Broadway Boogie-Woogie

If your kids came home this week telling you about the Broadway Boogie-woogie, it isn't the newest dance move...well, maybe it is, but it is also the Mondrian painting that we studied!  We talked about primary colors in kindergarten and honed those scissor skills.  We learned about horizontal and vertical lines (and using a ruler for a straight edge) in first and second grade.  We learned that our favorite things can inspire our art, just like Jazz inspired the Broadway Boogie-woogie. AND...we learned a great gluing song to remind us just how much glue we need to make things stick!

Third, Fourth and Fifth grade this week created amazing Crazy Cactus watercolor paintings that reflect a Southwest Theme in warm colors.  They are still hard at work on these so peek back next week to see the results!  I LOVE THEM!  Sixth grade this week took on a huge challenge!  They are doing a 2 part project that focuses reptiles in a relief piece.  They learned how to build up pastels to create a smooth surface and they created a background using geometric and organic shapes!  I cant wait to see the reptiles that land on these!  We talked a lot about the elements of art and how to find them in their work when they finish a piece. The students also worked hard to also identify the difference between the theme and subject in a painting.   Wow!  Busy week!

This coming week we will be doing something a bit different in art!  I collaborated with all of the classroom teachers to create projects that not only meet tons of art standards, but also reflect classroom work that is going on!  I am so excited to see how this helps the students that struggle in the classroom or art to find a connection that they can relate to!  Coming up we have kindergarten alphabet portraits, first and second grade city scape prints, third grade will create landscape weaving, fourth/fifth grade is going to tie in some math and create Tessellations, and down the road sixth grade will be sculpting plant and animal cells!


OH!  If you have been wildly searching your kiddo's back pack for their artwork, I have been hanging on to it.  There is so much neat stuff that I would like to display for everyone to see at this years Holiday Program and Art Show!!!  I will keep up on pictures so you know what we are up to and I promise this year for Christmas you will get LOTS of art!

Below are some of the amazing finished products for the week!

A Fan-Stache-Tic first week!

Sooo....did your artists come busting in the door after their first day and tell you all about the amazing art room this year?!  I went with a mustache theme after spending the summer doing summer camp I realized that nothing is "cool" unless it has a 'stache.  We  have a "candy 'stache" this year to reward the artists of the day, a fan-stache-tic art class contest, a "Art 'Stache" to earn super fun supplies from, and a gallery of mustached portraits through out history!  So far we have had a blast just with the room itself!  

Alright, we DID do actual art this week too!  This week we used all "DRY" supplies while we got to know each other.  We created envelopes for the students to keep their daVinci Dollars in (ask them!).  We read "The Dot" by Peter             and talked about the importance of working on their own papers and using their own ideas.  The kids learned all about being unique by looking at art work in history of Hearts and Trees.  I also challenged my older students this week with a mono-chromatic self portrait!  Using just one single color has proved to be a challenge, but I cannot wait to display these at this years art show!  Our younger artists reviewed some of the skills that we used last year.  We learned a gluing song that helps us remember why a glob is not a great way to go, and got ready to work on the cut paper portraits that we are going to do this week!  My kindergartners are getting ready to work in centers next week all about primary colors and we are really going to focus in on our cutting skills.  If you have a kindergartner, encourage them to draw large shapes and cut them out or even use an old magazine to let them cut out the pictures that interest them.  Letting younger guys and gals use scissors can be a little scary to watch but it is so good for their little hands and it will help them with their handwriting through out kinder and first grade!  

Please keep an eye out for information on Photography Club coming soon and keep us in mind when those back to school supply sales hit!  We can always use art supplies, craft goodies, and even wipes to help us clean up!  

No art pictures for you just yet, but here is a peek at our amazing classroom this year!  

My finishers!!!

This week was AIMs testing so I got to spend the week in my art room in East Mesa!  I had a great time finally getting to catch up and organize and even plan for the rest of the year!  Most of our projects this week were finishing up what we started last week and many will continue into next week.  Our comic strip project for 3rd-6th were pretty labor intensive, and they will look awesome if I can keep the kids into it just long enough to wrap it up!  Hoping for more focus next week!

I AM excited to show off what we did finish up this week!  Our ROYAL self portraits (Oil Pastel & Watercolor - we also worked on tracing, cutting and glueing!) are finally done and on display in the art room!  K-2nd did amazing!  Check them out!

Hopefully given a tad bit of spare time these will turn into amazing class posters resembling a yearbook page!  I just love them!

Next week my younger students will get to try some weaving while my older students begin to work on their own self portraits!  We will study Amedeo Modigliani, and mosaic tile art.  I cant wait!

April Fools!

This week was all about silly!  With belly's full of Easter candy and more jokes than one teacher can count, it was a great week to step out side our typical lesson and just have fun with a couple of short and awesomely funny projects!  

K-2:  Silly Glasses (I have a feeling if you have a student in this age you saw a lot of these glasses!  So fun!)
3-4 (3-6 E. Mesa):  Hungry Sea Creatures
5&6 (Maricopa): Autobiographical Comic Strips
Adv Art:  Part of the Picture and Ink Blot Creatures

Check it out!

Next week is a bit of an off week because I get to spend a day visiting another art teacher in the district!  I cannot wait to pick up some hints, tricks and kids...look out for some new fun projects!  The following week is AIMs testing and I can be found at East Mesa for the whole week.  Following all of this we will pick up and finish and straggling projects and start working on some Recycled Art and Portraits!

Art feelings continued~

The Rinoceros by Albrecht Durer

This week was a continuation of last where we discussed the other half of texture.  Texture that you can only feel with your eyes!  Students looked at Albrecht Durer a Renaissance painter and engraver that focused on intense detail.  We talked about why printing, engraving and extreme visual texture might have been important during the Renaissance.  We also discussed the making of the dollar bill!  Each one is actually printed by engraving the textured detailed image onto a bed that is rolled with ink.  Each set of bills is pressed onto the bed so hard that it leaves having both a visual and physical texture.  A great way for students to see an art related process at work in their every day world!

Similar to last post, here is a list of what each grade and school completed!
East Mesa K-2:  Stamp making and printing
East Mesa 3-6:  Engravings and printing
Maricopa K-2:  Stamp making and printing
Maricopa 3-5:  Engraving and Stamp making, printing to come
Maricopa 6:  Op Art using color
Maricopa Adv:  Drawing realistic fur to help complete Mascot projects

I can't forget to mention that my younger students also looked at The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle to see textures that start out physical but become visual once they are printed!  They love this book!!!

Here is what we were up to this week!

Links:

Albrecht Durer

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/durr/hd_durr.htm

"Making" Money

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-08-10/lifestyle/35491397_1_peach-and-blue-bills-machine

               

The scoop on NSO...

So what is NSO, you ask?!  

N= needs improvement

S= Satisfactory

O (or M)=Outstanding/Mastery

Being that grades just came out and we are starting a new marking period I thought I would take a second to fill parents and review with students on how I come to grade students in my art class.  

First, I am the NEW art teacher at LEA! Students, you got a completely fresh start!  And there is a full quarter left that we will continue getting to know each other!

Secondly, across the boards, elementary and middle school...and even high school levels of  art, grading is based on classroom behaviors, effort, and participation rather than artistic talent.  While I would love to encourage a very talented student with a nice big Outstanding on their report card, I have to encourage all students who enter my room the same way.  Artists of all abilities have the same shot in my classroom!

So...that said, I have told each of my classes (excluding my k-2 kiddo's) that their grades are based on the following:

Am I listening?

Am I participating?

Am I trying my best?

Am I completing my projects?

Many students have also asked if I grade individual projects.  I do not.  I feel that it is important to look for the above items as students work on each project, and I don't want any student to feel I am grading how correct their project is.  I assure them that if they can answer YES to each of the questions above each time they enter the art room they will excel!

Finally, I will be honest...I hate NSO.  I especially hate S!  Parents and students please know I only have 3 options so many students fall into the S category.  This doesn't mean that you aren't an amazing artist!  This just means that I see that you are doing just exactly what you should be doing in my room.  S's are good!  I wish it was a G...  On the other hand if you are receiving N's, look at the questions above and see if there is an area that we need to work harder in.  O's...oh the coveted O's!  O's are for the students that are going above and beyond in class.  They are my students that are eager to help, answer questions and even those who encourage their classmates and who go the extra mile in my room and on their projects.  These aren't always the best artists..(but they have the best chance to become them!)  

That said, please feel free to email me with any questions at jkrug@leadingedgeacademy.com.  I would love to discuss your students potential and I am even open to hearing how I might better inspire them to get creative and love art class!