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The Go Get Your Smock
Literacy-Based
Early Childhood Art Education Program
in the Chicago Public Schools
OverviewThe Go Get Your Smock! Early Childhood Art Education Program provides quality experiential learning opportunities for young children through carefully selected art media, so that they can explore their world through creative expression. Our open-ended art projects have no pre-determined outcome, and each is a unique learning experience and unique articulation of the child's view of the world. In the 2002-2003 school year, GGYS provided weekly visits to 63 preschool classrooms, serving more than 1200 preschool children. The Go Get Your Smock! Program was developed by Diane Sutliff as a result of her work in classroom methods and curriculum for Montessori schools. Each art experience includes carefully selected and prepared materials and specific method of presentation so that young artists have the greatest chance for success. This "control of error", as it is described in Montessori pedagogy, includes ideas like providing only two primary colors of a medium at a time, so that we get a pleasing secondary color --- and not brown! In addition, experiences are carefully sequenced so that children have the opportunity to build skills through cumulative learning. 
GGYS instructors visit each participating classroom once weekly, bringing all tools and materials with them. Students, teacher and GGYS instructor meet at the gathering area for a short lesson that introduces the day's concepts and media. Children then move to work spaces, participating in the set up of the project as appropriate. Young artists work with the materials according to their own ideas, with as little interruption as possible. Creative decisions are made by the children, and not by the adults in the room. As the lesson ends, the young artists assist in the clean up of their materials, their workspace and themselves. The GGYS curriculum is unique in that we introduce real art words and concepts to very young artists. Color, line and shape are already included in most preschool instruction. We add terms like primary and secondary colors; the mixing primary colors of magenta, yellow and cyan; and other Elements of Design like texture, value and form. Many of the GGYS lessons are presented with the help of illustrated children's books to provide visual examples of specific art concepts or media. (However, we don't read The Rainbow Fish, for example, and then make our own fish.) 
Participating classroom teachers are provided with a copy of the guidebook (the original!) Go Get Your Smock! Creative and Independent Art Experiences from the Montessori Early Childhood Classroom. They also receive a folder with support materials including supplementary articles and GGYS newsletter masters to photocopy and send home to parents. Classroom teachers and assistants are asked to join in the lessons whenever possible, and to work side by side with the children at the work tables. The schedule of lessons is arrived at based on observations of the children and their work. Each GGYS classroom instructor is uniquely suited and carefully trained for this work. We meet frequently throughout the year to evaluate our progress, share experiences and plan future lessons. This self-evaluation is a critical part of our own continuing professional development, and serves as an important touchstone.
The Importance of
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CPS Contacts
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Chicago Public Scbools Armando Almendarez Ronald Whitmore Paula Cottone |
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Go Get Your Smock!
Participating Chicago Public Schools, 2002-2003
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Additional Fine and Performing Arts
Magnet Cluster Schools Participating Independently
in the Go Get Your Smock! Program
Rudyard Kipling Elementary School(2001-2002, 2002-2003) 9351 S. Lowe Avenue Thomas J. Waters Elementary School(2000-2001, 2001-2002) 4540 N. Campbell Avenue |
Waters School was the incubator location for the GGYS Program in a traditional school environment. The materials and methods developed there are used in classrooms across the city.
Both Waters School and Kipling School have an additional documentation component, where the process and work of the children is explained and displayed. This documentation serves as a link between the early childhood art-in-the-classroom program, the parents and the greater school community. We also hope to serve as a model of experiential learning opportunities and innovative documentation to other classroom teachers.
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Plans for the Future
In the 2003-2004 school year, we look forward to some new initiatives for the Go Get Your Smock! Program. From our classroom teacher program evaluations, we see a desire on the part of these participants to work with us to learn more about basic art concepts for young children. Many teachers have expressed interest in learning about how to talk with young children about the art they see our picture books, and how to use these terms and concepts in other areas of the classroom.
We would also like to devote energy to helping classroom teachers have an exciting, ever-changing art learning center in each classroom for children to visit during "center time." Often materials are stored in a way that proves too difficult for a child to approach independently. Sometimes the choices are overwhelming and can intimidate a young artist. Preschool children have an easier time at first when the choices are obvious and limited. (For example it is easier for a 3-year-old to work creatively with a small tray of a few select crayons, peeled and broken vs. a cookie tin full of crayons with the paper still on that all appear dark.) We'd like the materials and methods we bring to each visit to be available to the children again later in the week, so they can repeat the experience and solidify their understanding of the media and their own skills. This new attention to the art learning centers can be addressed both through professional development workshops for participating teachers and additional time on the part of the GGYS instructor. A professional development component for classroom teachers would help us to all work as a team in bringing hands-on learning methods to young artists.
Employment Opportunities
We are always looking for people who are comfortable with art terms and concepts and are very comfortable in a room full of 4-year-olds who all have scissors. Contact us if you are interested in joining our program.
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Copyright (c) 2003 Go Get Your Smock! All rights reserved.
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