At BIS, creativity and a passion for learning flourish every day.

Students think through stories, express ideas through art, and explore new possibilities through hands-on activities. Whether they are working on thematic projects, environmental crafts, or foundational art skills, they continue building confidence, focus, and meaningful learning experiences in an enjoyable and inspiring environment.

Let’s dive into this week’s newsletter.

Reception Lions Explore the African Savannah: Learning Through Stories and Art

Written by Ms. Lenka

This week in Chinese class, our Reception Lion Cubs explored the theme of Animal Rescue — African Savannah Animals. Summer on the African grasslands is always scorching hot and full of challenges! Through stories about animal migration, the children developed a solid understanding of life on the savannah and naturally used phrases like “extremely hot” and “lack of food” when talking about the animals. For our art activity, we created animal silhouettes that highlight the unique features of the grassland environment, using warm tones to evoke the intense heat. As they worked, the children also used climate-related vocabulary to form longer sentences and engage in discussion. The layered colors resemble the savannah at dusk, while the printed black silhouettes appear mysterious and striking, making you feel as if you’ve stepped right onto the African grasslands.

From Trash to Treasure: Y1 Tigers Turn Waste into Play!

Written by Ms. Bear, Nov. 2025

As autumn settles in at BIS, our Y1 Tigers are busier than ever. In last week’s GP lesson, we learned about Recycle, Reuse, Reduce. The items we’ve used—like empty milk cartons or finished drawing paper—are not “little pieces of trash,” but “treasures that have lost their way”! When we throw them into an ordinary bin, they end up in a dark, crowded place where they’ll “fall asleep and never wake up again,” which is such a pity. So we must become “little environmental guardians” who rescue these treasures!

This week, we asked the children to bring in items such as water bottles and small boxes to create toys they love, because these things don’t need to be thrown away right away. With the help of mums and dads at home, our Y1 Tigers let them “come out and play again”! After washing and bringing them to school, the children used their imagination to turn them into toy guns, bows and arrows, and more. When each of us becomes a thoughtful “environmental guardian,” these little treasures can be reborn again and again in creative new ways—and our Mother Earth will become cleaner and happier. Let’s work together to protect our shared home!

Why the First Term Should Focus on Fundamental Art Skills in Primary School

Written by Ms. Elena, Nov. 2025

A strong art education is built on the same principle as any other discipline: without a secure foundation in basic skills, students cannot develop higher-level creativity, mastery, or confidence. In many international schools following the Cambridge Primary Art & Design curriculum, the learning objectives for skills such as texture, perspective, pattern, value, and colour are thoughtfully distributed across the academic year. While this spiral approach ensures repetition, many teachers find exceptional value in concentrating these fundamentals during the first term. When young learners gain early comfort with essential techniques and tools—watercolours, soft pastels, markers, pencils, glue, collage materials—they are better equipped to approach the rest of the year with skill, independence, and genuine artistic growth.

Focusing on basic skills from the start is not only pedagogically effective; it is transformative for students’ confidence and creative identity. The first term sets the tone for everything ahead. When children learn to see, observe, understand, and control the elements of art early, they begin the year with clarity and purpose. They feel capable, and they approach future tasks with curiosity rather than fear or confusion.

1. Why Basic Skills Matter in Term 1

Children in the primary department are still developing fine motor skills, hand–eye coordination, visual understanding, and problem-solving abilities. Art provides an ideal environment for nurturing these developmental needs, but they require structured, repeated practice.

a. Early mastery creates independence

By introducing essential skills intensively in Term 1, students learn “how to learn” in the art room:

• How to hold tools correctly
• How to use glue without mess
• How to clean a brush
• How to blend colours
• How to shade, control pressure, or layer media
• How to use rulers, erasers, sharpeners correctly

These seemingly small habits greatly affect later work. A child who can confidently shade with pencil or mix a soft gradient in watercolour will naturally produce stronger results in all upcoming projects.

b. Repetition builds long-term retention

Children remember what they repeat. When texture, pattern, value, and perspective are introduced, practiced, and revisited intensively at the beginning of the year, those skills remain accessible throughout later units. Instead of reteaching basics before every new lesson, the teacher can build forward—encouraging creativity, storytelling, critical thinking, and higher-level design.

c. Strong foundations amplify creativity

Creativity thrives on structure, not chaos. When students understand how to create depth with perspective, how to build texture with materials, or how to select colours that support meaning, their artwork becomes more expressive and intentional. They move from copying shapes to designing thoughtful visual compositions.

2. Essential Art Skills for Term 1

Below are the key skills that, when prioritised in the first term, transform the entire year’s learning trajectory.

Perspective

Why it matters:
Perspective teaches children one of the most fundamental visual principles: how to create the illusion of space. Understanding foreground, background, vanishing points, and converging lines helps students draw realistically, organise compositions, and make sense of their visual world.

Term 1 example:
One-Point Perspective “Street of Houses” – Students draw a straight road disappearing into a vanishing point, with houses, windows, signs, trees, or lampposts aligned to perspective lines.
They learn:

• Vanishing point
• Horizon line
• Converging lines
• Proportion and distance
• Spatial awareness

Once they learn this method, they can apply perspective naturally in landscapes, cityscapes, or any drawing requiring depth.

Texture

Why it matters:
Texture develops sensory awareness, observation skills, and creativity. It teaches students to express how objects feel—soft, rough, smooth, bumpy—whether through drawing, painting, collage, or mixed media.

Term 1 example:
“Bean Animals” or “Pasta Creatures” Collage – Using beans, seeds, pasta, and small materials, students design animals with tactile surfaces. Each area of the animal’s body uses a different type of material to create contrasting textures.
They learn:

• Sensory texture
• Visual texture
• Composition
• Careful gluing and layout
• Patience and precision

This project also strengthens fine motor skills and builds confidence with collage techniques.

Patterns

Why it matters:
Patterns support mathematical thinking, rhythm, repetition, balance, and symmetry. They help children understand that visual art is built from shapes, lines, and repeated motifs.

Term 1 example:
Patterned Leaves – Children draw a large leaf shape and fill each section with different patterns—dots, lines, zigzags, spirals, curves, geometric repeat shapes, tribal marks, etc.
They learn:

• Repetition
• Line variety
• Controlled drawing
• Creative problem-solving
• Surface design

This activity becomes a perfect warm-up for more advanced design units later in the year.

Value (Light and Dark)

Why it matters:
Value is one of the most important but often overlooked skills. Understanding light and dark helps students create volume, mood, contrast, and form. Without value, drawings look flat and incomplete.

Term 1 example:

• Shading spheres using only pencil
• Gradient strips with soft pastels
• Value scales from light to dark

Students learn pressure control, blending, and the behaviour of light on form.

Colour Theory

Why it matters:
Colour influences emotion, focus, atmosphere, and meaning. Students must learn not only how to mix colours but how to use them intentionally.

Term 1 exercises:

• Primary, secondary, tertiary colour mixing
• Warm vs. cool colours
• Complementary colour harmony
• Watercolour layering and washes
• Pastel blending

When this knowledge is solid early on, future units—landscapes, portraits, mixed media—become dramatically more successful.

3. Learning Basic Materials Properly

Often, teachers assume students already know how to use pencils, brushes, or paint—but they don’t. Proper technique requires instruction.

Pencils:

• Pressure control
• Gradient shading
• Line variation
• Cross-hatching

Watercolours:

• Wet-on-wet technique
• Wet-on-dry technique
• Layering and transparency
• Brush cleaning routines

Soft Pastels:

• Blending with fingers or tissue
• Layering without smudging
• Creating bold vs. soft edges

Glue and collage:

• Thin glue application
• Clean workspace habits
• Attaching materials securely

When students learn these techniques early, art-making becomes smoother, cleaner, and more enjoyable all year.

4. Why Concentrating These Skills in Term 1 Works Best

a. It prepares students for complex projects later

By Term 2 and Term 3, students can focus more on storytelling, cultural art, 3D sculpture, mixed media, and individual creativity. They already have the tools.

b. It raises the overall quality of artwork

Parents and students notice immediate improvement when the basics are mastered early.

c. It supports academic and cognitive development

Art skills relate to maths (patterns, symmetry, measurement), science (light, colour), literacy (expression, storytelling), and well-being (focus, emotional expression).

d. It builds classroom culture

The first weeks are ideal for teaching routines, safety, material care, and expectations—setting the tone for the year.

Conclusion

While the Cambridge curriculum distributes artistic skills across the year, concentrating the essential foundational skills in Term 1 creates a solid platform that empowers students to grow creatively, confidently, and independently. By teaching perspective, texture, patterns, value, colour theory, and material techniques early—and reinforcing them through engaging projects such as bean-texture animals, patterned leaves, and one-point perspective streets—students enter the rest of the school year equipped not only with technical ability but with genuine excitement for artistic exploration.

A strong foundation in the first term does not limit creativity—it unlocks it.