Our annual Atelier Exhibition is the end-of-year event you will not want to miss! We encourage families to join us for this opportunity to view student work from all the classrooms using diverse and often unexpected mediums of expression. While this blog post is unable to convey the breadth of work that will be featured, we hope it will offer a small glimpse by highlighting some of the processes in three of the classrooms. This year we embarked on a school-wide study on identity, A Sense of Self (you can read our December and March blog posts to learn more). This work will be the focus of our Atelier Exhibition, valuing the child as an individual while also acknowledging the role of relationships to our identity.

The Gecko class is a three-year-old class that has had a strong interest in all things movement this year. Young children have a natural propensity to move and it has immense benefits for their physical, cognitive, and social-emotional development. We wondered how we could honor and make visible the value of movement to young children. Different materials were offered in the classroom and Atelier that lent themselves to movement, such as colored scarves and drums, clay encouraging big body movements, large paper across the floor or walls, and an overhead project that allowed for shadows to name a few. We noticed that the shadowed silhouettes conveyed not only the movements but also the personality and unique identity of many of the students. These “shadow movements” were photographed and will be offered back to the children to manipulate and extend in various ways.

In the Owl Pre-K class identity was explored through a wide variety of portraits. Self-portraits were explored through graphic drawings, paintings, clay, and loose parts before extending to portraits of friends and family. The emphasis of this work was on the process of exploring versus the product of the portrait. To encourage both educators and children to slow down, individual facial features were studied and considered, such as eyes, a nose, and mouth. What do you notice about the shape of the eyes? What colors and details do you notice? When looked at separately, similarities and differences were noted and valued. Many children made connections between their physical features and their loved ones.

Honoring friendships became a focal point in the Roadrunner Pre-K class through our study of identity. Many of the children in this class have been together for multiple years, many starting together in our Parent-and-Me Cottontail class as toddlers. This has created a special connection and cohesion as a classroom community.  We noticed an awareness of and interest in each other that emphasized the importance of friendships across the class - an interest in other classmates' names, photos, jobs, and interests. Digital cameras were offered as a tool for children to document their perspective and, unsurprisingly, we observed that their classmates were often the focal point of their photos. Following our school Picture Day, we offered children the role of photographer equipped with a tripod and stool.

These examples are only a snapshot of larger studies in each of the classrooms and only offer a glimpse of the work from across the school. We hope you’ll join us at the Atelier Exhibition to see the full scope of our Study of Self this year. The exhibition will be open following the 10 AM church service on Sunday, May 5th, and will be shared with educators from across Arizona as part of our Spring Symposium on Saturday, May 11th from 9 am - 12 pm. Current preschool families have a dedicated time to view the exhibition as a part of their end-of-year celebration the week of May 6-10th. Please reference the invitation below and save the date and time for your child’s class. We look forward to seeing you!