A Complex Classroom

2/9/2024

When the children participate in studio experiences, there are multiple layers of learning taking place. In a recent studio experience, the children created designs using stencils and then painted their designs at the easel. In the last step of the process, they added details to their designs. As the children worked through this process, they were experimenting with multiple learning concepts. The layering and interconnection of learning concepts in a single experience is an example of complexity in the classroom.

Identifying and Describing Shapes

The children identified and described familiar shapes while they worked with the stencils to create designs.

Charlton used oval and circle stencils for most of his design.

That's a hexagon! Whit

That's a triangle, it has three sides! Diamonds and squares have four sides and four corners. Fay

Triangle, triangle, circle, half circle. Jack

Fay paints dots on each corner of each diamond after painting one dot in the middle of each.

Fay also added one circle to the middle of each circle, also using the opposite color scheme from her diamonds.

Composition and Decomposition of Shapes

The children combined shapes to make new shapes to complete their visions for their studio work. Composing and decomposing shapes is a foundational skill helps children understand part-whole relationships and eventually fractions.

Jack paints his rocketship.

It's a rocket ship, that can fly and transform into a car or a jet ski. Ava

It's a lighthouse. I saw a real one in Florida. That's the thing that makes the lighthouse work, it makes the lighthouse go around. Bailee

It's a rocket ship. These (the triangles) are the blasters to get it into the air. I used the "Eiffel Tower" to make the rocket. The top is where the person drives. Ford

It's a tall tower. I used a big triangle and another triangle (the circle wedge tool, aka the "Eiffel Tower" stencil).

Zari chooses a rectangle to add adjacent to the semicircle she had previously stenciled.

Zari's composed shape.

One To One Correspondence

Ellie used stencils to create her design. She then drew one "X" inside each of the smaller shapes on her paper before she painted them.

After stenciling, Whit carefully painted his shapes. When adding details, he made an intentional decision to add one white polka dot to each shape on his painting.

Experience with Real Tools

In addition to mark-making and painting implements the children utilized other tools during this studio experience. They will be able to transfer their knowledge of these tools to other areas in their lives.

That one looks like the "Eiffel Tower."

- Rawls, describing the circle wedge tool, which can be used by designers to make circles