Evening with the Arts Information

This is a reminder that now is the time to submit artwork for next week’s Evening with the Arts celebration! Bring art to your teacher’s classroom sometime this week so that we can get it prepared for hanging or display. We really want to see as many people participate as possible, so dust off your creative side and celebrate the arts with us!

Remember, ideas for artwork for the show could include:
• Artwork completed in Mrs. Watson’s art class
• Artwork submitted for the PTA Reflections contest
• 3-D sculpture (non-edible) including Lego sculpting (not from a kit)
• Photography and Digital Photography
• Ceramics and hand built Jewelry (not from a kit)
• Splatter painting would be lots of fun in the back yard on a sunny day!
• And the list could go on and on!

Please do not submit coloring pages or items made from a kit. This should be creative and original work that the artist can be proud of owning and displaying!

The Evening with the Arts will be held on Friday, May 1st. Doors open for art gallery viewing at 5:30 p.m. I would recommend coming that early just to ensure a good parking spot!

By 7:00 p.m., everyone should have migrated down to the auditorium to enjoy the orchestra and choir concerts!

Our school is very fortunate to have such wonderful programs available to our students!!! When my daughter was younger, I wanted to put her into the 5th and 6th grade orchestra at home, but in American Fork the program is run by the Junior High and the time slots did not fit with our family schedule. Here, the program fits right into the school schedule, so it should not interfere with after school sports or dance. Also, in American Fork the cost is $65 each semester. That is not a lot of money, but here is it only $20 (or what is $25?) a semester! That is a STEAL OF A DEAL for adding some culture to your child's life!!!

I would highly encourage coming to check out these fantastic groups of students!

Spring Break pictures

When we came back to school on Monday, I had every intention of blazing forth on new project lessons.

However, my students seemed more interested in telling me all about their experiences over Spring Break.

You know, there is a reason that the essay "What did you do for Summer Vacation" has been a fixture in the American classroom for time out of mind. We all want to share our life experiences with one another. It is part of the human experience.

In response to the needs of the students, therefore, illustrating our Spring Break experiences was the first artistic expression of the week. After a quick 10 minutes of illustrating, any student who wanted to share was allowed to climb up on the stool in the front of the room and share with the class.

We had a great day!

1st grade - FRIDAY FUN DAY!

For our last art class before Spring Break, we had a Friday Fun Day. Of course, every day is fun in art! However, on a Friday Fun Day, the students get to try new materials in a free play setting. Today, the students used pastels for the first time.

Pastels are artist quality chalk. They are very bright and vibrant; but also very, very messy!

The 'tricks' for using pastels successfully are;
One hand stays clean, while the other hand manipulates the pastel.
The 'clean' hand holds down the paper, while the 'messy' hand floats in the air to prevent it from dragging though the colors already on the paper.
Using your finger to blend is totally okay!

3rd grade - FRIDAY FUN DAY!

For our last day in art before Spring Break, the 3rd grade students used the watercolor paints to create a painting of whatever they chose. Sometimes it is important to allow for the freedom of expression that can only happen when there is not a set assignment. Art is an expression of what is within. Giving students the time to free play with the materials can help develop this. The students had a great time!

After the break, we will be having watercolor painting lessons! In the meantime, have a wonderful and safe break!

CALLING ALL HARVEST ARTISTS!

This is a quick reminder of the school wide Evening with the Arts Celebration coming in the last week of April! All students are encouraged to submit an artwork for display and turn it in to their core teacher ASAP!

THIS IS NOT AN ART CONTEST!

All student artists are welcome to participate, as are parents! If you have an artwork you made once upon a time that you are particularly proud of, submit it! Our teachers are also going to show us their creative side and display art of their very own.

All artwork should be worthy of hanging. That means that it should be on artsy type of paper, not lined math homework paper. All artwork will need to meet community and school standards in order to be displayed.

On the evening of May 1st, there will be an open house for viewing the artwork, followed by concert performances from the school orchestra and choir. It should be an enriching evening for everyone who participates. We hope to see you there!

An art contest!

The Mexican Consulate in Salt Lake City has announced an art contest! Children ages 7-11 are invited to participate. By clicking on the image above, you will be able to print out the contest guidelines and official entry form.

This may be a great opportunity for your young artist to shine! My Spanish immersion students may be especially interested!

Good luck and have fun!

3rd grade - color wheels

The third grade students have been working on a difficult color wheel assignment. I assured them that the 3 primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) can make all the rest of the colors in the world if mixed in millions of different ways.

Their assignment was to create the standard 12 color wheel using only red, yellow, and blue colored pencils. the image seen above is the map, you might say, that the students followed on this assignment. Each color has a 'color recipe' next to it to follow. If it was only as simple as following the recipe, though! The students discovered that there is a lot of adjusting that needs to happen because they are human and not a machine! A machine can recreate a color time and time again by following a recipe. People, however, never color the same color twice. Sometimes we push harder, sometimes not.

In any case, the students had a great time trying and most were very successful!

1st grade - Baskets are coming home!

The first grade students finished their Basket projects today and took them home. They all had a wonderful time creating the various different items to put in their baskets and it was a joy to watch their enthusiasm!

3rd grade - Clay cups are done!

Students finished the ceramic cups this week, they look fabulous! The upper picture is bisque fired with glaze painted on. The lower picture is of finished projects after the final glaze firing. Kiln temperatures for this final firing reach 2200* F! The glazes are all food safe, you can drink out of it!

To care for the ceramic projects...

~Do not place the cup in the dishwasher... HAND WASH ONLY!
~DO NOT USE IT IN THE MICROWAVE! It could explode!
~It is not recommended for cooking on the stove or storing in the fridge.

Essentially, remember that it is a piece of artwork first and foremost and treat it that way. If you do, it should outlive you!