Snowflake Experts January 27, 2012

The kindergarteners are now experts in the field of snowflakes.  On day 1 of this unit, they practiced line printing with cardboard.  At the end of the class I asked the students to draw what they though snowflakes look like.  I was given a lot of blank stares and questions; they had no idea.  On the second day, we read through a fantastic book, The Secret Life of a Snowflake, and learned about the 6 arms of a snowflake.  They sketched 4 different snowflakes (because they also learned that no two are alike).  Then, they used their line printing skills to create small snowflake designs.  Yesterday, the kindergarteners used all their knowledge to create large snowflake prints.  Here are some of the wonderful results.

 

 

Ms. Allison’s class also had a chance to create crystalized snowflakes in their classroom.  Did you know the trick with borax?  Check this out: Crystal Snowflakes

Gehry houses January 24, 2012

First,  I’d like to introduce Ms. Tracey, my new student teacher for the semester.  She is a grad student at Lesley, and will be in the Art Studio all day, everyday, until mid-May.

Second, the fourth graders are continuing with their Frank Gehry-inspired buildings.  We had a look through a website, http://www.unusual-architecture.com, trying to find other buildings/architects with an abstract style similar to Gehry’s.

Today, working in their groups, the students reinforced their sculptures and painted everything with gesso.  Next week the details begin!

 

 

Granite Street Gallery Walk January 19, 2012

This Morse arts night is only 2 weeks away!  If you are a parent or teacher in the Morse community, and would like to show artwork or perform music, please get in touch with me!

The more the merrier!!  Show off your talents; we want to awe and inspire our students to continue artistic ventures in their lives.

Fish, continued… January 16, 2012

The junior kindergarteners have been involved in a long “fish unit”.  Part of their curriculum is to study one subject and to create artwork in many different media.  So far, the have created fish from yarn lines, from clay, and with drawing.  Soon, they will also make fish through printmaking and collage.

In the drawings below, the paper had 3 lines already drawn on.  These lines had to be transformed into fish.  The key parts of a fish body that had to be included are: body, tail, fins, gills, eye, and mouth.

 

 

New Year, new updates!

Well, it’s 2 weeks into the new year, and I’m finally ready to make some updates…life has been busy at work and home lately!

The Special Start preschoolers came to create snowflakes for their seasonal tree in their classroom.  Instead of the traditional cut-out snowflakes, they created the snow with tissue paper and glue.  Following lines pre-drawn, the students traced glue lines.  They then crumpled small pieces of tissue paper and pressed the “snow” into the glue lines.

Easy!