What is ART?

I enjoy doing a lot of online reading through fellow art teachers' blogs, Pinterest, and other art websites to gather new sources of inspiration. There are so many amazing ideas out there! I love the collaboration and sharing that goes on between educators through blogging and websites.

This bulletin board activity was one of those great ideas I stumbled upon while reading online. I thought this was a great way to start the first day of art class with sharing and discussion.

As my upper PYP students entered the room on the first day I asked them two questions: What do you think art is and why is art important? They took the questions very seriously and the answers they came up with truly made me smile.  

"....can solve problem like when you are boring." This cracked me up!

Many of my students are not native English speakers. Some felt comfortable writing full sentences while others wrote down specific words. For my students who are just beginning and really don't have the skills that writing in a new language requires, I had them write in their own language or draw a picture. The students were eager to share their answers and at the end of class we posted them all together on one of the art room bulletin boards. It was a successful activity for the first day!