11/20 and 11/21

K-2

Learning to use glue. Doesn’t sound like it would be a skill to spend time on....especially if you know how but it is one of the skills that students use all the time in school. How many times has your child used glue and it was a gooey mess...all over their hands, all over their paper, the table. You get my drift!

So this is what your student learned.
1. How to open/ close and wipe the tip of the bottle
2. How much squeeze pressure to use
3. Where to put the tip of the bottle for a dot of glue on the paper
4. The speed to use when drawing a line of glue

Students made a patterned paper in glue drawing dots, circles, straight lines, curved and angled lines on colored construction paper.

3/4
Students are finishing a project they started last trimester. They are illustrating specific Bible stories to be used in RE for first communion and confirmation. The skills that they are to demonstrate are:
1. Emphasis (what’s the story about...who are the main characters)
2. Foreground, middle ground and background
3. Proportioned human figure
4. Historical clothing (no jeans and t-shirts)
5. Color usage to show emphasis
5. Color usage with variation (how many browns are there?)
6. Details and textures

5/6
Students are working hard on their final project for a portrait-drawing unit that was started at the beginning of first trimester. Yes, it takes that much time and practice to learn these skills. I am thrilled with the progress that I am seeing. You may hear complaining, I’m used to it. Today from the 6^th graders comments ranged from “frustrating” to “invigorating” with even a “fun” thrown in. Drawing yourself is emotionally difficult. We care about how we look and it’s hard to divorce oneself from what we think we look like to drawing what is there. The mantra is draw what you see not what you know.  These are the skills that your student is striving to demonstrate.
1. Facial feature placement
2. Negative space
3. Dark and light
4. Color as value
5. Draw what is there
My hope is this will be a piece that you will want to keep and possibly frame.

Happy Thanksgiving.......I will not be doing a posting next week because of only half day on Wednesday.  No art instruction just playing with a few classes making turkey puppets.

Art Show of June 2013

Three great examples of work that was created last school year by 4th and 5th graders. Can't wait to post some pictures of this year's work.

Art Grades

It's the first day of a new trimester and part of my commitment to students and parents is to increase the transparency of grading, learning objectives and projects that your students are learning in the art room. I also want to tell you my philosophy of teaching and in particular teaching art.

I see your student one hour each week. During a trimester that means that I see them a total of 11/12 times depending on the holidays, faculty training, etc. I expect all assignments to be completed by the end of the grading period. A missing assignment greatly affects their grade. The only "assignment" I excuse from makeup is their daily grade of 2 points. Speaking of grades, how is their trimester score calculated? There are 4 categories that I look at to calculate a score that reflects how they are doing in art.

The first category is the daily grade. Each time your student comes to art they earn 2 points. The 2 points represents their their effort and their behavior just for that hour. It is the only grade that has no make-up requirement.

The second category is the micro-lab. This is where your student learns or practices a new skill and/or an element and/or a principle. The micro-lab is worth 10 points. I use a 7, 8, 9 or 10 to code how they are doing with learning the objective of the lesson. A 7 means they did the work but they do not understand the objective at all. Working with this student the next time they are in class is a priority. An 8 means they did the work and have a glimmer of understanding and demonstrating the objective. I need to work with them for a short period of time to clear up some misunderstandings or skills. A 9 equals understanding the objective but they just need some more practice time. A 10 means they are ready to move on to the next learning objective. Let me give you an example. In 5th and 6th grade, students were learning to draw a portrait. One micro-lab segment was to place the facial features in the right location on the face. This is a measuring skill. If the student did not have any of the facial features in the right location I used a 7 to tell me they need extra instruction. If they had one feature in the right place they received an 8. Two facial features in the right place got them a 9 and everything where is it is suppose to be equaled a 10. These scores have nothing to do with talent. It is strictly a reflection of their grasping the learning objective. Please email me anytime you notice a score that indicates they are not understanding. Extra practice at home might be a way for you to encourage them to grasp the skill. It's like spending some extra time learning their multiplication facts.