Art Newsletter - Week of Oct. 26th

Here it is fresh off the press, ENJOY!

Fall Glue and Chalk Scenes - 6th Grade

This is by far my favorite assignment. It seems like it is my student's favorite assignment too. Every year when the 6th graders start the assignment my 7th and 8th graders tell me how much they loved this project. I love that. 

For this project we talk about how artists find inspiration from all different places, including poetry and books. I start by reading them 2 poems. 

This year we read: 

PIECES OF AUTUMN by George Elliot

Come said the wind to leaves one day,

Come over to the meadows and we will play,

Put on your dresses of scarlet and gold,

for summer is gone and the days grow cold.

THEME IN YELLOW by Carl Sandburg

I SPOT the hills With yellow balls in autumn.

I light the prairie cornfields

Orange and tawny gold clusters

And I am called pumpkins.

On the last of October

When dusk is fallen

Children join hands

And circle round me

Singing ghost songs

And love to the harvest moon;

I am a jack-o'-lantern With terrible teeth

And the children know I am fooling.

After reading the poems we talked about the images we imagined when we read these poems. We then made a list of the many ideas that we thought about. We also discussed how artists make sketches and plan out their drawings before actually jumping in to creating their designs. Artists call these smaller faster paced sketches thumbnail sketches. Finally, we took our sketches and made our final designs. These were created by first drawing in glue and then adding chalk pastels for color and value.

The learning targets we were looking at in this project were...

Students should be able to complete these things by the end of the project.

- I can pre-plan my project in my sketchbook (MI standard: ART.VA.II.6.7)
- I can use Value and Contrast to enhance my composition and create a sense of dimension at a developing level. (MI standard ART.VA.I.6.3)
- I can use the chalks appropriately at a developing level (MI standard ART.VA.II.6.6)

- I can make connections between art and literature (MI standard ART.VA.V.6.5)

- I can pay attention to the final details of the assignment and reflect on what else needs to be completed (MI standard ART.VA.II.8.5)

Art Newsletter - Week of Oct 19th

Here is the newsletter for Oct 19th.

Art Newsletter -Week of Oct 12th

Here is the newsletter for Oct 12th.

Imaginary Aerial Perspective Landscape - 8th grade

For this project we started by looking at a variety of images of mountains through out PA and VA. Using the see-think-wonder thinking routine to observe the qualities in the pictures. Then we discussed how artists don't always complete a picture in one day, that sometimes art takes time and steps. We worked through many steps following the concept of Aerial Perspective, where the furthest mountains are the lightest and grayest and then each ridge becomes darker and darker. This gives the impression of depth. We took the time paint in the sky, let it dry and then slowly paint each ridge of mountains. I believe the students struggled the most with the idea that art doesn't happen all at once and sometimes one simple piece can take days or patience. 

Rubric: Students should be able to complete these things by the end of the project.

- I can pre-plan my project in my sketchbook (MI standard: ART.VA.II.8.7)
- I can use the wet on wet technique to apply the watercolors in an emerging level. (MI standard ART.VA.I.8.1)
- I can apply the paints using a lighter and grayer hues  to create the affect of distance aerial perspective (MI standard ART.VA.I.8.3)
- I can pay attention to the final details of the assignment and reflect on what else needs to be completed (MI standard ART.VA.II.8.5)

Scratch Art Bug Drawings - 7th Grade

For this project I really wanted something for the students who have a hard time drawing to have success at. We spent many days practicing how to draw different types of bugs. Each day I would start the lesson out with a specific type of bug, we practiced a spider, a beetle, a fly, etc. Then the students would also spend class time practicing 1 or 2 bugs of their choice from either a photograph or from a step-by-step drawing sheet. Finally, we transferred our drawings onto the scratch art page and added in the details, value, and a background.  

Rubric: Students should be able to complete these things by the end of the project

- I can pre-plan my project in my sketchbook (MI standard: ART.VA.II.HS.7)

- I can design and draw a composition using a bug as the focal point (MI standard: ART.VA.II.7.1)

- I can use value to create a 3-d look to my bug (MI standard: ART.VA.I.7.3)

- I can use the scratch art medium appropriately at an emerging level (MI standard: ART.VA.II.7.6)

- I can pay attention to the final details of the assignment and reflect on what else needs to be completed (MI standard ART.VA.II.7.5)

Art Newsletter - Week of Oct 5th

Here is my weekly newsletter for the week of October 5th.

Typographic Self Portraits - 6th Grade

6th Grade students began working on their Typographic Self Portraits the first week of school by taking selfies with their friends in art class. Students then choose 25 or more positive words to describe them self. After drawing from our portraits we looked at typographic artwork and then used words to create lines in our own works of art.

 Vasara M.                Momoka             

Shelleah                                     Olivia R.

Parent Newsletter - Oct 2nd

I am trying to communicate better with my parents. Just this year my daughter started Kindergarten and I realized how much I wish I was hearing from her FAPES or electives teachers. So I have started creating a weekly newsletter, to inform my parents what their students have been working on. I'm assuming (which could be bad) that most middle school students are like my daughter and don't offer up too much information about what is going on in their classes. So I hope to give my parents and little insight into part of my student's day.  My plan is to have a new letter for parents every Friday!

Here is this weeks newsletter.