The Grade 1 class has explored ways of maintaining a healthy body such as through exercise and good nutrition. Of interest to them was the food pyramid. They have taken this inquiry further into the tinker lab where they have been designing the food pyramid using a variety of materials. Their engagement with tape measures and math concepts, wood, glue, hammers, and wires has not only been enriching their learning but their collaborative skills as well as they discuss their concepts with group members.In gym class, they noted that exercise makes them more flexible as well as stronger. They have applied the knowledge about how their bodies move to show that movement visually as a 2-dimensional image. In studio, we analyzed the “collage” work of Eric Carle, the author and illustrator of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by watching a video of Eric Carle at work in his studio. Like Eric Carle, the students first painted their own papers using the primary colours to create textures. They enthusiastically mixed colours and were excited to see the results: “I made turquoise!” “I made a reddish orange!”
Did you know that the word “collage” was first used in Paris, France, around 1912 or so, when Picasso and the “synthetic cubists” began to cut and paste a variety of materials in their paintings? They inserted letters of the alphabet, real objects, paper, sand, string and a variety of other materials as they broke tradition with the past.
“Collage” comes from the French word “colle” meaning “glue”.