St Theresa's RC Primary School
Location:
Leeds
Group:
Active learning Teacher Claire Grady
Artist Lou Sumray
Year 5
The class of 20 children was newly established, as many of them had transferred from another school. Drawing has contributed very positively to class cohesion. Warm up sessions were important to create the right mood, relax the pupils and help them be open to different possibilities for drawing.
Body parts
Drawing in the air with different body parts. Great fun drawing with knees and elbows – warming up the body and the mind in one go! The artist held poses for 20 seconds, making lots of unusual shapes and bold gestures. Pupils drew in graphite, first with one hand, then with both hands.
Poses
20-second poses, pupils using black paper and chalk. After each drawing, children moved three places and drew again on someone else’s drawing in a different coloured chalk. Gallery time prompted discussion about the experience and the drawings. Pupils returned to their original drawing and had to change it into something else. What could they see coming from the drawing? Drawings were held aloft so that pupils could share.
Drawing at a distance
Working outside on large roll of paper, children paired up, standing opposite each other. One person struck a pose, the other drew, this time with markers on the end of bamboo canes. Everyone worked hard to control the marks. Then they swapped roles and wrote on the drawings information about that person.
Drawing from memory
Pupils observed the model, then closed their eyes and drew what they could remember.
Continuous line drawing
Without taking their pen or pastel off the paper, pupils drew the model from observation.
Pupils’ reactions were:
Amazing! We all had a chance to draw on each other’s! I like drawing on other people’s pictures.
Strange – they are all completely different, but they are all of Lou.
Freaky – I can see a butterfly in mine.
Can you tell what it is? Well. I’ll tell you.
My favourite thing was drawing with my eyes shut. It was fun seeing what it looked like.
The teacher comments:
I cannot believe how many P.O.S.s have been covered just on these drawing exercises alone. We will continue to use and adapt these activities. I was surprised at the impact they had. I have created a couple of big drawing boxes for the school, with resources, materials and laminated cards explaining the activities.
