One Child's Idea Results in a Communal Masterpiece Online

 by Carla Goldberg, Early Childhood Director

Last week we were studying photos of flowers in our Zoom class of four-year-olds, each one of us drawing our own pictures of flowers for our mom for Mother’s Day.

The teacher's fainter flowers are in the background.

Something unexpected happened when I, the teacher, shared my whiteboard screen. 

I had drawn a few outlines of flowers, and we were discussing the shapes of the flowers. Then a child asked if she could draw on my screen and add her own flowers. Next thing I knew, the children were drawing on the screen together. Some added new flowers, some drew the grass or the sky, and some colored in another friend’s flowers. 

The kids begin to add color.

Spontaneously, we created a communal masterpiece on screen.

It was a beautiful moment. We were so proud of the art we had created together. It was also incredible  to witness the children teach each other how to use this function on zoom as they were adding color and lines.

More details come in.

I even had parents chiming in, sharing how excited they were about what we were creating together and how we were doing it.

This is a great example of how we do online preschool at Akiba but even more importantly, why we do it. 

We care about the mental health of our students. We want to offer an online school experience that the children can look forward to, a place where they can see their friends and teachers and have a routine for their day. We aim to plan programming that will engage them, make them think and help them to connect with other children and adults outside of their own household.

At Akiba, we always strive to leave room for children's ideas and we let their interests drive the subjects we explore because we teach children, not subjects.

And thus one child's suggestion can lead to a wonderful communal art project, even online.