Last week before the holidays

This week was the last week before the holidays. There was a fun feeling in the air and everyone felt it. We kicked off the week with gymnastics. Even though they're only two classes in, they kids are loving it. We got there with plenty of time to change and get warmed up. The smiles were so wide after the class!

On Tuesday we headed to Salvador's house to make some holiday and winter themed cards. I encouraged everyone to make a special card for someone in their life. The results were interesting. Lots of drawings, "poems" and a few cards in the end. Fun times!

I hope everyone has a fantastic winter break. It's been so lovely getting to know everyone so far, and I look forward to the new year. Best wishes, see you in 2011!

-Kat

Props and Projections

Yesterday was a pretty special afternoon, as instead of me taking the kids to see something about town, Angel took the kids to see me. For the past month, I've been working with the Davenport Perth Neighbourhood Centre, where their Arts4All program has involved all sorts of community members in an end-of-the-year installation and production.  We've been working together to create sounds and projections and objects that will be showcased on Monday December 13 at 6:00. We thought it would be a great idea to bring the kids over to see what's been going on over there, and to make a few props of their own to add to the installation.

Director Liz Rucker talks about the production, and shows the fox house (it lights up inside!) that will need furniture and objects added to it.

 The kids get to work making objects for the fox out of polymer clay. Their creations include: a flower, a fireplace, a bowl of cereal, and headphones and a CD player. These objects will all be part of the big production on Monday.

Trying out the overhead projector. I sometimes forget that they don't have these in every classroom anymore.

A shadowscape made of hands and tree cut-outs.

Also fun is running around and acting in front of the forest backdrop.

A different kind of projection involves light and a video camera. Here, some of the artists show the kids their "laboratory of light," and experiment by dropping food colouring in water and seeing how it looks projected.

Gymnastics and Galleries

This week we started our classes at Tdot Tumblers. It was one of the first really snowy days, so our walk was peppered with snow balls and running through the drifts. When we got there we were welcomed by the friendly teachers, and the kids got going straight away. Afterwards they were all tired and hungry, but had big smiles on their faces. They were still talking about it the next day....

On Tuesday we took a field trip to the AGO to check out the Juilan Schnabel exhibition. We didn't end up getting to it BUT we did see a lot of contemporary art and the permanent exhibits. The kids loved the ships and also watched, with great interest, a short film about contemporary female-artist driven art from the late 60s.

Stone Soup with Angel!

Angel, lead teacher for the Cycling Giants, subbed in on Wednesday, and made Stone Soup with the kids. The idea was to throw a stone in the bottom and have everybody contribute something to the soup. From what I heard, it was delicious and the kids had fun!

A Trip to the Native Centre

We took a trip up to the Toronto Native Centre in the Annex. We took two subways and a street car. The kids did well, although it was rush hour so it was a bit squishy on the carriages.

We looked at all the paintings in the hallway and explored the giftshop. They loved all the dream catchers. I got them to draw their favourite pieces that they saw. Most of them drew some sort of dreamcatcher, and all of them expressed interest in making their own. A craft for another day!