Art Toys at Hamilton Elementary

Matt recently visited Ms. Schick's studio at Hamilton Elementary to document students at work as they were mid-process in the creation of their own "Art Toy." Students worked independently and collaboratively with assembling found objects/materials to create their own toy. After the class period, Matt and Ms. Schick briefly discussed having students use the Studio Thinking Reflection sheet in one of the next sessions. Here are a couple of video clips of the students talking about their process and a sample of their reflective writing. It is amazing how clearly their critical thinking comes forward through these two methods of data collection.

This student worked independently the entire period as he problem solved how to have his toy stand on its own. In this short clip we see several examples of critical thinking: he is self correcting as he makes changes on his own, he has a clear direction and intentionality, he refers to prior experiences of building things for his little sister, and he is sharing internal verbalizations.



And here is his Studio Thinking reflection:

The two girls in the clip below worked side-by-side throughout the period. Again, we see several examples of their critical thinking coming forward: they are talking to each other and asking each other questions as they develop strategic solutions, they are creating visual representations of their ideas and developing metaphor, and using their drawing/notations as a resource.



And, here is the Studio Thinking reflection for the girl making the "Cat Mermaid."

Below are the Studio Thinking reflections from the other students in the class.

Online Exhibition Strike Drawings

Studio Thinking 

Online Exhibit Strike Drawings

What materials did you use?

I used chalk pastels and 6" x 6" paper. Red, white and black. They were very messy.

How did you use these materials?

When creating the drawings, I thought about which colors would best represent (the idea). I layered the pastels to make bold words.

How did it feel?
At first I had to really try and synthesize many experiences of that morning and how I felt into only one image for each suggested drawing. It felt good to process those feelings and see others who felt similarly. 

Which habits did you use?

Envision, Express