Urban Arts - Mimi - 2.5 hours
I was in Mimi's classroom again this week! Middle school after school program is structured so differently than the kindergarten one. I wasn't used to them having the freedom to do what they wanted to do - which is totally fit for that age group. So we didn't really work as a whole group the class was kind of split up in multiple groups according to their interest in the activity. There were two teachers, and two assistants. Some students would go in the music room to make music while others were doing other activities. I was helping out with a painting activity for the upcoming gala. We were painting long pieces of white cloth which different paints in strips, and we are planning to put them for the gala. The activity was fun but one student wouldn't do it for long. We were also making shiny balls and putting sparkles for decorations. It was pretty relaxed day and everyone kept busy in their own way. Later, everyone had quieted downv- in which to my surprise everyone was super quiet and just sat down. After that some students went to the gym and others learned up. It is interesting to shift to middle school after kindergarten because they need supervision but not too much, I'm still figuring it out! But I love to get to just talk to them and getting to know what they like. The trick is make everything seem 'cool'.
MIA - 6 hours - 3 different workshops
I was a part of really fun two workshops at different community centers - one was in East Phillips park and the other one was in Whittier.
We are re-creating the big sunburst glass artwork in the MIA with plastic bottles and paper for the May Day parade. So we went to different community centers and made them with the students there! It was so much fun to get our hands dirty. We had put the sunburst photos all over the art making space which was pretty helpful for everyone to see what the main goal was. Then we wrapped the plastic bottles in foil and then paper with lots of glue. They then kind of look like the parts of the glass work. We are then going to collect all of these pieces from all the different community centers and put them together.
The kids seemed to have a good time. It was funny that all of them treated it like a mission, because we told them how many the other parks had made so they wanted to defeat them. One student actually made 6 all by himself! It was fun to get different people engaged too. I also learned a lesson to kind of have a recount of materials after the lesson was done. As we did one after the other, we ran out of some material for the next one and so we had to rush to get more. Good practice for the future to remember! Each wrapped bottle looked so different it was really fun to look at! One would look like a birthday present and the other would be a beautiful form! Working with craft activities with kids is always so much fun!
On Saturday we went to the MN Orchestra again to promote the crochet project. We just set up a table and were talking to different people about it. To my surprise some people already had heard of the project. We had some great conversations with different people from science- environment - crafting! But we also realized that the environment wasn't such that someone would actually come crochet. So we just embraced the talking and engaged with more people and told them to stop by on Saturday!
Its been busy but as usual great learning experiences! I'm happy I got to have 3 totally different experiences with the MIA.