Ava & Bettina have been studying bugs in school. As I've mentioned before, they attend a Reggio Emilia style school where long-term child-centered projects are the curriculum. This bug project started when a way-ward cricket entered their classroom. It then morphed to include leaf-hoppers, ants, beetles, centipedes (which they find and explore during outdoor bug-hunts) and, most recently, caterpillars and butterflies. As an ex-educator, I find myself in wonder and amazement when certain little benchmarks begin to show themselves in the girls. This week, not only did the girls continue to wonder, explore and talk about bugs after leaving school, but their drawings have started to change and grow as well.
Up until now, their drawings or art have just been lines, colors and sometimes, circles. This is usually called the "scribbler" stage (how profound, right?). Ava, usually more developed with fine-motor skills, has started drawing letters (namely "A", "H" and "X"), which is great and pretty well into the later part of the scribbler stage of drawing. They floored me, however, when, after drawing on the drawing boards before bed, Ava insisted on showing me her drawing. "It's a bug," she said. Sure enough, there was a round body with lots of legs extending from (and through) it and a set of eyes, a nose, a smile and the all-important belly-button. "My, Lord," I think, "she's starting the 'schematic' stage!" I am astonished and likewise upset that it's wasn't permanently fixed to paper. So, I ask if we could take a picture of it.Bettina likes the attention that Ava and her bug are getting and decides to draw her own. "Mommy, look - it's an ant!" she says, showing me her drawing board. It's pretty darned good as well. We take lots of pictures and praise their growth in drawing and art.
