The Imagination Box
  • home
  • TPT STORE
  • Christmas
  • Fall and Winter
    • Halloween
    • Fall
    • New Year
  • activities
    • Back to School
    • Spring >
      • Valentine's Day
      • Chinese New Year
      • St. Patrick's Day
      • Easter
      • Mother's day
    • Summer >
      • The Art of Travel
      • fathers day
      • Canada Day
      • July 4th celebrations
      • Olympics Games 2016
      • The Queen's 90th Birthday
      • World Cup 2014
  • blog

Back to School: A Creative Approach and The Importance of Art

20/6/2017

3 Comments

 
In this blog post, I’d like to explore why I feel including a good dose of art and creativity is a good idea during the first week back to school.
Do kids feel more comfortable or free to express themselves in a deeper way via art and image making?
​Art can be a fantastic vehicle for learning, communicating feelings and exploring outside of the box thinking.

I’m a great believer in the positive power of art on our mental wellbeing.
I’ve listed 10 Ways I think Art Can Help Us - at home, in the classroom, for both adults and children of all ages - pin it to keep it handy!
why is creativity important for both children and grown ups?
 
Imagine: It’s the first week back at school....
The class meets up again after the long summer break.
Children get to reflect over their holiday memories, catch up with friends, and begin to learn more about their new teacher.
They explore their learning preferences, where they excel, the challenges they face, they set new goals for the coming year.
And the new teacher starts to build a picture of each child - what a lot is going on!! 

This is where we can introduce icebreaker games, ‘all about me’ activities, student surveys and teacher questionnaires.

There seems to be a ‘format’ for these activities – typical questions feature along the lines of:
Student’s name, age, birthday, family members, favourite food, book, movie, sport, weekend hobby etc. Whilst I think these questions are great, it also got me thinking about what could be missing? Or can we dig a bit deeper to find out what really makes our student’s tick and build a relationship and environment based on trust, open communication, empathy and support?

How are the children really feeling on their first day back to school?
And how do teachers feel? 
A mixture of excitement and apprehension?
We are all unique and can feel happy, sad, scared, anxious and excited all at the same time.
Excited to see friends again.
Sad, or maybe glad that the summer holidays are over.
Anxious about meeting the new teacher
Scared that maths might be too challenging this year......

​I've researched and designed a FREE '50 First Week Back Questions' teacher resource.
The questions can be used in full in the classroom, working individually, in pairs or small groups, or as a reflective homework activity with parents.
Or you may wish to select just the questions that feel right for you.
The activity includes general 'All About Me' questions such as age, birthday, favourite food etc, and also 'digs a bit deeper' with questions such as,
'How do you feel this week?'
'What challenges you?'
'What support do you need?'
Along with some open ended sentences to complete, such as , 'I imagine, I aim to, I wonder....
​Click on the image below to download it:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Free-All-About-Me-Back-to-School-50-questions-printable-for-students-2678351

Researching ‘Back to School’ activities on the web (mainly pinterest because I love it), I found such an abundance of printable pages and activities, teacher surveys and questionnaires. 

Most of them involve answering questions with words.

Being a visual creative type who sees the world in pictures and colour format, this information gave me the inspiration to fill what I see, as a gap – to design some fun, imaginative back to school activities that involve illustrating our answers, exploring colour and imagery, alongside the written aspect.

If you are looking for ideas and inspiration from around the globe, you can visit my 
Back To School Pinterest Creative Ideas Board 


If you would like to view my Teachers Pay Teachers Back to School activities and classroom decor packs, suitable for kids age 6-10 please click on the images below:

Have a great first week back to school!
Picture
Engage children creatively with this Instagram style, 'tech' mobile phone/tablet 'All About Me' first week back, art and writing activity. $3.25
Picture
Engage children creatively with this Instagram style, 'tech' mobile phone/tablet 'My Summer Memories' first week back, art and writing activity. $3.25
Picture
Create 'A Ball About Me', a fun, first week back to school creative activity.
This soccer/football template encourages children to illustrate their answers in a personal, imaginative way using doodles, mark making, graffiti style lettering and imagery. $3.25
Picture
These vintage feel fairground-inspired A-Z uppercase alphabet letters and posters make a great visual impact on classrooms for all age groups.
Ideal decoration for the first week back to school, and all year round too. $3.50
Picture
Bring some fun and visual arts into the first day back at school with this creative activity and bulletin board decor pack, inspired by 'the artist's paint palette and the colors of the rainbow'. $3.00
Picture
This pack contains 90 questions and prompts for End of Year, Back to School and All about Me group discussion & reflection activities in the classroom.
The cards have been designed using a modern mobile phone-style template to appeal to this age group and give the activity a sense of fun and curiosity. $3.50
3 Comments
Teach BeTween the Lines
23/6/2017 02:21:25

This is a great article! Thank you for sharing all of these creative ideas!

Reply
Samantha green link
23/6/2017 02:27:54

Love love love! The IG art would so work with my kids

Reply
Po Tim King link
23/6/2017 06:58:02

Love your post and all the products that go with it. Thanks for sharing.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Diane Pagan, The Imagination Box
    Welcome!

    Welcome!

    Hello! I'm Diane Pagan from Manchester, UK.
    My ideas are road tested by my 11 and 9 year olds - or at workshops I run with all kinds of kids and adults in schools, hospitals and community settings :-)

    Archives

    July 2019
    June 2018
    January 2018
    June 2017
    January 2017
    July 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013

    Categories

    All
    3d
    4th Of July
    Articles
    Autumn / Fall
    Back To School
    Chinese New Year
    Christmas
    Collage
    Collecting
    Colouring
    Doodles
    Easter
    Explore Colour
    Exploring Shapes
    Food Art For Kids
    Graphic Design
    Group Activities
    Halloween
    Independence Day
    Kids Travel
    Links
    Mosaic
    Olympic Games
    Olympics
    Outdoor Projects
    Painting
    Stitch
    St Patrick's Day
    Travel
    Valentines Day
    World Cup 2014
    Year Of The Horse

    RSS Feed

The ImaginationBox

The Imagination box logo
Favourite quote:
  “ The imagination needs moodling, long, inefficient happy idling, dawdling and puttering. ” 
Brenda Ueland

Copyright © 2018
The ImaginationBox
All Rights Reserved

about Diane Pagan

Diane Pagan uk

Hello! I live in Manchester, UK with my partner, and our two children. Luckily our house has a converted basement, where my art studio is packed full with art materials of all shapes and sizes!
read more......

quick links

HOME
BLOG
FREE PRINTABLES
TPT STORE
TES STORE

Picture

Submit
Design by DivTag Templates