Day 5: continents and world map screenprint



world map image used in screenpint

 My perception of Friday's lesson is not as universal as previous days as I was really just working with small groups of students at a time, so hopefully Cindy can fill in what I missed.

I started with a quick review to see what the kids remembered from our previous sessions. (Responded shapes/lines, Van Gogh, one kid remembered Jean-Francois Millet correctly pronounced even!) I said we've been working on a lot of reading and writing lessons, but that we're starting to work on some more social studies ideas now. I brought in my Philly daily map screenprint on fabric to show the kids. I asked them if they could figure out where it was and what the format reminded them of (number grid!). After a few more hints they figured out that my repetition of the map represented a calendar. I explained that screenprinting is a type of printmaking for making copies of something. I compared printing to the computer printer or photocopier, but that a long time ago before machines, artists and mapmakers would use printmaking for creating lots of copies of maps.
On the board I listed several screenprinting terms: screenprint, squeegee, ink. I showed them the screen and carried it above their heads so they could see the light coming through the screen. I said the empty spots where you see light is where the ink goes through and the red stuff (screenfiller) blocks the ink from touching the paper or fabric. I also passed around a squeegee and said it had a handle and a blade. Then I demonstrated (without ink) how to pull the squeegee across the screen to make the ink go through. Then I explained the printing process we'd go through as a group: come back, put on a smock, pick a fabric, place it on the board following the taped outline, 2 people to help hold down the board and screen while one person prints, then to wash hands while I hung their print on the line to dry. I insisted that it was very important that we cooperate, move quickly to get ready and exchange smocks and print because if the ink dried out in the screen it would block up the screen like the red stuff and ruin our image.
I asked them what the image on my screen looked like (response- a map!). I asked them if they knew their continents already (North America! Asia!....) Cindy uncovered a map of the world on the bulletin board and I tried pointing to each continent to see if they could remember any more (Arizona! London!). Cindy said she was going to teach them a song later about the continents, but I'd already planned to share one and asked if she minded if I sang them my version.She said okay and I asked the kids to sing/repeat after me as I pointed to each continent. To the tune of Frere Jacques, "Europe, Asia (repeat), Af-ri-ca (repeat), North and South America (repeat), Antarctica, Australia (repeat)".  We sang that twice, and then I pulled out a paper copy of the map we'd be printing (see top of post), and said I'd like them to color in each continent a different color following the colors on the map on the board while the individual groups were back with me printing. Cindy stepped in to run the map diagram portion of the lesson and I went back to set up/start printing.


Bailey reveals her print

 Each group came through very quickly and orderly. They helped each other put on smocks and print. I let the kids pull at least one stroke towards them across the screen, and then to ensure a complete print, I pulled a second stroke back. We lifted the screen and the kids pulled out their complete print. I wrote their name on the bottom, hung it up, and moved on to the next kid to print. They all followed directions beautifully! We had no big mess!!! I was most afraid of this, since we were in a regular classroom not the art room, and I didn't want any kids to mess up their clothes. One student ,who I believe is an ELL student, lit up when he printed and asked "I do it 100 times?!!" He really enjoyed printing, and I hope through the rest of our art activities he'll be a more engaged and confident learner. Another student, who seems very resistant to working in color for some reason, found printing very exciting and as he watched everyone in his group print kept saying "It's MAGIC!!!"

As I said before, I was not totally aware of what the rest of the class was doing as I worked with each group. At one point there was some boat drawing on the board. Generally, the students seemed focused on work in their sketchbooks. So Cindy will have to fill in here.

At the end of class after I had cleaned up all the screenprinting paraphernalia, I reviewed the vocabulary we had learned about screenprinting with the kids and we sang the continents song one more time. I explained that next time we'd be learning about rivers of the world and stitching on our fabric maps.

There's no way I could have done screenprinting in this way without another teacher in the classroom. Today I really felt like an ARTIST in residence more than a TEACHING Artist in residence because I was really working individually with the kids to go through the printing process. In a way I was a little carried away, because I probably could have changed my orientation in the room so to be more aware of the entire classroom. It's too bad we couldn't have gotten through our rivers of the world series of lessons prior to the trips that are coming up. I hope the kids don't get confused. On Wednesday we need to go through the science and social studies pretests before our North American River lesson starts. We should probably have some animals, plants, people, etc worksheets ready, as I'd like the students to add a detail like that to the map in marker before we start stitching.