September 10, 2008 - Welcome back to a new school year 2008-2009! I anticipate a very busy new year with many new art materials , to be arriving soon, and new art activities . Please look for updates at the beginning and middle of each month.
Again this year, in place of an after school Art Club , I am offering "Open Art" Club for grades 5th through 8th during recess periods. Students will have an opportunity to come to the Art Room , during a recess period , at least once a week. It is an opportunity to make-up projects missed during absences and also to work on individual enrichment projects. This "Open Art" recess option was very popular last year on cold and rainy days! The "Open Art" Schedule will be posted in each 5th - 8th classroom and on the Art Room door, starting in October.
A main focus in Art Education is instruction in the seven ELEMENTS OF ART , at each grade level. They are: LINE, SHAPE, COLOR, VALUE, FORM, TEXTURE, and SPACE. Each month I will focus on one of these and many of the art projects will be centered around that element.
1st Grade - First Graders are currently working on a project called EXPLORING LINE. They are drawing many different kinds of lines with large markers { wavy, dotted, jagged, etc.} in a left to right progression across white paper. They are encouraged to draw eight to ten different lines from top to bottom of the page. They are coloring around the lines to form colorful designs. They will be on display outside of Mrs. Kohl's room.
2nd Grade - Second Graders are listening to a book titled PICTURE PERFECT that was illustrated by second graders in California. They are using stand-up mirrors to draw their own "School Pictures" self-portraits. They have been excited about using the new shiny mirrors that just arrived this week! They will be displayed in the main hall when it is time for school pictures to be taken.
3rd Grade - Third Graders are currently working on cursive name line designs. They learned how to make a mirror image of their name, written in cursive, using tracing paper. They are coloring their designs with symmetrical patterns. This is an exciting project for Third Graders because they are still excited about learning to write and use cursive.
4th Grade - Fourth Graders started - out by designing bookmarks from three colors of construction paper. First they cut different fancy curved lines out of the three colors. The pieces were glued together to form line designs. They will be laminated so that they can use them to mark the current page in their homework planner books.
Fourth Graders are currently working on over-lapping Fall leaves designs. They are tracing the shapes of different leaves on brown butcher paper. They are learning how to blend different Fall colors using construction paper crayons.
5th Grade - Another main focus in the intermediate and middle school grades is learning about the lives and art styles of some famous artists. Fifth Graders are currently learning about the Dutch artist ,Piet Mondrian, whose paintings are in the abstract Cubist style. They are creating their own Mondrian designs using straight black lines , brightly colored squares and rectangles, and open white spaces.
6th Grade- Sixth Graders are currently working on circular radial designs using compasses. Their designs radiate from the center in regular patterns. The students first learned a little about the use of radial designs in different cultures, such as Aztec designs, Navajo designs and the sand art religious mandalas created by Tibetan monks.
7th Grades - Seventh Graders are working on Line designs with a project called PIPE DREAMS. They are overlapping different colored pipe shapes to form an interesing composition. They are learning how to shade the pipes with watercolor pencils to give them a rounded look. The final step will be to add water and paint their designs.
8th Grade - Eighth Graders started - out with a Maze -like design using a continuous line drawn around three shape spaces. They are now on display in the hall near the office.
Eigth Graders have just started a three- stage project called GLUE, HUE, and CONTOUR, TOO. The first part involves making pencil contour drawings of Fall foliage. They are now covering their contour lines with glue to add texture to the final work. They will be working on this project for the next three or four art classes.
Kindergarten - The Kindergarteners will be coming up to the "Big School " for Art for the first time this year. Each child will have Art every other week. They just finished cutting and pasting "Sunny Sun Faces" with moveable eyes .
Art Club - Art Club will be offered again this year. More information will follow shortly. I hope to have it up and running by October.
Art Quote of the Month - " Attitude is the mind's paintbrush. It can color any situation."
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