picasso and Monet to mention a few. During their visits to the Art Gallery they view art works and have the opportunity to sit down and sketch their favourite paintings.
After our visits to the art gallery we find that the children have a new inspiration for art and painting. They are more confident and always keen to participate in our annual Art Show.
Process v product:
While we are very proud of all the children's finished products it is the process that we value.
For art the process involves:
- active hands-on participation
- exploring
- trial and error
- experimenting
- trying out
- manipulating of artistic tools
- sensory rich media.
A lot of the art experiences also involve communication, cooperation, concentation and persistence. All children are individual and develop at their own rate, we like to celebrate all the children's finished products and attempts at art.
Activities masquerading as creative arts:
Our art program prides itself on being open ended and providing opportunities for children to express themselves.
This is why we do not let stencils, tracing patterns, cutting around shapes and pasting activities or colouring books into our art program.
These are more closed ended, don't allow for self-expression and can stifle creativity. These activities could be part of other areas in our curriculum.
This is our mission statement that drives everything we do at John Brotchie and what we strive to instill in our children. The creative child is one of the reasons our art program began. We believe art is a language the children can use to communicate their ideas, feelings, creativity and understanding.
Our art program is integrated into our play-based curriculum and linked closely to the children's interests, conversations, play and projects. Our approach to art here at John Brotchie has been inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education. Principles that we have embraced from the Reggio approach include; art studio, art teacher, process and the product being equally important, the image of the child as capable and confident and the use of art for children to express themselves and their understanding.
Some of the important aspects of our art program:
Art studio:
We set up our art area in the beginning of 2011. We wanted our art area to allow for discovery and experimentation, provide opportunity for active engagement and sustained involvement and encourage intrinsic motivation by providing children with choice. Our art area has large tables and easels that allow plenty of space for the children to create. It has many open shelves full of art materials such as good quality art paper in different sizes, a large variety of tools such as scissors, sticky tape and string, as well as many different mediums for the children to make marks with including, pencils, textas, charcoal, pastels and many different coloured paints. We believe that these high quality materials empower the children to feel like real artists and allows them to make marks and create with a wide variety of materials and techniques.
Role of the Educator:
In our approach to art we use a variety of teaching strategies to support and guide the children:
- child- centred- complete freedom, no intervention, unstructured
- teacher – guided – facilitation- A facilitator or guide is readily available without monopolising the experience. A facilitator or guide is a keen observer who knows when to subtly step in, intervene, ask questions or pose a problem.
- teacher –directed- direct instruction, structured
At John Brotchie, children who need or want assistance know that the teacher is always available to share their knowledge, skills, time and attention.
Art gallery excursion:
Our visits to the Art Gallery of NSW allows our children to learn about art.
Our visits to the Art Gallery of NSW allows our children to learn about art. The children have the opportunity to develop an appreciation for art, viewing and learning about Australian and International artists. The children study and become inspired by John Olsen, Sidney Nolan, Picasso and Monet to mention a few. During their visits to the Art Gallery they view art works and have the opportunity to sit down and sketch their favourite paintings.
After our visits to the art gallery we find that the children have a new inspiration for art and painting. They are more confident and always keen to participate in our annual Art Show.
Process v product:
While we are very proud of all the children's finished products it is the process that we value. For art the process involves active hands-on participation, exploring, trial and error, experimenting, trying out and manipulating of artistic tools and sensory rich media. A lot of the art experiences also involve communication, cooperation, concentration and persistence. All children are individuals and develop at their own rate, we like to celebrate all the children's finished products and attempts at art.
Activities masquerading as creative arts:
Our art program prides itself on being open ended and providing opportunities for children to express themselves. This is why we do not let stencils, tracing patterns, cutting around shapes and pasting activities or colouring books into our art program. These are more closed ended, don't allow for self-expression and can stifle creativity. These activities could be part of other areas in our curriculum.