Arts Explorer #10: Community Arts Project

USE YOUR ECE VOICE, MAKE AN EDUCATED CHOICE!

WHO: Students (those who can vote) and all individuals who work in the field of Early Childhood Education

WHAT: Vote!

WHERE: At a station near you (Check out http://www.elections.ca/home.aspx)

WHEN: May 2nd, 2011 (With advanced dates as well)

WHY: This is definitely going to need more than one sentence to explain.

 Image from http://davetill.wordpress.com/

The big idea my group and I presented to our class was the importance of voting. Our inspiration came from Rick Mercer's Rant which aired in March 2011. It is so important for EVERYONE, not just students and individuals in the field of Early Childhood Education, to make an educated vote. It is your right to make this choice. Our big idea was to make a viral video to spread awareness of how many students may not know anything about voting and the government.

It is so important for students, ECEs and families to know what each platform is presenting and what promises they're making. We need to know how our tax dollars are going to be spent and why types of programs they are going to offer or changes they're going to make. It will affect the future!

I believe our presentation went well because I feel like we got our point across. Our big idea covers a true social issue. It is too easy to complain about what the government is doing and how they are spending our money. However, if we don`t vote and include our voice, do we really have a right to complain? Show the government you do care what they are doing and that you will hold them to the promises they're making. READ ABOUT IT. KNOW ABOUT IT. VOTE.

Balance is this week's art word, and I think it's perfect. In the art way, balance is when something gives off a feeling of harmony and symmetry (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009). You can also apply balance to our big idea, but it a different way. You may read through the platforms and not agree with every point that is made by all the parties. You may not have time to read through all the platforms so you focus on issues that are important to you. It's about balance.

References

Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J.E. (2009). Art and creative development for young children (6th Ed.). Belmont,CA: Delmar.

Some Links:

(1) Elections Canada - http://www.elections.ca/home.aspx

(2) Conservative Party of Canada

          Website - http://www.conservative.ca/

          Platform - http://www.conservative.ca/media/ConservativePlatform2011_ENs.pdf

(3) Green Party of Canada

          Website - http://greenparty.ca/

          Platform - http://greenparty.ca/platform2011

(4) Liberal Party of Canada

          Website - http://www.liberal.ca/

          Platform -  http://cdn.liberal.ca/files/2011/04/liberal_platform.pdf

(5) New Democratic Party of Canada

          Website - http://www.ndp.ca/#enter

          Platform - http://www.ndp.ca/platform

(6) http://www.apathyisboring.com/en/

Arts Explorer #9: Guerilla Art

          To begin I wanted to share one of my pet peeves. I absolutely hate when I get back to my car after shopping and there is some sort of flyer (trying to sell me something I do not need) tucked under my wind shield wiper. At least leave me a cool gift or a funny joke, I would appreciate that much more. So, I thought for my guerilla art I would leave short notes on people's wind shields. I only used about 4 different quotes that would hopefully put a smile on a random stranger's face. Each card also has spread the love written at the bottom. Who knows, maybe my act of niceness will inspire other to pass on the happiness. I have found that kindness is contagious. When I'm walking in the morning and someone says good morning, I am more likely to greet the next person I see with a smile and a good morning, it's a chain reaction!

          Here are someone photos of the cards I did. I tried to string it into a video. I didn't take pictures of the cars because of license plates and privacy and all that. I put it on about 5 cars in a parking lot of a plaza by my house. I saw one person go up to their car, look and it, and crumple it. Hurt my feelings, but that's okay. Maybe they did not like stuff on their wind shield. 

The song I used is by Thrice and it's called Music Box. The video says it's over 9 minutes long but it's really only 30 seconds (I just didn't know how to cut the song :)  ).

          Okay so you may not want to take your classroom out to spray paint some buildings or leave notes on people's cars, but how about just being spontaneous. Children are spontaneous when it comes to some of their activities, go with it.

          The art word of the week is space. To me, space is everything that has to do with a piece of art or a room being decorated. As Schirrmacher and Fox (2009) describe, the amount of space that an artist has all depends on the size of their canvas. For my cards the space was the size of the card. I also had to be smart about the space being used. If I wrote tiny and filled up the entire card with writing, no one would take the time to read it because it would look crazy. I made is just about 1/4 the size of a letter size paper and wrote pretty large on it.

          Spread the love.


Cute Idea:
http://www.somethingnice.ca/

References

Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J.E. (2009). Art and creative development for young children (6th Ed.). Belmont,CA: Delmar.

Arts Explorer #8: Pretend Play and Magical Thinking

THE STORY OF GLORIA

            A DAY IN MILDRED'S LIFE CAN BE, OH, SO, TIRING. WHAT SHE WANTS TO DO THE MOST IS SIT IN A COOL PLACE AND HANG OUT WITH HER FRIENDS. THIS PROVES TO BE VERY DIFFICULT FOR HER MOST OF THE TIME. THE HUMANS AROUND HER ARE ALWAYS USING HER TO STAB FOOD AND EVEN, AS GROSS AS IT SOUNDS, PUT HER IN THEIR MOUTH (YUCK, I KNOW). GLORIA JUST WANTS TO PUT HER LEG UP, TIE A CUTE BOW IN HER...UHH..HAIR, AND RELAX!

            THE PEOPLE AROUND HER EVEN GO AS FAR AS TO PUT HER INTO A DISHWASHER FOR HER BATH. THIS MAY SOUND NICE, LIKE A DAY AT THE SPA, BUT THE WATER IS BEYOND HOT! MILDRED WANTS TO LISTEN TO HER FAVOURITE BAND, THE BEATLES, AND ENJOY SOME QUALITY TIME WITH HER FRIENDS.

            ALONG WITH STABBING FOOD, BEING PUT INTO SOMEONE'S MOUTH AND BEING FORCED INTO A DISHWASHER, MILDRED DISLIKES WARM PLACES, THE COLOUR YELLOW AND GETTING OLD. FROM HER FAMILY, MILDRED HAS HEARD THAT THERE ARE MANY OF HER KIND SCATTERED ALL OVER THE WORLD. SOME SPEAK ENGLISH, LIKE GLORIA, WHILE OTHER SPEAK CROATIAN, MANDARIN AND SPANISH. MILDRED JUST WANTS TO BE FREE SO SHE CAN TRAVELTHE WORLD AND MEET OTHER LIKE HER.

*TO HEAR MORE ABOUT A STORY SIMILAR TO MILDRED'S, PLEASE OPEN UP THE DRAWER IN YOUR KITCHEN THAT HAS CUTLERY AND START TALKING TO YOUR FORK.

            While thinking about what object I should bring to life, I was having supper and Gloria was right in front of me. This can be done with children at a variety of ages and I feel they would really enjoy it. The imagination takes over, and a child can crate whatever they want. As some people say, the sky's the limit. Children can create a story that is meaningful to them.

            The art word of the week is line. A line can suggest direction, is created by artists and can also be seen as a "continuation of a dot" (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, p. 135). Lines can take many forms; thick or thin, long or short, and dark or light. You may be wondering, "what on earth does a line have to do with Gloria?" Hello! Gloria looks like a big line, with three line branches coming from her top, I mean her hair.

References

Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J.E. (2009). Art and creative development for young children (6th Ed.). Belmont,CA: Delmar.