Sketchbooks have been working so far. Some mornings it is three minutes, some mornings it is ten. Some children make a mark and walk away; others want to stay and stay.I think it is important to have a bank of ideas, or "starters" as they call it over at Sketchbooks in Schools. I have tried to make it part of my planning but, you know, plans change.
This morning, for example, I put black pens and leaves on the tables -- leaves that we gathered yesterday in the forest. Some children traced them, some children drew them observationally, some children drew things other than leaves, some children made a line and said, "I'm finished!". Every one of those is fine with me.
I'm making a big effort to document this well -- voices and photos and (obviously) visual work. I like how it is naturally evolving as it is part of our daily routine.
Did you construct sketchbooks for your students or did you have them construct their own?? what type of book are they using?
ReplyDeleteI'm so encouraged by your usage of sketchbooks and utilizing Sketchbooks in Schools. I just stumbled upon that wonderous site a few days ago and fell in love with their mission :)
Right now, they are using a commercial book that has about 10 pages in it. I covered the book with white paper so they were able to personalize it. We have about 50 of those books; when they are gone, we will use simple stapled books that my assistant teacher put together. After that, though, I'm interested in branching out - accordion style books, found papers, etc. -- I'd love to make the books out of materials we have around the classroom, and to reinvent the "book" part. I already feel like we're reinventing the "sketch" part!
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