Today’s input on Art was extremely fun but also very interesting. The class were all given the opportunity to use different materials such as paint, pencils, pens, and collage materials etc. While experimenting with these materials, Fiona also asked us to think about the properties of these materials. There were 4 different stations set up in the class and we were given roughly ten minutes at each station.

At the first station, there was chalk, pastels and crayons. I used different colours of chalk on the side and found that the different colours blended well together. By using my fingers, I was able to smudge the colours creating a colour gradient. An advantages of this media was that they are very easy to blend together and could be used for many different art lessons. If children are learning about Guy Fawkes, a good lesson would be to draw fireworks and blend the colours creating a very effective piece of art. A disadvantage in using chalk is that they are very easily broken or crumbled. If one piece of chalk get knocked off a table and someone stands on it, it can be very messy! I used the crayons and pastels to create different patterns with different colours. I drew squares of different colours, flipped the page and placed it onto another piece of paper. By writing and drawing on this side of the paper, the image that I had drawn was transferred onto the paper underneath mirroring what I had drawn. This is a very good technique to use and could be very effective to use in an art lesson with my class.

At the second station, there was charcoal, pencils and marker pens. I used the charcoal and blended it into white chalk which created a very effective technique. I feel that this would be a great material, along with white chalk, to create an effective monotone piece of artwork.  I used marker pens and created dots on my page. Using a number of different colours to shade and highlight. This technique would be great when doing pop art as an art lesson.

The final station I used different types of paint, block paint and acrylic paint. I used a number of different techniques and thought about how I would use these when preparing for an art lesson. By using a sponge I could see that there are so many different ways in which you can use paint. After drawing a design with crayons and pastels, I used block paint with a lot of water to paint over this. The crayon and pastel resisted the paint and I found this extremely effective. I found this very interesting as the different types of paint gave completely different effects. It enabled me to see that the different paints mix and blend together in completely different ways. Although the most popular type of paint to use is acrylic paint, block paint/poster paint can last a lot longer and can create beautiful pieces of artwork such as watercolours.

Overall, I really enjoyed this lesson as I feel I have gained so much more knowledge about the different materials that I have used. It made me think about different lessons that I could do with the children in my class and how I can teach them different techniques.

My opinions of dance is mixed. When I was at school I always dreaded doing Scottish Country Dance. Mainly because remembering all the moves wasn’t easy. There were so many different dances that we had to learn and I found that really tough. However, I always seemed to remember how to do the Gay Gordons! When taking part in dance I always thought that others in the class would laugh at me if I got the dance move wrong. After a few lessons in dance, I realised that I wasn’t the only one that was making mistakes and that everyone had the same opinion of dance that I did. This made me feel less anxious when taking part in dance and I began to enjoy it more. When it came to doing creative dance, I was in my element! The teacher would play us a number of different songs and the class got to pick what one we wanted to perform to. We all got the opportunity to show the class dance moves that we felt that we could incorporate into our dance routine. I loved this as I was able to show off my creative side. When it came to performing our dance, the school used to take us to a dance festival where we got to see lots of other schools performing. As I loved drama at school I was always really confident when performing and felt that it was very closely linked to drama. The class did our dance to ‘under the sea’ from the film ‘The Little Mermaid’ (my favourite film) so I was so involved I felt that I was even a part of the film!

My experience of dance will help me in delivering the dance curriculum at school as I feel that because I felt anxious about Scottish Country Dancing, It will give me more of an insight as to how the children are feeling about it too. Teaching dance will be a challenge as some children might not have the confidence in dance and performing. If I give the children options of different songs then this might make them feel like they play more of a part in the class and give them the confidence in performing dance. Letting the children pick the music and dance moves that they want to perform might also help overcome this. Some children in the class may be less able to do some of the moves that others in the class will create, So I feel that simplifying dance moves and letting them come up with dance moves will help them overcome any fears they have about taking part in a dance lesson.