Collaborating with colleagues speaks of community and shows our students that we support each others work. Lower elementary art students have been helping our librarian Erin Carmola with her reading challenge called Reading is a Piece of Cake. Students are helping to promote the reading challenge by creating pieces of cake in art class. These will be displayed on the bulletin board outside the library. The element of art we are studying in October is line. Look for a variety of lines used in these delectable looking pieces of cake. Notice how each artist uniquely expresses their interpretation of a piece of cake.
Reading is a Piece of Cake
Three -dimensional line work
Collaborating with Upper Elementary Teachers
5th level upper elementary students are studying about Rome and we have been making mosaics in art. This has been a valuable learning experience. Students have learned that art is a process that evolves over time. They have used problem solving skills when realizing their design was too detailed for the mosaic pieces to work in their image. Reworking the design became a natural part of this learning process. This process has been grueling at times but upper elementary students are very proud of their finished pieces!
Mosaics Designed By Upper Elementary Students
Grouting is the next step in this mosaic.
All this fabulous art work will be coming home at the end of this first trimester.
Art and music will be working together to create scenery and costumes for upcoming winter concerts. Students love when their classes overlap and there is continuity in their day. It is such a blessing to work with such talented colleagues and to come alongside such eager learners.
Lower Elementary is studying music from Europe this Fall. Songs are from Russia, Italy, Ireland and England, among others. In this clip they are learning to sing in French and to dance to the famous Scottish songs, “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean” and the “Skye Boat Song” about bonnie Prince Charlie escaping to the Isle of Skye by dressing as a maid and returning to France from being pursued by the Scottish army.
From September 15th to October 15th is the National Hispanic Heritage Month. As part of this celebration in our classrooms, the students will be working on different activities related to Latin American countries and Spain, their culture, artists and landmarks.
Primary [dt_sc_email emailid="[email protected]"/]
We started the month reviewing greetings and learning the Buenos Días song. The students have enthusiastically practiced the song, as well as greetings, colors and numbers inside and outside the classroom. When we finish our lessons, we also sing the "Roll, roll, roll your mat" song in Spanish - "Enrolla, enrolla, enrolla tu alfombra."
During this month, we will be learning and practicing colors in Spanish through the painting “The Flower Carrier” by the Mexican artist, Diego Rivera.
Lower Elementary[dt_sc_email emailid="[email protected]"/]
Susana working with small groups in Lower Elementary
This month, Yeny, a native from El Salvador, will be talking with the Lower El students about her country and its culture.
A, B, C, Ch, D, E, F, .... Gee what a lot of fun we had these past weeks. Our names have been very important this week. We are looking for letters that are the same in each other’s names, counting letters, comparing the length as well as looking for letters that we have learned. We also reviewed greetings in Spanish and vowel sounds. In addition, the students are working on a tongue-twister in Spanish: El hipopótamo Hipo.
Upper Elementary
by Sandra O. Lee and Susana D'Ruiz
Fourth Level
We used the first weeks of school helping students to get to know one another and become comfortable with various classroom routines. One of our goals is to help students become independent workers, so students are currently learning how to organize work in their Spanish notebook, folder and on index cards.
Fifth Level
This month we started our writer’s workshop. The students are very excited, working on constructing and connecting sentences with the final goal of writing paragraphs in Spanish. To do this, they are working on vocabulary lists, spelling exercises and analyzing sentences. Looking forward to share their writing with you!
Middle School [dt_sc_email emailid="[email protected]"/]
Alex explains to Robbie how to use the Spanish textbook
September has been a busy month in Spanish. Sixth level students have transitioned well. They are getting familiar with the different components of the Spanish 1 program, and I must add they are doing a great job!!!
Evan listens and practices vocabulary
Seventh and Eighth levels are working on their projects and presentations about a Hispanic – American landmark or people. The projects will be presented the last week of September. I look forward to see the result of their research work!
The art room has been bustling with creativity! The work space has been improved by repurposing old doors into art tables. The doors came from the lower elementary renovation. The adjustable legs make the height just right for both elementary and middle school students. Upper elementary students have also been involved in repurposing old books into sketchbooks. The old books were given to us by Erin, our librarian, who also loves collaging. It has been fun collaborating with her on this project. Students enjoyed using mixed media to create very interesting covers.
Upper elementary repurposed sketchbook.
Lower elementary students began the year creating their own interpretation of trees. They were given the choice of creating a realistic or an unrealistic tree. It is no surprise that the trees were mostly whimsical and unrealistic. Students used oil pastels and watercolors to create their trees. We talked about how all artists see the world differently and that there is not one way to create a tree. It was great to see the variety in their art work and they were pleased with their final pieces.
Lower elementary oil pastel and watercolored trees.
I enjoyed dressing up as Vincent Van Gogh and visiting some primary classes. Children enjoyed creating their own sunflower paintings. They also experimented with oil pastel and watercolor and learned how watercolor does not stick to oil pastel.
Van Gogh sharing with very attentive primary students.
Casa art has been fun and students have enjoyed making wearable art from repurposed jewelry pieces, painting using textured art tools, drawing with soft pastels and printmaking. Each week offers different art choices for artists to explore.
Working on their sketchbooks.
