by Jen Myers

It is the day before Valentine’s Day in the Art Studio at the Morey Elementary School and absolute boisterous chaos reigns; the good kind of chaos – fueled by creativity and purpose.

Two dozen first graders buzz around the room collecting materials and tools – markers, paint, tape, fluffy stuffing, string, scissors, and more. They are on a mission with a deadline – create a Valentine’s Day gift for someone special in their lives – a parent or guardian, a nana, a gramps, a teacher, a friend. Even as excited busy bee first-graders, they are cognizant of the expectations of the Art Studio reinforced at the beginning of class by their teacher, Kait Lawrence – take care of people, take care of stuff, and behave like an artist.

As projects begin to take shape, calls of “Ms. Lawrence, Ms. Lawrence” fill the space and she pinballs around the room helping a student learn how to follow origami instructions for the first time, tying the string to create a necklace for another, giving permission for a student to go to the supply closet to collect extra fluffy stuffing to make a stuffie, or helping peel and place tape to create boundaries for a creative painting project. When she is busy working with a student and another needs help, one of their peers will often step in and employ teamwork to solve the problem at hand.

Were there a few meltdowns along the way? Of course. It is all part of the artistic process. But, cooler heads prevailed and by the end of class two dozen smiling first-graders had pieces of beautiful artwork in-hand and ready to deliver to that special person in their life.

“My students are amazing!” said Lawrence. “They have brilliant ideas, and are so hungry for creative challenges. My whole goal for the Morey’s Art Studio is to have a safe space for students to create/imagine/explore and make mistakes so they can learn from them. I want them to share their ideas and collaborate with each other. I want them to inspire, and make their voices heard.”

Kait Lawrence grew up in Lowell. Always a creative kid, she did not have an actual Art class until her junior year of high school at Lowell High.

Interested in Art and design, she earned a bachelor’s degree in Interior Design from Wentworth Institute of Technology. She really enjoyed the hands-on design project work assigned in her first two years of college.

“In my junior and senior years, as part of the co-op program at Wentworth, I was hired to work in an architecture and design firm in Harvard Square led by a remarkable female architect,” Lawrence recalled. “However, I hated working in an office. It hurt my soul. At that point, I knew I just needed to graduate. I figured I would decide my future after that.”

She moved back home and decided to take some classes in Elementary Education at Cambridge College’s Lawrence Campus.

“In my very first semester, I needed to observe in a local school,” she said. “A family friend allowed me to observe in her room, and I fell in love! I knew this was something that I wanted to pursue.”

Lawrence’s teaching journey began in 2006 when she took a position as a Kindergarten paraprofessional at the Morey while earning her master’s degree and working a second to pay her bills.

Following graduation, she taught third grade at the Lowell Community Charter Public School for two years, before returning to LPS in 2011 to take a classroom position at the Reilly Elementary School, where she stayed for eight years.

Looking for a change, Lawrence took the leap when she saw the Art teacher at the Morey was retiring.

“As a classroom teacher for 10 years, it was really great to have students for a full year. You got to know them and their families,” she said. “However, it is INCREDIBLE to see students grow from Kindergarten through fourth grade. They know the expectations of the Art Studio so they come to class ready to create. I’m like a fun aunt!”

The first thing every student learns in Lawrence’s studio are the Studio Habits of Mind – essentially ways to think like an artist.

“They can be used anywhere – in the Art Studio, in their regular classroom, on the playground, when they’re bored – literally anywhere/everywhere” she said. “They tie in beautifully with Massachusetts Visual Arts standards, too.”

Studio Habits of Mind

• • • Stretch & Explore – trying new things
    • Express – creating work that tells a story/has personal meaning/shares an idea
    • Develop Craft – learning about & practicing new materials/new skills/new techniques, as well as taking care of the tools and materials of the Art Studio
    • Envision – using my mind & imagination to create new art by planning out the steps to make my art look great
    • Understand Art Worlds – looking to other artists for inspiration as well as collaboration; interpreting others’ artwork
    • Observe – looking closely at details, as well as noticing things in my world and in other art
    • Engage & Persist – sticking with something even when it is frustrating; trying again until I get it right
    • Reflect – discussing my work and how I made it with other artists

The students, she said, live by these habits and keep them in mind when working on projects. They create a loose discipline that help them unlock their creativity in an effective way.

“One of my former students (my birthday twinsie, too!) created a 3D sneaker out of cardboard. No instructional video,” Lawrence said.  “He used each of the Studio Habits of Mind to create this. I was so proud of him!”

Students never stop surprising her, particular in their growth from the beginning to the end of the school year or from grade level to grade level.

“Students who needed hand-over-hand support in Kindergarten are creating independently as second-graders. Students who were *bananas* in Kindergarten are now independently setting up/cleaning up and helping others with painting in third grade. Students who didn’t talk in Kindergarten are now explaining their artwork to others in class as fourth graders,” she said.  “My heart is so full when I think about my students!”

Lawrence was recently awarded a mini grant from Mosaic Lowell to have each of the Morey students create a 4” x 4” self-portrait, as a summative assessment of all of the lessons learned during the year, to be on display during the end-of-year Morey Celebration.

“It is an excellent way for students to show what they have learned throughout the school year. It also helps children learn who they are, how they want to present themselves, and what’s important to them as a child and an artist,” she said.

Building on that, she is also exploring getting Crayola Model Magic modeling compound for students who are interested in 3D sculpture to create their self-portraits and large 11” x 14” canvases for fourth-grade students who want to present their self-portraits in a larger format as they graduate from the Morey.

It is clear that Art class at the Morey is about a lot more than just drawing a picture or taking a break from the rest of the day. It is a way to unleash the creativity and discipline that makes students into thoughtful, productive members of the community.

“Kait is a joyful, creative person who fosters and celebrates the creativity in everyone,” said Morey Elementary School Principal Kate McLaughlin. “She has fully embraced our school’s goal of increasing our students’ agency. She completely redesigned her lesson structure so that the students set goals, make purposeful choices about media, reflect on their own work, and respectfully discuss art with each other. The art studio is a valued place at the Morey School as our children build their creativity, their agency, their language skills, and their critical thinking.”

All About Ms. Lawrence:

Hobbies: Reading, going for walks while listening to podcasts, hanging out with my family and friends, creating/organizing/exploring
Dream Vacation: Overwater bungalows in the Maldives
Favorite song to sing in the car: Pop punk from the late 90s!
Favorite meal: Steak tips with salad and French fries from TreMonte
Favorite snack: A large flavored hot coffee and flax seed bar from KJ’s Caffe
Favorite Movie: Weekend at Bernie’s
Favorite Picture Book: The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld, Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae, and Any Elephant and Piggie book by Mo Willems
Favorite TV Show: Seinfeld
Favorite Fictional Character: Piggie