Painting Everything But The Yellow Brick Road

We were fortunate to have beautiful, warm weather so that we could paint the sets for Oz outside.  Thank you to the 5th graders who helped prepare the scenery for the upcoming school play!

Take the Fairy House Tour

A huge thank you to all who participated in our Fairy House/Gnome Home Build!  We had over 30 kiddos build 19 structures around the grounds of the school.  The fairies, gnomes and elves have been checking out their new digs and excited about taking up residence in their new homes.

En Plein Air Landscapes

With a landscape like that in our very own backyard, how can we not go outside?!  We've been lucky to have a gorgeous autumn, so we've taken full advantage of it by going outside to sketch our landscapes.  Before doing so, the third graders viewed, studied and discussed Impressionist landscapes, specifically that of Claude Monet.  We also spent some time breaking down landscapes into foreground, middleground and background.  We even prepped our drawing surfaces with tissue paper to designate these three areas to help us focus on each particular section.  We did have to do some repair work since the glue sticks weren't enough to hold down the layers of tissue paper, so we added a coat of watered down glue.  Up next... painting!

Creating Colorful Castles

Check out the second graders colorful creations!  The second graders reviewed the elements of line and shape and are now well-versed in the difference between the two.  Using a variety of both, the students are designing their very own castle, of which they are the king or queen.  We'll even get a peek as to what they'll look like as the ruler of their kingdom, but more on that later!

The Lines and Shapes That Make a Carnival

The first graders have expanded their repertoire of lines and shapes and are using these elements to create fantastical fairs.  After gluing down their four shapes, the students sketched the layout of their carnivals, then went to work adding color with oil pastels.

We Are the Primary Colors...

we make other colors...

The kindergartners are painting in full swing.  After learning about the primary colors and singing our primary color song each week, the students are now seeing what these colors can do.  We're mixing two primary colors at a time and making discoveries along the way.  So far, we've mixed red and yellow, as well as yellow and blue.  We'll be using our painted papers for an upcoming pumpkin project before experimenting with our last two primaries, red and blue.

Play Day with Clay

The fourth graders are about to embark on their first unit of study... clay.  They'll be making coil pots, but before they do, the students are using a class period to get reacquainted with clay.  After a demonstration on how to wedge clay, roll out a slab, make a coil, and how to adjoin two pieces of clay with the score and slip technique, the fourth graders will be trying out these techniques as well.
The following are some useful videos to watch.