Week of 3/20

I came on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, so missed a 3rd and 5th grade class, but everyone else has been busy, busy, busy!
2nd grade:

I finally finished the windsock! With the help of Jim from the building staff, we installed a pole for the windsock from a tree stump in the yard. Luckily we had just enough wind for it to blow around to our delight. We repeated our greetings to the cardinal directions. We also used our paper compasses to figure out which direction the wind was blowing from.

 Of course it was very exciting to come outside in the afternoon with the whole 2nd grade!

 Mr. Pitt's class above and Ms. Drossner's class below were curious to find their own picture on the windsock. I can't believe how big it turned out to be!!

 3rd grade classes began sketching their time story settings drawing "light as a feather". I'm not a big fan of prescriptive drawing directions, but so many kids crave knowing "how to draw" something, and they get frozen up with worry if they think they can't draw what they want. So I demonstrated some "tricks" for tables etc. It was wonderful to talk with kids about their ideas and offer suggestions for making their pictures more detailed.

4th:

 Two classes seem to have completed all their form building and have either started or are about to make sculptures. One child suggested that our Frank Stella art images reminded her of a playground. What a wonderful idea for our abstract sculptures- turn it into a crazy playground! Our third class started their building steps. The forms look great with their bright color edges and patterned faces. We learned some new vocabulary words, like "relief sculpture" (such as the Frank Stella piece we looked at), and "CONTRAST" (meaning what makes us see differences in art-color, texture, material, etc.)

5th grade: Ms Gelfand's class has moved into testing each other's projects. It was very interesting to hear them discuss the successes and failures of each project, and for each team to hear the feedback. We'll participate in the science fair next week with our drawing machine winners!