Hello Parents, Students, & Blog readers!
Thank you for bearing with me and continuing to tune in despite my absence these past 2 weeks. The month of September had not started off kindest to me, however it is getting better – and just in time for Rosh Hashana! 🙂
I like to begin the school year with introducing my pre-nursery – 3rd graders to the book called The Dot. It’s a fabulous story about a little girl who is frustrated with art and doesn’t believe she’s good, only to later discover that she is really, indeed fantastic.
I really love how this lesson translates across grades, and it’s really incredible for me to watch how students of various ages, execute the project.
The nursery school students used primary color paint and corks to stamp dots all over their paper. They get to see how colors mix and make other colors (just like Vashti in the book!).
Kids in grades k-3 do their project a little differently. They use circular objects to make “dots”. I show them how they can put dots inside dots, overlap dots, put dots behind dots, etc. And then I explain how the picture will not look like anything in particular, and I seize the opportunity to tell them about abstract art, using the artist Jackson Pollock as reference. The kids get so into it and they made art that just blew me away!
Please stay tuned so I can share with you what the kids in our upper graders are doing!
Art Class is in full-swing at Hillel Torah! Right now 5th-8th grade is working on “watercolor experiments”. Students get to play around with mixing colors and see what kind of cool effects they can get when they sprinkle salt and drop rubbing alcohol onto their paintings. They have been so engaged in this art making experiment.
I have been assessing kindergarten through second grade by having them practice line varieties i.e. straight, wiggly, zig zag, etc. This gives me great insight into their capabilities and what areas I can help them along. Of course I have to make this process fun for them, and what better way than to have them make paper sculptures?! I showed the kids how to make “curly paper”, zig-zag paper, and different shapes. Next I asked them to glue them together and create an “Abstract Paper sculpture”. They had a blast – and so did I by just watching them enjoy themselves.
Hello Students, Parents, and fellow blog readers! School is back in session! I am so excited to be back with the Hillel Torah community for my second year. I anticipate this year being even more successful than last, especially since I now know the students and their various learning styles. I have some very exciting art in store for us! I will be sending out occasional requests either through a paper note home with your child or via email, requesting certain supplies such as newspaper, magazines, yarn, etc. I have very strong intentions of taking our art course into a 3-Dimensional realm this year and I hope to accomplish this through the art form of paper mache! Paper mache is so easy, crazy affordable, and tangible, and I personally just LOVE, love, love it! Take a look at what we accomplished last year – this year will be even better!