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!

Weeks of January 3rd and 9-10

We're all back from Winter break and have jumped back into our projects. Last Tuesday I forgot to take pictures, Ms. McGinley and Ms. Yancey's classes continued their map-making, Ms Gelfand's 5th grade had a practice stitching day in preparation for soft sculpture sewing, and Ms. DiDonato's class began construction of their thumb pianos.
This week was my first day back with the Monday crew.
2nd grade: The kids had time to write about their weather pictures using some sentence starters: "In my picture it is...(weather description)", "You can tell because... (description of picture details)".Writing about art is an important art skill and literacy skill! After writing, some kids got to share their descriptions to the class. Then we gathered on the carpet to decide how to organize our pictures for our group wind sock. The kids in both classes agreed that it would be better to have them organized by weather than to have them mixed up randomly.
3rd grade: Ms. O'Donnell's class had a day to review and wrap up our sound unit. We made a diagram of the parts of our instruments, reviewed how sound starts with a vibration and ends up a our ears. We even found a video about the ear drum to see how it works. Then we practiced playing our kalimbas. we tried playing a rhythm while counting by 1s, 2s, 5s and 10s. Finally they got to make up their own  rhythm for a little performance in front of the class. I have a video of it I'll post later.
Ms DiDonato's class continued constructing their kalimbas- all that's left is painting the bridge and getting to play.

4th grade-:Both classes are nearly finished the map project. With Ms. McGinley's class we did a sketchbook exercise filling in a coordinate grid in a directed drawing. They completed painting their landforms in watercolor and drew a coordinate grid over their maps. Those that finished early made note in their books where each symbol in their key could be found on the grid.

Ms Yancey's class still has some painting to finish, but we'll be able to do the coordinate grid next week. Their maps are really fun and creative with imaginative place names and drawing styles.

5th grade: Ms Albert's class had their day of stitch practice to focus on craftsmanship. I'm sure it was worthwhile to spend a day on practice because today with Ms Gelfand's class the kids were able to confidently begin stitching their forms.Everyone got at least one finished, and many got 2 complete. They worked much faster than I expected! Hooray!

week of Dec 19-20

 2nd- We've added the FOREGROUND details to our weather pictures. The kids had a chance to draw in Sharpie marker first and then carefully paint in the details. Some are farther than others. I'm not sure whether to allow another painting day or take them as is for our windsock when we get back from break.

 It's very interesting to see the range of artistic development in this age group- from figure drawing styles to carefulness in painting.

 I think we'll have a little writing activity next time for the kids to describe their pictures.

 3rd grade: Ms Didonato's class began the sound lesson with drawing high and low wavy lines to match played notes on my recorder. Ms O'Donnell's class completed making their kalimbas! There's one last detail and some playing and reflection time in store for them.

 4th grade: Ms. McGinley's class continued their maps. We thought about the purpose of maps and what features might be on a map. I only asked for 6 but they came up with over 20 things that might be found on a map. The Smartboard came in handy as we looked up images of lots of different maps. The students finished sketching and began crayon coloring the details on their maps. Eventually we'll use watercolor to paint the background water and land. Ms. Yancey's class completed their collaborative sculpture and began sketching their maps after a brief map brainstorm. They're catching up quickly.

 5th: Both classes have completed their 3 form templates and cut out their felt pieces t begin stitching. When we get back we'll have a short practice stitch piece and then begin stitching their forms. They've all had a chance to brainstorm what their forms might become, but it will be easier for them to visualize once their forms are constructed.

Hoping everyone has a relaxing Winter Break! See you in 2012!

week of 12/12/11

2nd grade: We started our paintings for the collaborative windsock. We talked about BACKGROUND and HORIZON line in a landscape painting. The kids chose colors for sky and ground based off of their sketches from the previous week about weather. Some students experimented a little with color mixing to get lighter and darker colors. Next week we'll add foreground details.

 3rd grade: Ms. O'Donnell's class continued with our sound lesson and wavelength drawings. I played some songs from Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" for them to notice high sounds and low sounds to add lines to their wavelength drawings. Then we showed them the kalimba and compared the real one Ms. O'Donnell had brought in with the sample I had made. We compared which one had higher and lower sounds, and which one was louder or softer. With its hollow soundboard the real kalimba was much louder, but my sample kalimba got louder when I placed it on a desk to play it. We talked a little about why instruments might have decorations before we wrapped our soundboard block of wood with our wavelength drawings.

 Ms Didonato's class concluded their notan project successfully. Here are some of their finished projects:

 4th grade: Ms McGinley's class completed their erosion sculpture. We gathered around the pieces and worked out together how to place them- It was a very thoughtful discussion. Once they were arranged I invited the kids to imagine they were explorers coming to a new land and they had to send a map back to their governor to get permission and money to build a new settlement here.

 We spent some time sketching the landforms and brainstorming what their settlement would need. They were encouraged to add roads, transportation, cities, businesses, recreation, and a key for their map.

 Above is their relief sculpture hanging in the hallway, and below are some of their map sketches. It's a good thing they are a little hard to see- they were told to "draw like a feather" so lines would be easy to erase.

Ms Yancey's class is almost finished their group sculptures and should be ready to move onto the larger layout next week.

5th grade: Ms Albert's class worked on identifying geometric forms, the shapes of their faces and bases, and laying out patterns for creating their own forms. It was much easier than the previous attempt at this lesson with the other class the week before (I needed to provide more concrete examples and better directions)- I created models out of cardboard for them to handle as they identified the forms, and we worked in puzzle teams to get through 6 forms. Since Ms. Gelfand's class seemed not to get it the week before we redid the lesson with the new adaptations, and breezed through drawing our pattern templates.

Now both 5th grades are back in sync and ready to move forward with their sculpture project. We'll be cutting out templates and felt next week!