Finishing up 2014 in Room 5

Some first attempts at message prints.

What a busy year.  I can't believe we're racing toward the end of this calendar year.  There are projects winding up and just launching.  Our memoirs are almost all typed up, awaiting some revision and editing before they hit the presses.  And our printing projects are just finding their legs.  These photos show some of the early attempts.  I challenged our artists to make prints that express a world-improving message, surprise us with color and bend our minds with a clever lay out.

Can you read it?

Geometry tableau: how to make a rhombus with a buddy.

Both 2nd- and 3rd-graders in our class are studying geometry right now.  Our younger kids are just getting to know some of the basic attributes of shapes, getting a solid footing in how to talk about  and think about polygons.  You can hear some of their awesome and hilarious attempts to say some tricky geometric vocabulary, here.  

3rd-graders are digging in deeper, working on linear/mirror and rotational symmetry, as well as the broader taxonomy of polygons.  You should check out some of their geometric art and shape riddles by Mrs. Zimmermans' room.  

Printmaking

Over the next few weeks we are starting a new art study - printmaking.  We started with a very basic definition:

P R I N T I N G  =  ink  + pressure

We are going to explore a variety of methods over the course of our study, culminating in a block print with a text message.  To start off we tried some unconventional ways to get paint onto paper.   As you can see below, painting with string yields some very different results than painting with a brush or fingers.  

We also had an opportunity to try a unique method of applying paint to paper thanks to the amazing Ms. Layman.  She had the brilliant idea of using the paper left on the gym floor from the winter bazaar to make large, very large art.  She also thought it would be a good chance to explore pendulums based on the swing that one of our students uses during PE.  Sue and Gregg Heintz built us some frames for hanging pendula over large sheets of paper.  We used recycled bottles left over from the air pressure experiments to make paint dispensers.  Below are some of the results.  Once we got the paint mixture ratio sorted out, we got some galactic and atomic masterpieces.  Come see them hanging in the hall when you have a chance.   

A very special thanks to everyone who volunteered to create this beautiful exploratory opportunity for our students.

If you are interested in learning more about printmaking, Khan Academy has a nice collection of videos from the Museum of Modern Art posted here.  Moma also has this interactive that has some interesting info.  And while we are posting links, we watched this handy video a few times to learn about the tricky mechanics of writing dialogue.  Enjoy!

It was so great to be back together after our long weekend.  The kids had so many warm stories this morning of their time with family and friends.  We had an extra long class meeting just so everyone had a chance to share their important news.  

The other day the Google home page paid homage to the artist Corita Kent which was incredibly timely because we are about to start a new art exploration based on print-making.  Students are going to decide what important messages they have to tell the world and then turn them into poster prints.  If you have any interest in helping make some prints in class please let me know.  I'll be looking for helpers for times between 2 and 3 PM, Monday through Friday.  It will be a lot of fun, but wear something you wouldn't mind getting a little bit of washable ink on.

Our class has done a great job of dressing for the weather, with hats and gloves and warm coats.  If you have not already, please take a minute to label your child's clothing.  Kids are asked to take their coats to a lot of different places on their way outside and it is understandable that they might get left behind.  We do a pretty good job of staying on top of that but it is helpful if their name is on a label or somewhere else in the coat, just in case.