Middle School: The first week

Hi Art Spotters!

Well, summer is official over, and the new school year has begun! This year is definitely going to be new for me in many ways, because I've moved from teaching K-6th grade to teaching 7th and 8th! I'm no longer at the Elementary level.  While this fact is bittersweet in some ways (I'm sure going to miss all those tiny hugs and energy!) it is very exciting in so many others. Already after just being here at the Middle School for four days, I can say that I am SO happy with my decision to move up!

The middle school students are so independent at this age, which has allowed us to jump right in and get quite a bit accomplished in just these first four days of school.

Our first tasks of the trimester included creating a sketchbook and portfolio which will both be used very frequently.

We are focusing on The Elements of Art and the Principles of Design, which are the building blocks of Art!! If you think of them in terms of cooking, the Elements are like the ingredients, and the Principles are like the recipe. Speaking of Food and Art...here's a link to a fun video that we watched in class that combines food and art!

 Can you Turn Fresh Food into Art?

For our sketchbook covers, we learned all about the 7 Elements of Art. Students were asked to draw a sketch representing each of the 7 Elements. Here are a few examples of Student's finished Sketchbooks. 

Aren't they looking great? I'm really getting excited about the level of talent and enthusiasm I'm seeing already with just our Sketchbook covers. This tells me that this trimester (and year) is going to be really amazing! 

Ok, well that's all for now. Check back soon for glimpses of our first project. It's going to be a collaborative painting project that will be displayed on a very large temporary construction wall in the front of our school! (Parts of the Middle School will be under construction this year, and so we've been asked to decorate the drywall that has gone up.)

I'll see you all later! Keep spotting Art all around you!

-Miss O'Donnell

Clay Fish

Hi Art Spotters! Have you been spotting art all around Grandville lately? I have! Last weekend we had our first Art and Chocolate Walk in downtown Grandville! Similar to Art Prize, (without the cash prize), we hung artwork from students in Grandville Schools up in the businesses located downtown. It was a huge success, and I'll be working on a blog post on that soon.

Until then, I wanted to share a fantastic clay fish project that I completed with 6th graders. Some of the pieces were in the show!

This was a project that really focused on learning how to score and slip pieces of clay together. Students learned that without properly attaching clay pieces, they would fall off during the drying process.

To make the fish bodies hollow, we started out by making two small pinch pots. Taller pinch pots made longer thinner fish, and wider pinch pots made rounder fish. We attached the two pinch pots using score and slip, and added a hole for the mouth. Then we added eyes, lips, fins, and tails. The last work day was used to add details such as gills, scales, and texture.

 Check out some of my favorites from C.P.L.C. below!

This student also made a fish, but had a bit of extra clay. He made this lizard and I just couldn't resist letting him fire it and glaze it! I think it came out so great!

Aren't they amazing!! I was so proud of my 6th graders. I also had some fantastic results at Central and Grand View. Their fish are being finished right now, so I'll post some of those when they are done!

Happy Art making!
-Miss O'Donnell

Kinder Spring Flowers

Hi everyone! It's been a busy year, and it's almost over! Can't believe how fast it went by :)  Just wanted to stop in quickly to share a super cute Spring Kindergarten project with you. It's a project that teaches Kinders how to draw three types of flowers, as well as create a pattern for a vase.

I chose this project to try out our new Tempera Cakes.  And I must say.....I absolutely LOVE them! They are great for younger artists to use.  I was spending so much time pouring tempera paint and then ending up with a huge mess that needed to be cleaned up after each class. These tempera cakes are already ready to go, and if any colors get mixed up, all it takes is a quick swipe with a wet cloth to clean them off.

Here are some in progress shots of the kids painting their flowers.

And the finished product!

Well that's all for today Art Spotters! See you next time. 

sincerely, 

Miss O'Donnell