It has already been a busy few weeks in Flamingo Class this year. From starting new topics and making new friends, greeting classmates after a long summer apart or just trying to remember not to walk into the wrong classroom…Year Four have had their brains full from the start.
The class were set some early cooperation challenges to get the whole class working together on some shared projects. The first was to make a mural for our big display board – an entire world map for our Age of Discovery class topic. This task required everyone to work together to make a realistic world map our of torn paper and glue. The continents were made on the tables, but the ocean had to be glued directly into the wall! As you can see from the pictures, we ended up with pretty ‘gluey’ fingers and lots of paper to pick up.
It all required a great deal of patience, tenacity and teamwork. Perfect! These are all essential skills for finding success in Year 4!
On top of that, our newly decorated classroom was a little bare as everything needed to be taken down before the summer. In order to decorate our room, the class were set the challenge of recreating a great piece of art by Joan Miro called The Birth of Day. This painting, according to Miro, reflects his wonder at the sky and all the things he saw around him. Another great example for our Year Four students…why not have a massive version hanging in our classroom this year?!
The only challenge was that each member of the class had to re-create a small panel of the painting so that the final piece would be HUGE. Our first attempt ended in a big jumble of lines that didn’t meet, different colours and panels that were the wrong way around. Using yet more perseverance, communication and attention to detail, we ended up with a great final piece for our classroom. Take a look to see how well you think the Flamingo Class did!
Here are a few of the children’s comments:
“We did better the second time because we actually went to talk to other people about our pieces.”
“We didn’t work together at first.”
“When you cooperate with others it sort of feels easier.”
“In the first one we all just drew what we wanted and didn’t match anything up.”
“It’s easier to do things by yourself sometimes. Working together is difficult.”
“I sort of liked our first painting even though it didn’t match. We ended up making our own painting, like a Picasso!”
