Creativity In The Classroom

School : Our Lady of the Wayside, Bluebell

Class :4th

Teacher : Emma Garland.

We started by heading out to the small garden space at the school to explore and search for different shaped foliage, petals berries anything at all that was natural.

The children collected foliage of different shapes and colour.

Back inside we examined closely what had been found and began playing around with the found natural objects to make them into something else.

The children then used coloured chalks to build up layers of colour before sticking down their creations.

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Our Lady of the Wayside

Class: 5th

Teacher: Ms. Barton

4th class were reading the novel ” Serefina and the Twisted Self”, they were really engrossed in the story and the characters so i decided to focus on this for several weeks of their creativity in the classroom workshops. Part of the novel takes place in a forest where Serefina runs from the evil side to the magical side. we started by going outside and examining the silhouettes of the trees.

The children then returned to class and began constructing their own individual silhouette of a tree in card.

They made golden leaves to help convey the magical part of the forest, using wire and beads they added detailing to the veins

The plan was to put all the trees together to create a magical forest. We needed a lrge sheet of backing paper to paint in the background and while searching for sometihing suitable i cam across wallpaper that had silhouttes of trees on it, we used this as part of our backdrop, using oil pastels the children added colour and blended it to create a magical setting..

They painted the lower half  as ground cover for the woods and sponged a watery mix over the pastel trees.

we then assembled their tree silhouettes

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Making their initial drawings in black marker, the children then used patterned wall papers and oil pastel to their drawings of their favourite character.

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Our Lady Of The Wayside , Bluebell

Class: 4th

Teacher: Mr. Dillon

we began by rolling out large lengths of paper. the paints were squeezed in layers at the bottom of the paper.

the children used squares  of heavy card to scrape the paint up the page. This was an exhilarating experience for the children. paint brushes were not allowed for this painting session so they had to explore many possibilities of making their mark.

they used smaller pieces of card to create bridges and pattern.

once the paint was dry they added more detail with chalk pastels.

Reworking the painting using the chalk pastels added a whole new dimension to the finished work.

Together they created the most wonderful and interesting cityscape.

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Our Lady Of Lourdes, Goldenbridge,

Class :Senior Infants

Teacher: Ms O’Dwyer

we started by taking a stroll around the school and collecting leaves. the children closely examined the leaves and made pencil drawings of their veins.

Watercolour paints were used for colour and gold insulation for pattern and texture.

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Our Lady of The Wayside, Bluebell

Class 6th

Teacher: Mr. Brett

This year, the full moons of October, November and December all took place when the moon was at its closet point of approach in its orbit around Earth. The moon reached peak fullness around December 14th.. This led to investigation into the planets in our solar system.

the children worked as a group creating their own planets in chalk pastel on black paper.

using materials from ReCreate they also constructed spaceships and rockets

Our Lady of Lourdes, Goldenbridge

Our Lady of the Wayside, Bluebell

The children and parents began by cutting down the gold and silver insulation into small squares.

They created patterns using the squares and made links between the patterns.

They then dyed the salt using coloured chalks.

once they had prepared enough colours , they added the salt to their patterned work.

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Our Lady of Lourdes, Goldenbridge

Our Lady of the Wayside, Bluebell

This years tour of the sculptural exhibition at the  Botanical Gardens did not fail to impress the children

“Urban Safari” by Brian Byrne and Eoin Byrne

The fox and her cubs opened up conversations with the children about the wild animals that roam our city at night.

“Sleeping Rough, A resting Place” by Irene Plazewska

The senior infant class form Goldenbridge were very insightful when examining the sculpture above. we talked about homelessness on the streets of our city and how sometimes you would walk past someone who was sleeping on the streets and perhaps not notice that they were there, as they may be camoflaged  with cardboard and hidden from view, just like the grassy mound in this sculpture hides the resting people.

The children loved the vegetable garden and were lucky to spot the family of turtles who are permanent residents of the pond area.

Examining, discussing,  playing , resting and exploring was all part of our day out.

It was the perfect and we all returned to school feeling very inspired

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Our lady of the Wayside, Bluebell

Class: Senior Infants

Teacher: Ms. Phelan

Having read the story “Handa’s Surprise” we discussed all the fruits that appeared in the story. The children make large oil pastel drawings of their favourite fruit from the story. they then worked together as a group to make a giant golden basket for the fruit to sit.

The children then worked on creating a surprise entrance to their classroom.

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Our lady of the Wayside, Bluebell

Class:1st and 2nd

Teacher: Ms. O’Toole

working with oil pastels and gold insulation foam, the children focused on colour and pattern.

We then put each individuals work together to make one large group based piece.

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