LA CLEF -Association Culture
During the month of June I offered workshops every Thursday & Friday morning
Either in French or in English or both!
It was honestly such a huge pleasure being able to do it in a room full of my artwork.
Very thankful to this opportunity!
At the end of the lesson the kids create artwork which will either go up to space with
@spaceforartfoundation @astro_nicole and @oceanculturelife or depending on the project will be part of the exhibition in @laclefstgermain !
In any case it’ll be fun and educational!!!
British school of Paris Junior School
I feel very thankful that I was invited by the British school of Paris Junior School to talk about Ocean Pollution and to raise environmental awareness.
During my visits, I highlighted and explained the problems with single-use plastics, we talked about the earth overshoot day and how we can protect the world's resources and live less wastefully. And most important of all, how the pupils can become changemakers and protect our home, mother earth.
I love working with schools over several school visits, it means we can start slowly with a complex subject and the kids can grow with it. At the end of my visits they produce their own artwork from what they have learned, and can also express their emotions of how they feel about it. I'm very sensitive to the fact that environmental issues can be upsetting and, with 7-years of school-visit experience with my children's books, I'm very concious not to scare or overwhelm the children. The experience aims to be positive and to ensure that they feel motivated to make a difference.
I feel very proud and deeply touched that the British School of Paris entrance hall art installation was inspired by my visits. I feel very thankful and I'm impressed with their brilliant work.
I like to inspire the children but not give specific assignments of what they should create. The British School of Paris decided to focus on items that they use every single day in the canteen or in their classroom, which then gets thrown away after just a few seconds. They were surprised how fast the rubbish accumulates and how much they use in one single day and then throw away.
We can only change once we understand the problems. I think their art installation was a perfect example for undersanding the problem and therefore start acting on it. For me education and raising awareness is the key.
"In 2018 Nina was invited to work closely alongside a number of teachers, parents and students at The British School of Paris. As an author and environmental activist, Nina has helped initiate and support a number of different projects across the school that have informed and educated students on the importance of environmental issues and sustainability.
Nina has held several informative whole-school assemblies that have raised awareness of single-use plastic and the dangers this can cause to ocean life. She has given inspirational presentations and seminars to our older students supporting their understanding in units of work such as climate change and habitats.
Through the work she does Nina has made fantastic connections resulting in the school gaining access to other inspirational guest speakers. She was also very much involved in the creation and delivery of the school's Eco Club, running art sessions as well as reading to children as a visiting author.
Throughout her time with the British School of Paris, Nina Rossiter has volunteered her time generously and has gone above and beyond expectation. Through Nina's contributions as an artist and author she has without a doubt changed the environmental culture of the school. Her passion and enthusiasm is infectious and she will always be considered a friend of the school. Thank you Nina."
~Tim Black, Year 6 Teacher, British School of Paris
British school of Paris Junior School
I am very thankful to have been invited to the British School of Paris for some more art projects to raise awareness of ocean pollution! 8-11 year olds pupils each drew a seahorse with a cotton bud, inspired by the iconic photo by Justin Hofman. "This photo serves as an allegory for the current and future state of our oceans." ~Justin Hofman. Which is also the image that inspired me to write 1,2,3, Who's Cleaning the Sea?
I’m so proud of the kids from the eco-club at the British School of Paris.
Amazing work my eco warriors!
After two years of virtual school visits I’m physically back at school teaching “Ocean”, as part of their climate change learning program! Over three weeks we are learning and talking about these issues:
1. Plastic pollution:
- What is plastic?
- Why doesn’t is biodegrade?
- How does it end up in our oceans?
- What are micro plastics and what are the consequences for Wildlife.
- What is the future of plastic waste and what is recycled plastic.
- What can you do against plastic pollution and how can you become a little
Change maker that sets a positive example in this world.
2. Waste:
- how can we reduce our waste
- how can we protect the world’s resources.
- how can communication help to reduce waste.
3. Meat / Fish consumption:
- What can we do on an individual level and set a great example, maybe also to inspire other schools!
Super excited to see the students work and hopefully we can have a positive impact!
The British School of Paris Junior School has been very fortunate to have developed a professional relationship with Janina Rossister over several years and our children have benefited from her time and expertise on many occasions. Janina talked to the entire school about the impact of plastic pollution on our planet which inspired every child from Nursery to Year 6 to create an art installation highlighting the devastation that single use plastic is causing to our seas and oceans. Janina has also worked closely on developing and leading a number of other projects with our Year 6 classes and the school’s ECO Club. Janina has a super way of being able to talk to children about very weighty issues affecting us all and the children respond beautifully to her and truly learn what they can do to take better care of our world. I highly recommend contacting Janina to see how she may be able to support your school’s work on climate action.
- Mark Potter, Head of Junior School, The British School of Paris.
"Nina was very professional and the children really engaged with her climate change topics. Her presentations were of high quality and very well researched. Nina brought in amazing examples of her artwork and merchandise. It was clear to see the impacts we can have on our world to bring about positive change. Thank you Nina."
- Anna Wassell - British School of Paris
British school of Paris Junior School
"Loved your assembly on Friday. The kids love the book and enjoyed learning about some sea animals. The shapes are perfect to integrate their learning. We are now into a pirate theme which is taking us across the seas and oceans and the children are learning about the problem of plastic and pollution and the plight of the sea turtles. Thanks again for your work. "
~Mr Watson, Year 6 Teacher, British School of Paris
I returned to the British School of Paris for a whole school assembly for World Ocean Day. I read my book 'Diamonds, Hearts and Sea Stars' and talked about World Oceans Day and Sea Turtle week. Before my visit I asked the children to participate in my drawing challenge for Word Oceans Day. #drawforwod
“To save us - let’s find a solution.
Please help clean up ocean pollution!”
I received 234 drawings in total, the youngest artists were 3 years old! I thought by asking the children to draw their favorite sea creature which they would want to protect from ocean pollution I can put them on a little journey. A journey that might lead to more.... to activist - artivist - ocean advocates.
I put their drawings in a little video which I showed at the end of my presentation and it was very heartwarming.
If you would like to see the 234 drawings please click here.
Year 3 have been learning about the Polar regions and the impact climate change is having on some of the animals that live there. They were keen to share their ideas about climate action and had lots of questions.
This is what the children had to say after the talk:
Jess: "We should take care of the seas and not use too much plastic"
Sophie: "We need to be careful, oil is bad for the oceans."
Mirico: " Too much noise can confuse the dolphins and the whales"
Nicolas: "Oil rigs and carbon are polluting our environment."
Bhubi: "We need plankton to give us oxygen to breathe."
It was a pleasure to visit year three and they were very attentive and had lots of questions.
6 hours of ARTivism workshop! 💙🐋🌎✨
Starting with the whole of year 6 on climate change, moving on to year 3 to talk about the poles and how climate change affects them. Ending the day by talking to reception (4-5) about plastic pollution!
- All of Year 6
- All of Year 3
- Reception
Story time, presenting and asking the kids what inspired them the most so they can create their own Artivism piece! So they can inspire others! To take positive action towards changing their behavior to protect the world’s resources and to tackle climate change.
Really excited to see what they will come up with!
Great visit at the British School of Paris. We talked about the fashion industry, the impact on our planet and the human behavior, such as overconsumption and what each of them can do do have a positive impact!
I brought some sustainable items and labels as well as some labels where there’s a lot of noise about doing good for the planet but looking at the label carefully it appears rather to be greenwashing.
A word the kids have never heard before and one of the guessing was « washing your clothes to make them green » very cute. Mrs Fox took the time to explain the English expression to white wash and how it got adapted towards the industry. That said, we also mentioned that it’s important to be transparent when you are on a journey of change and it only becomes a problem when the customer feels being fooled.
We also took a long time to speak about the circular industry and what it means to buy a product that is made from recycled fabrics.
The kids are going to create their own products so it was important to speak about the impact and how they can still create but doing it in a sustainable way. I’m really looking forward to see their results.
We talked for over an hour and the kids were motivated to take action. One wants to write a letter to their favorite brand to motivate them for positive change. But as I always say the journey starts with ourselves and inspiring others by positive behavior.
I loved their enthusiasm, the quick understanding that the way we are doing things will have consequences for future generation and how motivated they were to take action.
Again huge thank you for having me!
Fantastic day with year 3 and year 4 at the The British School of Paris today
We had a great morning learning about plastic pollution and how to become an hashtag#artivist with reading hashtag#123whoscleaningthesea and the afternoon talking about biodiversity loss and all sort of pollution that is causing an issue for animals! Reading hashtag#diamondsheartsandseastars and creating their own artwork!
Can’t wait for the final result!!!
Thank you for having me!
British school of Paris Senior School
I found out that The British School of Paris Senior School is doing environmental week and they were inspired by my work! I love this !!!
Protect what keeps you alive!!!
Working with year 7 & year 9
I know many of the kids from way back when I started working with the BSP junior school in 2018/2019 so it was a quite an emotional moment that they remembered our work together and wanted to name their environmental week after my tag line!
Some pictures from when they invited me to give a speech at their assembly! Very emotional for me! Very thankful!
Especially to Mrs Claire Playbody!
British school of Paris Senior School
I was invited to speak to year 9 at The British School of Paris about the issue with single use products! 2hour workshops with fabulous results! I think my favourite yet as I felt so inspired reading the kids work! Well done!
We worked with the booklet that I created in collaboration with Ocean Culture Life , so if you feel inspired - please join us! Simply download the booklet:
https://lnkd.in/emWCPQ3w Find the page with « bring your own »
Bring your own is a campaign I’ve been trying to push for over 5 years and so excited that the British school of Paris committed to put our plan into action for the summer fair! Makes me extremely happy as it puts my work into direct positive action!
🧭 I was invited by the 1st Bougival Scout Group – British Scouting in France
British Scouting Overseas who host their meetings at The British School of Paris
🌊 For me it was an exciting moment as I read “…Green and Blue, Planet Ocean Me and You! A book about colours and the human impact on our planet” for the very first time! The book is coming out next week!
🌊 A book about climate change explained in colours and the most important - taking into account our ocean! Which often gets forgotten.
💙 I honestly had the best time ever! The kids enjoyed the book and were asked to create their own artivism piece based on their own emotions and a topic they care about! I also reminded them, even though the topic is upsetting to keep their ARTivism piece positive to inspire others to make a didifference!
👉 I am honestly so proud of the work they created! Sharp creative and very talented minds! Have a look at their work! Isn’t it clever and stunning ?
#schoolartivism is something I’m very passionate about and it makes me proud!
#nevergiveup #artivism #blueandgreen #greenandblue #planetoceanmeandyou #planetocean #oceanart #bluecarbon
Lennen Bilingual School Paris
I have been working with the Lennen Bilingual School for years and visited them on several occasions with all my other books. I always have great memories of these visits and these are really the moments I'll keep in my heart forever.
The kids in the "petite section" are only 3 to 4 years old, but it was so amazing to see how fast they understood that we have to protect the sea creatures and the environment they live in.
As the Lennen Bilingual School in Paris is a bilingual school, I read my book in French and English. We also created art together and watched films about plastic pollution. A very kid-friendly and age appropriate film is the #theplasticvagabond by Fondation Tara Océan.
"It is always a pleasure to welcome Janina to our school. She engages younger children through her stories, reading her books, both in French and English. The art projects and class discussions always engage younger children to participate in thinking about the environment, how to find ways to protect it, not using one-time plastic, and how to recycle. Children are active participants and always happy to go home and share their knowledge with their families. Janina empowers the children positively through art projects about protecting the ocean and recycling."
~Michelle Lennen, Head of School at Lennen Bilingual School Paris
Janina Rossiter has been invited to speak at the Lennen Bilingual School a number of times over the last few years, with each visit a great success! She is hugely engaged with the children and encourages them to ask questions and think for themselves about the environment. Since her visits, the children have turned into true little eco-warriors and have become determined to protect our planet and the sea creatures from plastic pollution. I would highly recommend Janina Rossiter's author visit for any school that is interested in helping children understand about plastic pollution and how we can all do our bit to help. Her passion for bringing about change and encouraging everyone to make a difference is contagious. Many months after her latest visit the kids are still talking about her! I would recommend her program on plastic pollution to any school.
- Aoife Marie Dumousseaux, Teacher at Lennen Bilingual School Paris
Lycée International de Saint Germain-en-Laye / Go Green
I approached the Lycée International de Saint Germain-en-Laye before the big summer school fête and proposed to reduce on waste by asking the parents and students to bring their own picnic set, water bottles and cups. While the ideas were received positively by the Club International, there were open questions about how to execute them.
This gave me the idea of creating a handbook with all the details of how we could reduce our waste. Go Green came into life - A Club International initiative to organise lycee events in a more sustainable way. A group of like-minded moms with the same goals to protect our kids' planet.
The Lycée International de Saint Germain-en-Laye summer fête is a big event of about 3,000 people. We worked together with the students, parents and had lots of helping hands.
Go Green became a big success and lots of parents wanted to join the initiative. I'm very proud of what we have achieved and created for the Club International. I hope that Go Green will continue for years and that other schools will follow the example. #changeisnow
Dulwich College Singapore
I love working with schools, where I talk to the children about plastic pollution and how we can find sustainable solutions together. Before the Covid-19 pandempic I would have never thought about working with a school in Singapore but the pandemic opened up new opportunties for schools to explore remote learning. I got contacted by the Dulwich College in Singapore to work with them on an environmental project and, despite not being able to visit the school in person, it has proven to be very successful. I feel very thanful to the Dulwich College Singapore for giving me their trust and I now feel even more motivated to work with schools all around the world.
Year 2 has created some fantastic artwork and my heart skipped a few beats when I first saw it. So beautiful. I think each of the pupils can be immensely proud of their work.
I love the marbling effect and how much detail they put into each drawing. I also feel very honored and so thankful that my work has inspired them to create such beautiful artwork.
Each student chose either a land animal or a sea creature inspired by my books "The ABC Animal Picnic" and "1,2,3, Who's Cleaning the Sea?"
My goal is always to raise awareness of the problems our planet is facing, but it is also about how to protect the beautiful creatures that live on it. Getting to know them and learning about them is a start to protecting them.
"In the end we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we are taught." ~ Baba Dioum, 1968
I'm also working with year 4, where we will focus on plastic pollution.
Janina Rossiter was invited to collaborate with Dulwich College (Singapore) with our Year 2 and Year 4 children, they were in awe of her work which linked well with their learning of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Due to the impact of Covid-19 this was conducted as a virtual artist residency, with video links and presentations. Janina was very thorough with the resources she provided and flexible with the project as it developed. Our children filmed questions to ask which Janina answered with lots of visuals and age appropriate explanations. As a virtual residency it was incredibly successful, the outcomes from the project were really high quality and I couldn't recommend enough working with Janina!
- Kathryn Hall, Director of Art & Design Technology, Dulwich College Singapore
This amazing picture book has been done by year 4 at the Dulwich College in Singapore.
They were inspired by my book #123whoscleaningthesea to protect the sea creatures and are demonstrating what the sea creatures are finding in the sea!
Their teacher Mr Evans is a Scuba Diving Instructor, can you tell?
I think their work is fantastic and they have realised that most of the debris the sea creatures are finding
are products that we use on land on a daily basis and should be either recycled or avoided.
A huge thank you to Mr. Evans as well as to Kathryn Hall from the Dulwich College and year 2 DUCKS Dulwich Kindergarten School.
Watch their work here.
Dulwich College Singapore
In December 2022 I started to work with year 2 of the Dulwich College Singapore.
220 children have worked on this project which started off with a library session, reading my books 123 who’s cleaning the sea? and the ABC Animal Picnic
Which followed by a presentation of my work to fight plastic pollution and to protect our endangered wildlife.
The kids asked me lots of questions and from these interactions they created their artwork which was dedicated to the animals of the lunar new year!
12 in total - they highlight the beauty of each animal in their artwork and are now being exhibited!
Very proud of being the source of inspiration for these beautiful artworks. And very proud that the teachers chose to use ARTivism work and to learn about plastic pollution and the importance to protect our beautiful planet as a lesson plan for this! Huge thank you to the teachers in your trust!
The work of the kids is absolutely stunning!
Janina Rossiter has been a guest speaker on several occasions in 2018 and 2020 at Trillium International School, a bilingual school in Marly le Roi. Each visit has been wonderful and inspiring.
We have met Tovi the penguin, one of Janina’s first characters who has taken us on a variety of adventures. His stories came alive in the children’s artwork.
Janina has the ability to engage the children through her stories, her books, and she uses art projects and class discussions to help them participate. Janina was part of our ‘World Book Day project’.
With Janina’s most recent book (1,2,3 Who’s cleaning the sea?’) she encourages children to think about the environment and help them understand about polluting our seas and oceans.
Janina is a great contributor to any school involved in environmental awareness.
I would highly recommend Janina as an author, artist and activist.
Thank you Janina for standing up for our planet and speaking to this next generation of children to raise consciousness and protect our world.
- Simone Pouwels, Head of Trillium International School,
I was invited by Alexander More to give a guest speech at their course “Art in environmental communications and advocacy” at the Long Island University in Brooklyn.
Very thankful for this experience.
I was invited to the International School of Toulouse in May 2021 to speak to the children about plastic pollution. 4 days for 45 min I spoke to the children and we covered the following subjects:
Day one:
- A small intro to single use plastic
- Reading my book 1,2,3, Who’s Cleaning the Sea!
- Watching a 2min video together
- Little conversation about this video
Day two:
Q&A - to answer questions about my book, the video, my artwork,
Anything the kids would like to talk about.
Day three:
- Plastic Pollution Presentation
- World Overshoot day, how we can protect the world resources
- Learning about behavioural change to protect our planet
Day four:
Raising awareness through artwork.
Talking about the work the students have created and why it is important.
"Janina's art work and books really caught the children's attention and they were motivated to produce their own sketches and art work. After discussing the issues caused by plastic pollution for different sea creatures in sessions with Nina, they were keen to raise awareness around the school."
~Julie Hall, Teacher, International School of Toulouse
It was a great experience working with Year 3 at Damers First School, Dorchester, Dorset teaching them about the Natural Wonders of the World. Especially our oceans. Look at their brilliant artwork!
Janina Rossiter supported their work by giving an engaging presentation virtually about her environmental work. It was a real eye opener for the children to hear about the environmental issues and how they can be used in story books to help teach children about looking after the environment. Janina read her book "1, 2, 3 Who's Cleaning the Sea?'' The children and teachers learned so much about illustrating a book and writing books too. The children enjoyed hearing about how Janina goes to aquariums to gather ideas and draws the marine animals there too using pinpoint dots to create her artwork for her books. This inspired the children to go down to their local aquarium and have a go themselves. The children produced outstanding art work and environmental stories using the knowledge Janina had taught them, basing these ideas on local locations and animals they had researched themselves who have an environmental problem e.g, eating plastic.
~ Edd Moore, Teacher, Damers First School, Dorchester, Dorset
In April 2022 I visited the international school Ermitage in Maison Lafitte .
Over a period of three weeks we had 3 visits in two different CM2 classes.
The goal was to raise awareness of pollutants that can be found in the ocean and how we can protect the sea creatures in the future.
On my first visit we had a little story time and read my Ocean books '1,2,3 Who's Cleaning the Sea?' and 'Diamonds, Hearts and Sea Stars' and talked about ocean pollution. The kids already knew a lot about plastic pollution and shark finning!
On my second visit we learned a lot about plastic, and how each of us can make a difference. I tried to inspire the children to find a subject they are about and want to take action.
On my third visit we created art together to raise awareness and to inspire others.
I start all my school visits with story time and read my Ocean books '1,2,3 Who's Cleaning the Sea?' and 'Diamonds, Hearts and Sea Stars' and talked about ocean pollution. They are my tool to create change.
'I love to use storytelling as a medium to connect with and inspire children to discover or protect our planet. This is what I aim to do through my penguin character, Tovi, who discovers the world, or through my concept books series about protecting our oceans. For me, I feel it is important not to overwhelm or scare the children, but rather to educate them in a fun way, and books are a perfect tool for that.
My goal is to shape the next generation of ARTivists, who will then help inspire others.'
'In a world where Covid, war and Brexit have been occupying everyone’s minds, we seem to have put global warming and pollution a little to the side. Nina used the children’s knowledge of recycling and plastic pollution to create some lovely art, more awareness of the damage we are causing and also a drive, within all of us, to take more care of the sea. She has helped to create some keen ocean ambassadors.'
Nicola Upton and Jeanette Bornheim - CM2 - Ermitage
In June 2022 I was back at the international school Ermitage in Maison Lafitte .
I visited two Year 4 classes over a period of 2 weeks.
We read '1,2,3 Who's Cleaning the Sea?' and talked about plastic pollution and why it is a problem for our ocean. We talked about how each of them could make a difference.
They had lots of ideas and participated enthusiastically .
On my second visit the kids brought lots of photos of ocean pollution that they researched with their parents. We made a collage out of the images and wrote tag lines in illustrated shells. They wanted to use the artwork to motivate the rest of the school to reduce their single-use plastic impact and to protect our planet.
Well done everyone!
In June 2022 I was back at the international school Ermitage in Maison Lafitte .
Here are some images from my visit in Year 4 / class 2.
We started the first visit with story time and a presentation about plastic pollution.
Together we talked about:
- What is plastic?
- Why doesn’t is biodegrade?
- How does it end up in our oceans?
I asked the children how they feel about all the plastic in the ocean and they said they want to protect the sea creatures and make sure no more plastic will enter the ocean. We came up with ideas how we can prevent single use materials and switch to sustainable solution.
On my second visit we created an art piece to raise awareness and it was the idea of the kids how to position it and what tag lines to use.
Next to the whale collage they wrote their tag lines:
- Help us!
- Thank you for recycling
- Save us!
- Don't throw plastic in the sea!
- Thank you to protect the sea!
Well done!!!
I have been working with the Lennen school for the past 7 years but this was the first time I was invited to the primary department and it was an incredible experience.
The kids created two fantastic artworks:
1.) The circle of plastic. How micro plastic get into nature and travel from small fish to bigger fish until they end up in our body. Very clever artwork and the kids worried a lot about how plastic affect us humans. I agree, it's an important question to ask and can't be ignored.
2.) Which world would you chose? The polluted one or the healthy one. The kids thought about how much we waste and how much waste ends up in our nature and oceans. Then the sea creatures mistake it for food and suffer. They wanted to talk about this important issue and to raise awareness to use less single use items.
Here are a few videos from our work together.
video_01
video_02
