The Daughters

These sweet gals painted their parasols for their upcoming performance!

Claycrete Calaveras

The 7th grade students have discussed the differences between western memorial rituals compared to those of Latin decent. Remembering a loved one or an icon that has passed has been the focus of our unit which explores the use of symbolism and color to represent a person or feelings related to that person. The Claycrete Calavera is the last project within this unit where students will create a skeleton in honor of who they are remembering using flashes of color and detail to capture the symbolism and feelings related to the memory of that person.

Vocal Workshop

We had a senior conduct her vocal workshop senior project on our 8th grade class. This year we are performing The Pirates of Penzance and her vocal experience is just what we needed to develop a beginning concept for how to bring about public singing to our classroom.

Optical Art

Last year our 7th grade class responded so well to the introduction of Optical Illusions that we decided to take it up a notch with them this year. Our 8th grade class mastered several optical illusion patterns and made an optical mobile out of a DVD and an optical cube. Here are the beginning stages.

Teaching Transitions through Directed Drawings

When students transition from 6th grade to 7th they often struggle. They come from a comfortable, nurturing homeroom environment that is based on the norms and values of one teacher. With that sense of homeroom understanding and security comes flexibility when it comes to the Teacher holding individuals accountable.

In 7th grade students have to "code-switch" between 7 different teachers and adapt to those 7 sets of norms and values. Teachers in the 7/8 grade work with over 160 students and can't always accommodate for individuals in the same manner as the 6th grade team simply due to ratios.Therefore, our first unit- the Anime unit, is designed to "hook" students while teaching them the very basic norm in Expressive Arts; time management. We lead students through 6 quick directed drawings of cool Manga characters and assign a specific color theme for students to illustrate and understand color theory. Each drawing and coloring has to be completed in the 45 minute class period.