November 20th

Today is our only day in Art this week with the long Thanksgiving break beginning tomorrow.  I am excited for a few of my classes to have an extra day to work on their projects.

During the past few weeks I have been encouraging my classes to use their time more wisely by working instead of talking.  We have had a contest going between the classes.  There were two classes that tied for the best workers (I used an app that helped to monitor our volume level as part of the contest), these were Mrs. Wiser's and Mrs. Engles' classes.  For working so hard to keep on task and work together, they were provided an extra art experience on the last day of school.  These classes were allowed to do a painted cookie project.  Using food coloring (similar to watercolors) they used brand new brushes and painted a design onto a sugar cookie.  Many of the students did projects using rotational symmetry while a few others simply painted a variety of designs or attempted to paint a portrait.  It was quite a fun project for those that got to participate.

Week of November 6th thru 9th

This week we continued to work on finishing the Halloween silhouette paintings.  Most of the students are making great progress.

For those classes that have struggled with following instructions we have spent some time working on art concepts instead of time spent on projects.  In 4th grade classes this meant that we focused a class period on exploring what art means to them, and what they have learned and how to use art as an expression.

Throughout the year we will take time to re-direct our focus to art as an expression and learn about specific techniques and art terms as well as completing projects in those styles.

At the end of this week we began a new art project.  Using another watercolor technique we created a textured painting that will then be used to create a complete project next week.

Week of Sept. 4th to 7th

This week was pretty busy for my classes.  They all worked hard on completing their portfolios, and the last day of in class time devoted to them was Friday.  Just about everyone is finished with them now, but for those that still have a bit to do they will be allowed to work on them as they finish other projects this next week.

Our classes also participated in the school wide read-a-thon on Wednesday and watched Chopper 5 land at our school.  It was an exciting day and I hope it made an impact for them as much as it did for me.  I took the opportunity to let them have a break from doing art and we read a choose your own adventure style book that day.  It was fun to see the many options they could choose and how it would effect the story.

I was also able to go with the 5th grade classes to Thanksgiving Point and Hutchings Museum.  It was quite a full day of learning so many new things.  What a great way to see "art" in a different sense as we looked at all of the antiques and craftmanship of early settlers to Utah.  Hopefully while learning and visiting they were able to notice these things as well.  From quilts to clothing to needlepoint these are all types of art that can still be valued as important types of art skills.

This next week we'll begin reviewing the primary elements and principles of art and then beginning our next project.  I hope we can get into a good working routine as classes so that we can soon begin our first painting project for the year.  The timing of beginning that project will depend a lot on how the classes do in focusing and using time wisely.

Also, just as a note to parents and students:  I love to see work your students do outside of class.  If there is anything they want to share with me they can bring it in or even bring in a picture of it.  It's great to see how creative they are.  In fact, the PTA just announced the Reflections program for this year.  This is a great way for students to express their artistic talents.  The theme this year is "The Magic of a Moment..." and they can enter in a variety of categories.  Art categories include:  Visual Art, Photography, and 3-D art.  I encourage any of my students who enjoy being creative to consider making a project for the Reflections program.

I can still say that any day I get to go to school and do art with my "kids" is a great day.  Thank you for letting me share part of their learning time together.

Second Week

We have just about survived our second week of school.  The students are doing good and starting to remember the school rules when going to and from art class; we still need a little practice but I think they'll have it all figured out soon.

This week each student worked on creating their portfolio that will be used to store each of the paper art projects they create during the year.  The first side of the portfolio includes a minimum of 5 individual drawings that tell me a little more about them - their favorite things, what they like to do for fun, etc.

The seconod side of the portfolio is a Op Art project they did using their first names.  They each wrote their names in the middle of the portfolio page and then used a minimum of 3 different crayon colors to complete the project.

Many of the students only need a few more minutes to work or are finishing up on these projects.  Next week they should be finished.  We will do a quick review of some of the art elements, principles, and art supplies. 

Because our 4th and 5th grade classes have upcoming field trips the 6th grade classes will be doing a 6th grade only project throughout September as well.

It is a lot of fun getting to spend time with your children and seeing their creativity come to life!