2nd grade artists are in the middle of a family and friends unit. They had the choice of either drawing their family members or a group of friends as “Fantastic Felines”. This unit allowed students to bring in personal feelings and thoughts about people they care about. The drawing lesson required that students explore the concept of depth and perspective by overlapping cats in size order depending on height and age of their loved ones. Two principles of design most focused on in this unit of study are pattern and contrast. Each cat features an interesting pattern. Redimark markers allow students to flood black into shapes and make thick lines, while Sharpie markers are enabling them to create thinner lines. The idea is to create a good balance of contrast between the black and white. Add Comment Typically, the saying goes, "April showers bring May flowers". It sure has been raining a lot this May though, so I guess we should be saying "May showers bring May flowers" in the art room. 3rd grade artists viewed the work of artist Gale Kaseguma and are currently working on spring inspired tissue paper collages. They are cutting, gluing, and applying tissue paper to design well balanced floral compositions. They are problem solving during this process and making creative decisions while they work. For example, they are cutting and overlapping layers of lighter colors in order to create more contrast. If their stems are difficult to see, they are adding extra layers too. They are also discovering that they can make new colors by overlapping two pieces of tissue paper. We have mixed colors using paints and oil pastels in the past, but this is the first time they have created new colors using this medium. Students are brushing Mod Podge onto their work with old paintbrushes. When this glue is dry, their artwork will reveal interesting textures and will have a glossy shine. See their work in progress in the slideshow above. Expect to see these pieces in our B.A. Artsonia gallery when they are finished. See Gale Kaseguma's artwork here:http://kidmodern.com/prints2.html Teacher Appreciation Week: Thank You! 05/14/2012
"Teacher Appreciation Week" was last week. Our AWESOME P.T.O provided teachers with a staff lunch luncheon on May 8th which was wonderful . Thank you! I appreciate all that you do for our school community too! Students showed their appreciation by thanking teachers during class and even applauding when entering classrooms! Some arrived with special cards and drawings for me, which made me feel very special. Today, I found an apple on my desk with a note (See pic). How thoughtful! Thank you to our entire community for making teachers feel very special! Your acts of kindness are all very much appreciated. The sentiment and respect is mutual! 
Take a sneak peek at the Fabulous Felines 1st grade artists are in the middle of making! Inspired by artist, Laurel Burch, these students are incorporating the elements of design (line, shape, color, pattern, and balance). They are careful planners and problem solvers in the art room. We thought you might like to see this unit of study in progress and will post more pics when they are finished. See Laurel Burch's Fantastic Felines herehttp://laurelburch.com/Flash/felines.html 1st graders are becoming very skilled at using oil pastels too! Before these students began working today, one artist reminded our class about being careful because oil pastels can possibly smear. Other tips that students shared were that it is exciting to be able to use white on black paper, and pushing harder will make the colors pop. It always makes me smile when they offer helpful tips and reminders to their classmates based on previous learning. 4th graders have begun to review for the upcoming district art assessment test during art class. The questions about complementary colors seem to be the most challenging for them to answer. Last year we watched the video, "Complementary in Every Way" by art teacher, Tricia Fuglestad. Perhaps watching the story of how red fell in love with green again will help them to remember.  All 4th graders will be taking the District Art Assessment Test in two weeks. This will be a multiple choice Scantron test in which students will answer questions about art knowledge. They apply the elements and principles of art in every lesson, and demonstrate learning using art tools and media within each art class. Students are typically applying what they learn by problem solving in class, therefore, this pencil/ paper assessment is a different approach and requires practice. Testing their art knowledge using multiple choice tests is required by our district. I created an online quiz using http://www.quizrevolution.com/ and students took my quiz using our class set of iPads. I formatted the quiz so that the questions would appear in random order. Therefore, students were all answering different questions at different times to ensure they were working independently. Test your knowledge by taking my quiz below: 
2nd grade artist, Hailey, gave me this Artsonia magnet featuring her artwork! She ordered these to give to her family members at her Holy Communion celebration. She says that it was her idea to give her loved ones these magnets with her artwork and she hopes everyone likes this meaningful gift! I was thrilled that she gave me one. It is on display in the art room. Thank you Hailey! Enjoy your celebration!
B.A. artists have been finding my username on DrawSomething and have created games with me! It's been a blast drawing pics and guessing what their drawings are too! When this app was first released, users had to take screenshots if they wanted to save the images, however, the latest update allows users to save their drawings to the camera roll on their devices. I've been saving my drawings to a website that I created using the free app, Zapd. Instead of uploading the doodles as is, I started to add filters first. In doing so, I discovered that I was able to tell a new digital story with each filter I applied. See my latest DrawSomething doodles herehttp://drawsomething.zapd.net/ This is an incredible video about a boy who built an elaborate arcade out of boxes and how his only customer made his day by creating an event on Facebook (flash mob at Caine's Arcade). A "Must See"! Today marks 3 weeks since the Caine's Arcade video was posted online. Here is a bit of what has happened: Over 5 million views/tears/smiles. $195,571 raised for Caine's Scholarship Fund! $250,000 matching grant to start the Caine's Arcade Foundation to insipire creativity and entrepreneurship in more kids!! Countless cardboard arcades popping up in kitchens and schoolrooms around the world. 110,000 of the best fans on Facebook. http://cainesarcade.com/  Congratulations to B.A. Kindergarten artist, Jessica, for winning the Artsonia Artist of the Week Contest! Jessica will be receiving a $50.00 Blick Art gift certificate that she can use to acquire art supplies to use at home. She will also be presented with an award plaque from Artsonia. Our B.A. Art Program will be receiving a $100.00 gift certificate from Blick Art that will help us to have more art supplies at school! Thank you to everyone who supported Jessica and took the time to cast votes! Thank you to Artsonia for selecting Jessica's artwork for this contest and thank you to Blick Art Supplies for the gift certificates. Everyone who participated in this contest is appreciated for helping to make a difference! | Suzanne Tiedemann
Pre K- 5th Grade Art Teacher 
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