A Somewhat Late Update

Typically, as some of you may know, I post my weekly update around noon on Saturdays. Well, Mr. Chance passed his dissertation this week. He is now Dr. Chance!!!! To celebrate, we spent the day at Folly Beach/Charleston. We had a lot of fun and it was such a lovely day to enjoy a good shell hunt. We didn't have a lot of luck in that department, but it was just nice to take the day to not think about anything besides running away from the freezing cold water on the beach.

We got home not too long ago and I decided to go ahead and post this week's update tonight instead of making everyone wait until tomorrow. I was too excited about some of the stuff we have been doing this week :)

K4: Our Very Hungry Caterpillar sculptures are off to a good start. K4 students painted their Model Magic beads light and dark green, plus one red for the head. They turned out beautiful and smooth thanks to a great idea my mom had. I was worried about students getting paint all over their hands. It seems to me that as I try to paint beads, I get more on me than the bead. I paint myself by accident, I wipe or smear sections of the bead that were once smooth...just a mess and very frustrating. Not to mention the fact that I know that they will be dried to the surface of whatever I lay them on. I was chatting with my mom about this predicament and she suggested wooden skewers! It worked beautifully! Luckily the beads fit snugly on the skewers, not sliding around and students were able to easily paint them without smearing. As an added bonus, it allowed me to put them on my drying rack. With our awesome beads now painted and looking great, we are ready to string them together next week.

K5: As promised, this week I have much more colorful zebras to share. Many students still had to finish coloring their paper for the stripes, but their were a few that were able to finish and add that key characteristic to their zebras.

1st: After finishing their musical instruments last week, students added lines and color to their backgrounds. They are starting to look a little more Cubist in style, but the big change will not come until next week.

2nd: Students finished up coloring and "decorating" their Hundertwasser houses. I cannot wait to add these to the backgrounds we will be creating over the next couple of weeks!

 3rd: We officially started our Kandinsky Circle assemblages this week. I am really happy with our results so far. All of the students are too! They love using different materials than your standard marker, crayon, or colored pencil. I originally thought about displaying these artworks individually at our upcoming Art Show, however, after seeing them all drying together the other day I am starting to reconsider.

4th: I am thrilled to report that we had a sunny day on Tuesday so students were able to take pictures outside. All but 5 students wanted to take their picture on the playground. I am so glad it worked out! All of the photographs turned out well. Great lighting, wonderful compositions, and funny/clever ideas! Next week, students will be adding some fictional elements to their photographs through drawing. I will hopefully get to share a few of those with you next week as they finish.

5th: Students are starting to complete their printmaking projects. I am really allowing a lot of time for this project so students can practice and get the hang of this new set of skills. They are doing a great job, so I have decided to let them have one more week of printing. For now, here are a couple of the finished results...

6th: I will be posting pictures of our finished weather vanes, hopefully, tonight. If not, please look for them tomorrow. They are soooo cool! Anyway, after a full day and a half of practice, some students started painting their Fauvism inspired Palmetto Trees on Wednesday. They just scream summer to me.

Art Club: Many of the younger students are almost done with their collection tapestry. I am also happy to share that the older students have now officially started theirs. It is so interesting to see what objects they are placing on these shelves. The thought that students have put in to this project is huge from both groups. I will be asking them to include an explanation of why they have chosen these objects in the letters that we will be writing to Paul Wackers.

Mosaic News: Due to scheduling conflicts, students have not been able to work on the mosaic recently. Because we would ultimately like the piece to be installed during our break, Mrs. Allen and I worked on adding mosaic tiles to the edges of the piece. It is all really coming together. Hopefully, students will be able to join us this upcoming week to finish things up. We only have two small sections left before the grouting can start!