Exploring Beautiful Stuff: Loose Parts, Nature, and Art in Your ECE Classroom, by Cathy Weisman Topal

Sponsored by ChildCare Education Institute

Exploring found materials and making meaningful experiences from them: what could be more intriguing for young children and their teachers? Cathy Weisman Topal, author, artist, art educator, and co-author with Lella Gandini of Beautiful Stuff! Learning with Found Materials, and Beautiful Stuff from Nature, will share stories of how teacher’s observations of their group of children interacting with nature became extraordinary studies as the teachers followed their children’s interests and documented their observations and discoveries.

Using examples and handouts from her visual arts curriculum, Explorations in Art – Kindergarten, Cathy will also show ways in which a teacher can move between exploratory, playful experiences with basic studio art tools and materials – crayons, markers, paint, paintbrush, scissors, clay – to explore a theme such as insects, sky, the alphabet, and more. Moving between media then becomes an easy way to build skills and knowledge, deepen experiences, and express understandings.

In this rich webinar you will learn how to implement investigative, exploratory approaches to artists tools, materials, and processes. You will learn to emphasize explorations and discovery in a no-mistakes environment where children try out their own unique and diverse ways of working and creating. When young artists explain their work, share their intentions, or point out interesting qualities they observe in a classmate’s work, they acquire and use descriptive language, engage their analytical thinking skills, increase their vocabularies, and come to know one another in authentic, respectful ways.

In this webinar you will:

• be inspired to pay more attention to your students, carry a notebook to write down direct quotes, and photograph your children at key moments of discovery and interaction.

• try out new strategies for preparing spaces and materials for exploration.

• gain confidence in introducing explorations of crayons, scissors, clay, markers....

• feel confident exploring a theme - such as insects - by moving between art materials and processes.

• encourage your children to discuss their work and intentions in order to build classroom community and foster respect for one another's unique ideas and ways of working.

• feel prepared to use an investigative, exploratory approach to encountering artist’s tools, materials, and ways of working.

All sessions are 1.5 hours long and include a brief announcement from our sponsor.

2:oo PM – 3:30 PM Eastern Time.

To ensure you receive confirmation and reminder emails, add [email protected] to your contacts list. If you do not receive your email confirmation, check your Spam or Junk mail folders in your email system.

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Certificates of Attendance are free (again!)

• If you attend the live webinar and stay from the beginning to the very end, you will receive the OFFICIAL certificate by email within one week of the live webinar. You can also download the blank certificate using the link displayed at the end of the webinar.

• If you arrive late to the live webinar or watch the recording download the blank certificate by following the link announced at the end of every webinar.

• Recording viewers must enter the link announced and displayed at the end of the webinar into a browser to download the certificate.

Read more about free certificates and optional CEUs here.

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Continuing Education Units (CEUs) are optional and can be obtained from Bertelsen Education

If you would like Continuing Education Units (CEUs) you will follow this link to take a quiz and pay Bertelsen Education.

Read more about free certificates and optional CEUs here.

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See the schedule of upcoming webinars.