The past month has been filled with the anticipation of spring, and the good-bye of winter! We were THRILLED to finally have gotten some beautiful SNOW to further inspire our art! Over the past few weeks in the art room, we have spent time discussing and observing weather, looking closely at nature, and learning all different ways that an artist can create and appreciate those very important aspects of our world!
Students in all grades also received a second art room celebration for collectively earning over 100 cheetah tickets per grade level! Each class chose their own special celebration, and it was so much fun to celebrate cheetah pride during one art class this past month! Bravo to all of my students!!!
Here are the classroom expectations for each grade level from this past month during art class:
Prek: students in preschool have been learning about color mixing and the PRIMARY colors: Red, Yellow, and Blue. We are learning how we cannot create the primary colors by mixing any combinations of colors. However we can mix the primary colors together and make NEW colors (the secondary colors, orange, green and purple). We are currently completing a Rainbow colored creation, learning how to make some of the colors in the rainbow all on our own. We also are practicing painting like artists, making sure to DIP, DRIP, WIPE THE TIP! We can’t wait to bring them home! Watch this fun music video by “OK-GO” called, “Three Primary Colors”. The kids LOVE recognizing the primary colors and how to mix them, especially in this song! https://youtu.be/yu44JRTIxSQ
K: students in Kindergarten have been working on “Snowy Day” collages. We have learned how a fashion designer considers their outfit, and what different colors, patterns and textures they may want in their outfits. We learned how to paint different brushstrokes with 3 sized brushes, small, medium, and large. We are always amazed at the small brushes, called detail brushes, and how FEW bristles there are to use! We used our different brushes to spread, swish, and dot our white paint to make a “snowy day” scene. Then we took a photograph of our beautiful faces and placed them into our fancy winter outfits, ready for a perfectly fun snowy day! We also read the book “The Snowy Day” by Ezra Jack Keats. It is a heartwarming story of a child playing and adventuring in the snow! We admired Mr. Keats’ illustrations and various materials he combined together to create his beautiful book. We compared our own collages and discovered that we also used the same materials as he did for his book! Here is a link to the read-aloud of this book: https://youtu.be/Owd_FSIn6ss
1: students in first grade have begun a new unit using CLAY! We began by exploring and experimenting ways that our hands can shape a piece of clay, and which way to roll, press, squeeze, pinch, the clay. We then dug through hundreds of special wildlife pamphlets from all different parts of the world. We selected a living real creature that inspired us to make art about them. We then began building a sculpture of that specific REAL animal, using all of our different clay building and shaping techniques. Students learned how to problem solve a variety of artistic concepts: parts to a whole; balance; realism. We are extending our understanding of how to create a three dimensional work of art that is solid, and doesn't tip over or fall apart (scratch it and attach it!). To complete this unit, students began writing their very own “non-fiction” books all about their realistic animals, complete with ILLUSTRATIONS! Our sculptures and books will be put on display in the library during the writing celebration, coming up later this spring! We can’t wait to share our hard work with you!
2: students in second grade completed their printmaking projects, and then we began our next art unit. We are building CLAY sculptures of a very special group of animals; winter birds. Students in all 2nd grade classes got to listen to and look closely at photographs of specific species of winter birds that live in our own backyards. Check out the audubon societies website (link here: https://www.audubon.org/ ) to explore all sorts of birds and their songs! Some of our favorite bird songs were the Black Capped Chickadee, and the Pileated Woodpecker. Many students agreed that they recognized some of the amazing bird songs and sounds they make often around us! We also learned how to identify a bird based on its special features, such as its wings, tail, crest, beak, and feather color/pattern. We then chose our favorite winter bird, and began to create a clay sculpture of that bird. Our goal with this project is to learn a new construction technique, called “subtraction” with clay. We discussed the renaissance sculptors such as Donatello, Raphael, DaVinci, and Michelangelo (also the names of the Ninja Turtles, which the students loved making that connection). These sculptors were masters at subtraction, where they began with a large chunk of marble and took away the material until the work of art revealed itself Other examples of subtractive sculpture are ice sculpting, and wood carving. We then took a chunk of clay and used this same process of subtraction until we had a solid and shapely form of our bird. We then carved and added details to complete our winter bird sculptures! We even made connections to one of our own 2nd grade teachers who loves to photograph birds, Mr. Gowac! We are so proud of the work we have done and can’t wait to bring our Winter Bird sculptures home soon!
3: students in third grade have been continuing to work towards their end of year goal of completing artwork that represents 6 art subjects: still-life, landscape, portrait, abstract art, animal art, and design/typography. Students have become very independent in the art room, smoothly navigating and utilizing all of the art supplies available to them. We have been working on being the best problem solvers, and helping each other is just one of our strategies. The list of art projects happening simultaneously in one art class in third grade is astounding. Students are sewing, printing, painting, building, cutting, drawing, blending, digitizing, photographing, and the list goes on!!!! We recently took an assessment of our art subjects and are further differentiating between subjects in art versus materials/media in art. We will also be starting to put together individual digital art portfolios using google slides. More information regarding the expectations and process of creating their digital portfolios will be coming soon! I am so impressed and proud of the hard work and creativity our third graders are demonstrating!
Please take a moment to celebrate our Artists of the Month! Congratulations to these students for demonstrating artistic excellence and citizenship during art class all month!
Prek: Liam Kovach
K: Harper Goodson
1: Alice Reyes
2: Brayden Ploszay
3: Eli Laplant
Annual Spring K-12 Art Show:
I am SO excited to share that our district wide art show is Tuesday March 28th from 5:00pm-6:30pm at East Hampton High School! Keep an eye out for art show letters that have been sent home this week. These letters are to inform families of children who have artwork on display for this year's art show!!!! Any and all students are welcome and encouraged to attend! I hope to see you there!
