November Charter Chat

Expressions Charter Chat: November 2015 from Mrs. Novello and Mrs. Shane

In Love with 2 Point Street Perspective Again!

I LOVE teaching perspective. The moment students learn how to create depth through the use of vanishing points it's like a light switches on in their creative minds. This year we have adopted a few new Perspective Projects that I feel scaffold the 2 Point Street Perspective well. Although, I have to admit that I have had a LOVE-HATE relationship with the 2 Point Street Perspective for years! Knowing how important the skill is for kids to learn, I couldn't just easily ditch the project. Plus, I plan on kids demonstrating mastery of 1-2 pt. perspective through a Making Tape Mural so making sure kids were confident with every element of the street scene was a PRIORITY! 

This year EVERY part of the Street Perspective Scene was guided: measuring buildings, windows, doors, billboards, sign/logo creation, sidewalk, streets, street and sidewalk lines. This heavy guiding lead to more precision with drawing. As a result, students were totally invested in their work! So it made sense to guide the coloring production as well! Value, color gradient and texture were the guided coloring techniques and were required elements in their finished pieces.

I am in LOVE with this project once again!

Artist Trading Cards

Nic Hahn is an art teacher in Minnesota that I have collaborated with in the past. Over the summer she announced she was hosting an artist trading card swap- and I signed up! An Artist Trading Card Swap is when student artist trading cards are exchanged with other student artist trading cards. Over 250 school signed up for the swap nation wide as well as schools from other countries! This opportunity for students to connect through artwork with other students acoss the nation was something we just could not pass up!

Though I had big plans for the swap, time snuck up on me. We had been creating artwork for an October exhibit that opened on the 28th. After that we were creating community service artwork that had deadlines or hinged on due dates of other projects that end on this very day. So when it came down to the wire, I did not have have time to carve out for how I was going to teach the students techniques and methods for creating these little masterpieces. I STILL wanted to have the kids participate and had created four ATC a while back as exemples to show them the many different techniques that can be used making these little pieces of artwork. Here are my examples:

So, I decided to place faith in the students and let them create on their own from home. Using about 10 minutes of classtime I announced what Artist Trading cards are, showed them my examples, told students they had a week to create their masterpiece at home and passed out the card and planner. Look was the kiddos brought back! 

I ended up sending 90 high quality cards to the dwap and will receive 90 back to trade with the participating students in January. Once these students receive these cards I believe the anticipation and excitement will spread like wildfire. 

I am hoping that we can take part of another ATC Trade later on this year so that students have another opportunity to be involved in connected with others through artwork!

11 Blankets in 2 Days!

I don't know how we got these blankets woven so quickly! Maybe the energy of it being the final week before Thanksgiving Vacation? Maybe the minimum-day schedule? I don't know what it was but Room I-5 was hummin' like a factory during the two-40 minute periods that students wove together over 150 5 foot knitted strips into blankets. We even had a crew of "Cleaners" who would inspect blankets for quality! they would trim loose threads, undo and re-knit uneven strips so that they were the accurate length, and re-wove strips together if there were significant holes. 

Whatever it was that lit a spark under these guy worked and I am VERY proud of them all!

Blankets Taking Form!

We are winding down to the last week of knitting. This is the time when students work together to weave knitted strips together as blankets. Our goal is to donate 15 stadium-sized blankets when all is said and done. Think we can do it? Stay in tuned!

2 Point Street Perspective

Moving from 1 point perspective to 2 point perspective requires a clear understanding of proper vanishing point alignment. We are reinforcing this skill of accuracy with every required detail: Windows, doors, sidewalk, lane lines, signs, billboards- you name it! The kids seem to appreciate the amount of time it is taking to teach them how to align each detail, too. I think these are going to turn out nice!

Pop Abstraction Placemats

I hosted a "Chopped" Art Challenge Thursday utilizing recycled paper by bagging it up along with scissors and glue for each table. I introduced artist Nicholas Krushenick's Pop Abraction art to students and we discussed the use of color, pattern, repetition and unity within his artwork.

Students were the set loose on their challenge: to create a Pop Abstraction placemat for Meals on Wheels in the style of Nicholas Krushenick. They turned out pretty awesome and I'm excited for the clients of Meals on Wheels!

1 point perspective name initials

The initial project is the second within the Perspective Unit. Students designed letters and created dimension using the vanishing point. They practiced shading creating value scales with both graphite and color pencil. They shaded  their letters with one and then created the electric lines with the other. The brick background adds a cool graphic detail against the angled cut border. Theses turned out great!

Making Knitting Needles for Project Linus

Making knitting needles has now become a tradition during our Global Thinking Unit. The first project within this mindful unit is Knitting for Project Linus. Yep, we knit- all 87 students knit 50 inch strips that students weave together to form stadium sized blankets. 

Why  buy needles when we can make them in class for about 25 cents per kiddo! It's like wood shop in Expressions for a day. We are SO resourceful!

Spooky Landscapes

Since the 7th grade class did such s fabulous job using chalk pastels on their Collaborative Skeletons I decided to extend their skills with a Spooky Landscape. This project kicked off the Perspective Unit and also finalized right before Halloween. Creative, Spooky and fun!