Postcards to Yianna & Helios

This is just one of the 70-something postcards for our two travelling friends. 
True inspiration comes from imagination and just a little bit of magic.....

See you soon in the SMocKroom!

showing respect, responsibility and safety

Posters with Messages

Second grade students have been working on their posters, inspired by artist Toulouse Lautrec, demonstrating the school's "Tiger Traits".  With good penmanship and 'smelly markers', each student expressed their interpretation of one trait. 

See you soon in the

SMocKroom!

sweet sweet me....

Sixth grade students are completing their amazing candy drawings. 

Each student 'researched' candy towards finding one that reflects their own character.  While reflecting on the basic attributes of the candy, they explored on how words can have a double meaning.  This was a fun and creative way to throw in a little literacy into their art making.  Each student had to think....I am like a __________because like a ____________ I am_____________ when__________________________.
We began by simple but challenging contour line drawings of our candy.  Continued with value study and practicing controlling the pressure of our pencils and finished off with a third drawing, recoloring our candy with a new and creative design.

In the end their drawings, paragraphs and pictures, showed one complete sixth grade student.

See you back in the

SMocKroom

Japanese Tea Ceremony and a Sayonara to Japan...

It's a wonderfully sad day for the third grade travellers.....

we are leaving Japan.

But not before a tea ceremony!

The past few weeks fly by as we landed in the great city of Yokyo and delved in to the art and culture of the Land of the Rising Sun.  Although our adventure was short, we really learned a lot!

In preparation, we used the pinch pot method to form our simple and fragile little tea cups. 

 

 And glazed them with colors that exploded into a wonderful surprise!

 

Along the way, we set goals for ourselves and filled in the eye of the great Daruma!  We are going to try really hard to read 30 minutes everyday, and make art everyday and clean our rooms at least once a week. 

The simple utencils of chopsticks became a canvas of design and inspiration.

The final ceremony would not have been complete without some green tea, mochi and "arigato"postcards to our friends, Yianna and Helios.

Gyotaku: Fish Print

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tt7NBIVeMY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chwADnoFDng

http://www.daruma.jp/about.html

See you soon in the

SMocKroom

YEAH!!!! access through school!!!!

This is sooooo great!  We finally have access to .....stuff at school.  This is going to make updating so much easier...phew. 

So here's a quick post to see if it actually works.

The week before winter break is always a bit hectic and off the normal schedule.  So, we did a quick one day project in first grade, following along the Anna's Art Adventure story.  Anna enters the straight lines and colors of Piet Mondrian, imagining strawberry and blueberry fields.  Along with recognizing and demonstrating vertical and horizontal lines, using rulers made the practice lessons and final project more challenging.  Those crazy rulers always seem to slip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZStjKcdbfKc

http://www.moma.org/explore/multimedia/audios/1/8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b85UBqUy28

YEAH!!!

See you next week in the

SMocKroom!

special delivery, the science of color, school rules....

Highlight:  Towards the end of one of  the 4th grade classes, the conversation of which class they like best, amongst the kids. One young boy states, "She's so strict"!  Listening to this conversation and recognizing the voice, I chuckle to myself knowing very well I am strict because I encourage all my students to work, especially those that wish not to.  Well, then I hear...."Mrs. Angelopoulos is strict because she loves us!", from his friend.  "I do love you," I respond.

inflatable Scream

First Grade:  Expressing our fears....
We first big first graders know that it is just fine to be a little scared sometimes.  This week, began creating their haunting wallpaper by using something that makes them scream.  The 'wallpaper' is created using a resist method with oil pastels and watercolor paints.  After finishing their repeated patterns, each student needed to complete the sentence "I scream when I see ___________________".  

using our adventure books to guide our drawings

Henri Toulouse Lautrec example

First/Second Bilingual AND Second Grade:  Expanding our scope of community....

2nd grades plan for the year

I decided to use the same lesson for these grade levels because it seemed to fit their over all themes for the year.  First/Second Grade continues to focus on the skills and ideas of working within a community and Second grade's sequential theme is "school".   In order to connect the students' learning to something in their own world, we focused on the three repeated 'rules' of the school:  

The Tiger Traits.

Be Respectful

Be Responsible 

Be Safe

final practice sketch

We looked at posters from Henri deToulouse-Lautrec.  Although we sometimes could not read the words, we definitely were able to interpret their meanings.  Combining the stylistic characteristics of Mr. Toulouse (as we like to call him) and our Tiger Traits, we began by practicing our lettering and sketching our poster ideas.

Practicing our lettering

                                                                      
Third Grade:  Entering the Land of the Rising Sun....

special delivery

Mt. Fuji, Sakura and a pagoda

history box

YEAH!!! for special deliveries!  We received two very heavy suitcases from our friends Yianna and Helios this week.  With a big Konichiwa we entered the amazing country of Japan.  The most difficult aspect of designing this unit was designing a unit that afforded my students to learn as much as they can in a very short amount of time.  As I was working on the lessons, the projects, the overall activities, I surrendered to the fact that we can not cover everything. :(  Seriously, we can stay in Japan the rest of the year....So, we have 6 weeks and that's it!

art box

Daruma

With incredible excitement, we opened the History Box and the Art box to find numerous treasures and of course some wonderful Japanese sweet treats of mochi.  We just looked, we just listened and we for 45 minutes, we filled our passports (and extra paper) with the history and culture of Japan.... we took notes.  It's so great to see these students 100% invested in this journey around the world.  Maybe next week, we'll make something. :)  Our goal is to make our own tea cups and participate in a Tea Ceremony while enjoying our mochi with chopsticks....we'll see if we fill the second pupil of Daruma.

"Although it fall over, it always stands up"

complimentary colors

Fourth Grade:  Seeing colors....

When you throw in a little magic everything looks different.  

Andy Warhol print

As we continue to investigate Andy Warhol and his mischievous ways, we have to consider how color played an important role in his artwork.  This is probably one of my most favorite lessons to explore: color theory and how color can play tricks with your eyes.  I think I love this lesson because I love color and understanding how it works in art.  And the students just love it!  Why do some colors appear to float?  Why do some colors appear to glow?  Why do some colors appear to move back or forward?

exploring red on different backgrounds

Students used fadeless flat squares and rectangles to explore how color combinations change the outcome of a painting or print.  Our next step is preparing our screens for some screen printing!

using the most intense combinations on a Warhol soupcan

inspiration for screen printing

 

Fifth Grade:  the writing is on the wall....
Unfortunately, I did not capture any recently completed graffiti words!!!!  Oof.  What can I say.  Currently, the fifth graders are explaining their word choice through a descriptive paragraph...  Pics next week :( Click HERE for a PBS documentary.

sixth grade contour drawing: 3 Musketeers

Sixth Grade:  All wrapped up....

concentration.....

Ferro Rocher

Well, it was time for the Wimpy Art Kids to show me their drawing skills, once again.  They are amazing!!! I mean, just look at the intensity in the photo.  These drawings will be photocopied and will be used in additional value and color study drawings.  CAN'T WAIT!  

being a potter...

Of course, mini-pottery lessons are still in full swing!  The students who threw in the past 12 weeks will be glazing. 

  

MILE:coasting...                                                                            

glazing

rolling out a slab

Busy little hands made for great results!  These great students worked really hard on rolling out clay slabs, pressing a cookie cutter circle and glazing.  One last clear coat and they will be ready to re-fire.  Each student made a set of 4 coasters with their own unique squiggles and wiggles.  Just in time for gift giving! :)   Walking through a trendy store, I saw these wonderful coasters in sets of 4.  It gave me a wonderful idea to create our own with our own special touches.

perfect little paintings

 See you next week in the SMocKroom!