September 10-27th

During the past few weeks we have been focusing on learning/reviewing the essential elements of art.

We began with an "art walk" where we looked at a variety of different paintings and photographs to look for elements of art and use art appropriate vocabulary to describe and compare them.

We studied line and did a fun musical chairs type drawing activity.  We studied shape and form by designing individual triangles that we then turned into a pyramid.  This past week we have been working with the element of color.  4th grade students learned about creating secondary and tertiary colors using primary colors by mixing primary colored play-do.  All students learned about the color wheel, relationships between complimentary and analogous colors, as well as how color can be used in art in evoking and expressing emotion.

Next wee will by SEPs.  I look forward to meeting and talking with any of you that would like to stop by and visit the art room.

Week of September 3rd thru 6th

This week students worked on creating their portfolios.  I believe in having students create portfolios as a place to keep all of their artwork throughout the year.  It gives them the opportunity to look back at what they've learned as well as to see their growth in their creative abilities.

This week students also finished their puzzle pieces for our collaborative display.  I am excited at how neat it looks all put together.  I hope to use collaborative art to involve students in building teamwork throughout their classes and in creating other artwork items this year.

Week of August 27-30

We've survived the second week of school.  Let me begin by saying Thank You again to all of the families that have sent in various supplies for the art room.  Every donation helps a lot.  Because we use a variety of art supplies as well as other supplied in creating projects (and cleaning up after creating), every single donation helps.  Other things you can continue to send throughout the year include toilet paper and paper towel rolls, magazines, and newspapers.  These items can be used in a variety of ways when creating projects during the year.  Other items we use a lot of include glue sticks, pencils (lots and lots of pencils), watercolor paints and colored pencils.  I appreciate any donations at any time during the year!

This week in art class the students have been working on creating their own unique puzzle pieces.  These puzzle pieces will all be combined to create a unique puzzle display in the classroom.  Because I get to do art with about 250 students this fill our class bulletin board.  The completed puzzle will remain on display throughout the school year.

Students who fail to use time wisely or have missed class this week will be able to bring a puzzle piece home and complete it.  These are their first creative project to be graded.

Next week students will begin creating their portfolios.  Portfolios are used to store all of the artwork they create throughout the year.

Week of August 20-23, 2013

Welcome back to another exciting school year!  I am thrilled this year to have 8 classes of 4th-6th grade students to get to spend my days with.

We have had two class periods together in each class this week.  During our first class students were able to participate in a classroom scavenger hunt to help them find where everything is in our new classroom.  We then went through primary classroom rules and expectations.

During our second class together I introduced the idea of art through a fun children's book.  We then talked about the "Artistic Process" in a similar style of the scientific process.  We began talking about the way we move from the original thought and idea of an art project through creating a plan, gathering materials, creating the work, critiquing our results, and finalizing a project and displaying it for others to see.

We will follow this same procedure next week as we begin our first art project.  Students will individually design and create a puzzle piece that will be combined with all of the pieces created by all of the 8 classes to create a collaborative art piece that will be displayed throughout the school year.  I am excited to see what they come up with and the final results.

This week each student also brought home a disclosure document that details our class rules and expectations as well as a list of supplies that we can use in the classroom.  I am thankful for the supplies that have already been brought in!  If each student brings in just one item from the list it will help benefit all of our 8 classes.

I look forward to a great year exploring art ideas and concepts as well as creating with your children.  I believe that inside each of them are great ideas and creativity waiting to be expressed.  If you ever have questions about projects we are working on or what we are doing in the art room please feel free to email me at jenniferharding@alpinedistrict.org or call me at the school 801-756-8531 room 158,

A New Year, A New Room

It's almost time for a new school year to begin, and I am excited to be meeting my students next week.

I have been busy this summer.  Some of the things I have done this summer include moving from our old classroom to our new art classroom just down the hall, taking online courses in art and education, and attending a fun summer Elementary Arts training through the district.  I have also had the opportunity to spend a lot of vacation time with my family and found several good books to read.

Moving our art room has given me the opportunity to re-decorate and create some new fun displays in our room.  I also have discovered a great collaborative art piece that was done by Forbes students a number of years ago.  I have also started planning some of the fun projects we can do this year.

I hope you are all as excited to get back to school as I am!

Week of February 5th thru 8th

This was a very busy week.  With a minimal day to start off the week and then two common start days the kids were troopers just going along with all of the adjusted times.

This week in the art room we had one last class period to work on any missing or half finished projects.  I am very proud of how quickly most of the students got right to work and completed anything they hadn't turned it.  At this point just about everyone is caught up!  Those who are still missing things can work with me individually to create a plan for getting them done.

I enjoyed seeing so many of my students and their families at SEPs this week.  I love getting to show off the great things my students are doing in class, and I hope they like to show them off too.  If you didn't have a chance to visit during SEPs and ever want to see what we have been doing in the art room you are always welcome to come and visit. 

At the end of the week 5th and 6th grade students began our next project.  With Chinese New Year being tomorrow we are creating paper Chinese lanterns.  These lanterns will hang instead of float, but offer the opportunity for each student to create four unique art panels.  We have talked about how Chinese art is very detailed and intiquate in design.  They will be working on creating panels that have detailed designs as well.  This project should take us at least a few class periods to complete because I want them to focus on the details of the designs they are creating. 

One we have some of the lanterns complete watch for them to be on display in the art cabinet in the front foyer.

Week of January 29th thru February 1st

This week we learned about the artist Jim Dean.  We talked a little about Pop Art and the use of everyday items in artwork.  Jim Dean has several prints that were done of hearts.  Following the examples of Jim Dine students created a page full of heart prints of their own.  Several of these will be displayed in the Art Cabinet in the school foyer during the first weeks of February.

During the remaining class time this week students were allowed to work on any assignments they had missing.  Most of them were able to use this time wisely and finish off several projects they had just about finished.