Antebellum Architecture

The 4th and 5th graders are identifying and drawing architectural characteristics of Antebellum mansions.  They are also learning that architecture, or a type of building, can be from a very specific time and place like South Carolina, and before the Civil War.  This is the first architecture project that the students have drawn in awhile, so this is an exciting adventure.  Some students build using Minecraft, so they are more familiar with architecture.  I hadn't expected that.

1st Grade Books

As a class, we brainstormed ideas for books that include a beginning, middle, and end.  We also use key details to tell our main idea of the story.  Story ideas included playing with a new cat, what I do at school, and shopping with my family.  This is the last week to work on the books.  We sewed them together to learn more about handmade books.

Kindergarten storytelling

The kindergarteners made puppets for the characters using key details, so we, the audience, can tell which one is Papa Bear, Mama Bear, Baby Bear, and Goldilocks.  As a class, we talked about size of the puppet character Papa Bear is bigger than Baby Bear, Mama Bear, or Goldilocks.  G or Mama Bear may wear jewelry or have hair bows.  Papa Bear may wear a tie.  Baby Bear is the smallest.

Staff Development Day

The teacher spent a whole day looking at our standards and planning the rest of the school year.  Even teachers spend days doing paperwork!  We are ready and all planned for the end of the year.

Jump Rope for Heart

For many years, the students at Port Royal Elementary have participated in Jump Rope for Your Heart.  The last 2 years, students have designed t-shirts for a contest that Jump Rope has for the children.  This contest is to raise even more awareness of healthy choices and reward several students for participating.  We are drawing t-shirts this week again for the contest.

GT Art Screening

Every year students in Beaufort County are invited to participate in GT Arts Screening.  The Screenings happen on two Sundays in January.  One screening is for North of the Broad and one screening is for South of the Broad.  The visual art students need to bring 4 drawings with them: a line drawing with 3 shoes, a landscape with color, a self-portrait, and art of their choice.  Because we are a small school, only 3 students registered and 2 were screened on Saturday.  This is good practice like an interview for the students.  Most students are nervous and feel out of place, but they get a chance to draw a still life using pencil during their screening process.  I was really proud of the 2 students that came to participate, because preparing a portfolio and coming to Robert Smalls Middle School on a Saturday morning is not easy for a 3rd, 4th, or 5th grader.  I have helped for the last 5 years.  It is interesting to watch the students draw the still life and see how the drawing develops.  I have no photos of this, because the district keeps the still life for the screening process.  Students don't find out for a month if they have qualified for GT Art services with the school district.

3rd Grade had Wax Museum Performance

Each grade level is performing this year.  3rd Grade dressed in costume and played a historical person from South Carolina history.  I helped with 6 students and traced and painted a SC map with regions and 4 major battlegrounds.

Artist's Statements on Artsonia

  I like my butterfly, because I like the shapes.

I like my Christmas tree, because I like the angel.

I like my Christmas poster, because I like Santa's kittens.

All the students will be filing new art in their portfolios and writing about one artwork in Artsonia with an Artist Statement.  The statement should include the reasons that the student wrote it.  It may also include how the idea changed.  As an art teacher, I asked the 2nd through 5th grade students to use 2 or 3 art vocabulary words to describe their art.  The Kindergarten students are telling me artist statements and I type them for them.  They are all using "I like my art, because...." so they can speak in complete sentences.

Artscapade

Wednesday. is the last day of 4th grade Art Club and the first day to start  drawings or painting about "Families" for a fundraising art show called Artscapade.  I can only choose 3 students to represent the school.  The drawings or paintings will be sold at auction for $25 a piece to raise money.  Last week in Art Club, the 4th graders drew sketches and ideas for the final art.  We will see how much we can complete on Wednesday.  Several are not complete.  We will finish and upload on the Blog.

Finished Escher Stories

It took 3 class periods to complete the collaborative stories that the 4th and 5th grade classes were writing.  The stories turned out well.  As a class, we couldn't identify the main idea until the story was written.  On to the next writing assignment and next artist to learn about...