Saturday, November 29, 2014

Kindergarten - Unit 1 - Wild Things

We read Maurice Sendack's Where the Wild Things Are and were inspired by his fantastically creative creatures. The students' discovered the creatures were made by combining geometric shapes and free form shapes together and used this information to create their own "Wild Things".   It amazes me to see how different each student's creature was.  

Sebastian G.
Noah R
Maria R.
Riya
Kerington C.
Isabella P.
Aditi caption
Krishna

Khang
Ellis H.
Ella H.
Christopher

Christina C.
Brayan Q.
Brooke V.
Aish



Kindergarten - Unit 1 - Shape Playgrounds

For this project, the students learned more about what artist do in our communities.  They learned that some are designers that plan out things that will be used by others.  So, the students became playground designers and combined geometric shapes to create designs that might some day be used as our new school playground.  

Eva J.



Tristian

Jackson H.

Rafael G.

Aish

It was fun to see that in every class the kindergartners voted this project their favorite of all the first unit projects.



To prepare for this project, the students learned the names of some common geometric shapes with this shape song (Song from YouTube). Then practiced combining geometric mosaic blocks to create new images.


 

Kindergarten - Unit 1 - Starry Night



The kindergartners discovered the work of Vincent Van Gogh and his The Starr Night Painting.  The students went on a line hunt to see how Van Gogh used swirling lines to create the exciting night sky.  They used crayons in their versions to create different types of line patterns in their own skies and but paper to create their cities.


Vincent Van Gogh's The Starry Night 1889







Friday, November 28, 2014

Kindergarten - Unit 1 - Line Hats

Line Hats
Kindergartners started off the year learning about different types of lines by folding, twisting and rolling paper to make very special hats.







Sunday, August 10, 2014

A New Year!

I am super excited to get back to the Art Room for a exciting New School Year!  I look forward to catching up with some of my returning students from last year as well as meeting a brand new group of young artist.  I can wait to dive into our art project together.  

Why an Art Class Website?
 I plan to use this website as a communication tool in three areas. 
  1. To keep families informed about the subjects being learned in the class.
  2. To provide ways for students to enhance learning from home with links to videos used in the classroom and website for further exploration at home.   
  3. To showcase the work created by the students in the class.  
I highly encourage you to check back often or to subscribe with your email address to the right.   

A few facts about my Art Room:
  • All students will come to my art class once a week with their homeroom class for 45 minutes.
  •  Art Curriculum: The students will be introduced to art through a discipline based art education approach.  This means that the students study art works from the following four discipline perspectives: Production: creating or performing, History: encountering the historical and cultural background of works of art, Aesthetics: discovering the nature and philosophy of  art, Criticism: making informed judgments about art. 
  • Art Production:  All students in grades K-5 will create works of art through drawing, painting, printmaking, craft and ceramic sculpture throughout the school year. 
  • Grades:  All art students will receive both an academic and conduct grade quarterly.  Academic grades are made up of  daily project progress assessments based on observations of student performance as well as final project grades assessed through a combination of portfolio reviews, self evaluations, rubrics, peer evaluation, teacher created tests and written art criticism responses.  
    • Students in grades K-1 can receive the following grades for art learning and conduct. 
S - Satisfactory
N - Needs Improvement
U - Unsatisfactory
    • Students in 2nd - 5th grade will receive the letter grades A, B, C or F for art learning and S, N or U as conduct grades
 A -  90-100
B -  80-89
C -  70-79
F - Below 70
    •  NG (No grade) will be used for any student (K-5) who attends art fewer than 4 times per nine week grading period.

  • When will their art work come home:  Most student art work will be kept in an artist portfolio within the classroom until the end of the year.  This is to assess the student's growth over time.  Parents are always welcome to schedule an appointment to come view this work. 
  • Contact Information:  Please don't hesitate to contact me with any problems or concerns.  The best method is through email.  My address is...  
smithb1@fultonschools.org.
  • Volunteers and Donations:  Any and all donations will graciously received.  Great donation ideas for our art class are as follows: Wet Wipes, Paper plates (large & small), Large zip lock bags, and sponges.  Anyone wanting to volunteer your time to come help in the classroom or assist with art displays throughout the school can contact me directly through email.  Thank you in advance for the support!
  •  My Schedule:  I am an elementary art itinerant teacher for Fulton County Schools which means I will travel to different schools to teach throughout the week.  This year my schedule will be...
Mondays - Barnwell Elementary
Tuesdays - Cogburn Woods Elementary
Wednesdays - Cogburn Woods Elementary
Thursdays - Ocee Elementary
Fridays - Ocee Elementary


First Projects!
Kindergarten- Will look at shapes and lines in art and will study Van Gogh's The Starry Night.
1st Grade - Will study lines, shapes and color mixing by taking a close look at Piet Mondrian and Paul Klee.
2nd Grade - Will learn about the 7 elements of art and the work of author and artist Faith Ringgold.
3rd Grade - Will focus on shapes and Value in art with artist Henri Rousseau. 
4th Grade - Will review the element of art focusing on line and gain inspiration from a young Hawaiian artist Coleen Wilcox. 
5th Grade -  Will review the elements of art and practice their skills of observation drawing as well as exploring their own artist style and voice.