2nd Grade City Mural

The mural made a terrific stage set for the jazz concert. 

We looked at Francis Guy's painting "Winter Scene in Brooklyn, 1821" to begin our city mural. Although, Guy's painting shows Brooklyn before cars or bridges, our students collectively decided that their mural could contain elements of the past, present and future. Our student teacher, Kevin Farrant worked with Ms. Varriale's class to make roads and cars for the mural. If one looks closely, the Statue of Liberty (by Noa) is visible on the distant shore. Students made self portrait collages to populate their city but since our city was so crowded, we decided that the 2nd graders could be jumping, cartwheeling, running and parachuting around the borders. Nice work, 2nd grade... more later.

Ian's Warrior

Ready for paint...I particularly am impressed by Ian's solution to showing that their leather armor was pieced together and formed a pattern.

A New Year and a New Grant

Hooray! A Donorschoose grant that I wrote so that the third grade could study and create sculptures about the artifacts in the "China's Terracotta Army" exhibition currently on view at the National Geographic Museum in Washington, DC has been awarded to us! The materials have arrived!

The third grade is currently building Model Magic  figures based on photographs, drawings and a reproduction sculpture of  a Chinese warrior (graciously lent to us by Eva Lewandowski). 

I love this project because the students love it and I am very happy that the resources to bring it to this year's third grade are in our hands, literally. 

In this lesson, the students begin by drawing the artifacts to become familiar with the forms and details. Students then build the torsos and heads of the figures over cardboard cones. The cones are removed so that arms and legs can be sculpted and added during the following class. 

I feel like the steps involved provide a basis for a satisfying experience to students that comfortably approach 3-D design and also to those who feel intimidated by the complexity of building 3-D objects. Everyone looks and sounds happy in my observations.

Lunch with Ms. Kelly

Ana (4th grade) has placed the highest bid for the "Lunch with Ms. Kelly" prize at our school's WinterFest fundraiser. In fact, she placed the only bid. How is this possible?!! 

Last year, Ana won, as well, and she chose Maven to join us for lunch at Bene's Pizza (with chocolate for dessert, yum!).  There was an excellent hail storm that pummeled us on the walk back to school and made us laugh out loud. I wonder who Ana has chosen to bring along this year?

Fifth Grade Printmaking

Fifth Grade Printmaking

We have finished our "Animal and Environments" printmaking unit.  Here are some student comments about their experience:

"It was challenging to transfer the mouth of my polar bear drawing to my foam plate but I got it."  -Jonathan

"I liked the clicking noise of the ink!"  -Ruby

"I liked how the green and white mixed for my background. To me, it describes nature, like the outside world, animals, life..."  -Joshua

"I thought it was challenging. I learned how to draw a detailed fish."  -Lucie

"I felt that the different colors we could print personalized the print. I learned how to make a perfectly consistent ink palette."  -Steven

" I learned how to draw a frog better."  -Gia

" I learned how to get the right consistency for the paint. I learned depth perception. Two thumbs up!"  -George

"Under the Sea" Collages, Kindergarten

We start this unit by reading one of my favorite books, Swimmy by Leo Lionni. The language is poetic, the story is tight and the illustrations are loose, watery and magical.

I read to the youngest children in the art studio regularly. I like to read for the beauty of the story. Often it relates to what we will be making, but sometimes it doesn't. After the excitement of walking to the studio, the listening to the story has a calming effect on the children before the materials exploration begins.

This collage is an "accordian book" unit that spans three weeks. The first week is a color mixing experience of cool colors, as children paint their water. The next two weeks is devoted to adding the collage sea creatures to their pages of blue, green and purple.
This project was inspired by artist, teacher and friend , Melissa Dold, now teaching in Seattle.

3rd Grade Portraits

The 3rd grade students have finished their oil pastel portraits, focusing on the proportions of the human face. Do the eyes really fall at the halfway mark of the oval of a face? It seemed an odd idea to many of the students. I asked them to give it a try. Put the eyes half way down. See what happens, even if it feels incorrect. Some did, some didn't.  The drawings had expressive impact whether the eyes were placed centrally or not. I felt like the guidelines made everyone slow down and think about their preconceptions.

We had mirrors but I didn't ask that they draw themselves. It simply had to be "humanoid".

Some of these are currently displayed in the halls and in the "Petit Gallery" in front of our school.