New Glarus Elementary K-4 Art Show

This year New Glarus Elementary art was a little different than usual. We began using a method called, Teaching For Artistic Behavior (TAB). The three-sentence philosophy is: What do artists do? The student is the artist. The classroom is the child's studio. Rather than have the teacher lead the project, students came into the art room and worked on their art using their own ideas and their choice of materials at different centers. They were encouraged to play, explore, develop ideas, and collaborate just like artists do. Students were responsible for finding various art supplies that were interesting to them and often created art concepts based on themes. They were engaged and created meaningful works of art. We all enjoyed working in the studio. Then we had to close the school due to Covid-19. However, after seeing the creativity of New Glarus Elementary students all school year, I knew they were ready for this new challenge. Now their home was their studio. Teaching students to behave independently like artists at school has made this transition into virtual learning so much easier. I wanted to continue with TAB at home so I purposely kept the weekly lessons open-ended and up to each student to choose what to create. Watching them utilize their creative thinking skills and abilities to make authentic and meaningful art at home has been amazing to watch! That's what this year's art show is all about. Please enjoy the wide variety of original art the students have made both at school and at home!