This week beginning 1st February, the children learnt about the artist ‘Chris Jordan.’ Chris Jordan creates sculptures and pieces of art made out of ‘junk’ as part of the campaign ‘Artworks for Change.’ With his powerful images of mass consumption, Chris Jordan issues a clear message: it is time to sweat the small stuff. Jordan visited landfills and recycling centres to photograph vast piles of discarded products such as cell phones, chargers, circuit boards, crushed cars, glass bottles and other consumer goods. The children learnt about how his art pieces reveal the shocking consequences of our daily choices on the environment and wildlife and the urgent need to make a change. Using this learning, the children planned, wrote about and created their own scrap sculptures to portray a message about ‘Tikkun Olam’ – repairing the world. The children presented their sculptures to the class and then we had a mini exhibition where the children walked around with post it notes, giving feedback to their peers about their sculptures. We have attached photos of their sculptures to show you. The children worked so hard in their groups and thought incredibly hard about their role in improving the world.

We also watched a video clip called ‘It’s Not Our Planet, It’s Our Home,’ which we used as the stimulus for the project. The clip can be found if you click here and scroll down.