February Charter Chat

Expressions Charter Chat: February 2017 from Jenell Novello

7th Grade Tunes Scale Project

Looney Tunes never get old and I guess that's one of the reasons why this one is a repeat project! This year, however, I have heard several anecdotes from the kids about how they are creating more scale projects in their 6th and 7th grade math classes. This makes me VERY happy that students are making the math- art connection in their academic class! It also takes a bit of pressure off me in case I want to modify my art units (which I LOVE doing!).

 I absolutely think math in the art room is VERY important to help bridge the gap for those who struggle. There are so many cool math-art projects to expose the students to that I would love to combine into one unit. Maybe next year I'll have a Hidden Figures Unit that exposes students to a variety of different forms of math through the arts!

8th Grade Double Exposure Animals

The weather is a bit unpredictable right now in Sacramento. When I reviewed the forecast for the time that we would be working on the Digital Art Unit it was suppose to be clear on a day that we needed to be outside during an 85 minute block. Instead, it was stormy with wind and rain. BUMMER!
It turns out that that week previous I was becoming OBSESSED with double exposure. One of my #PLN friends, Steve Blais, was tweeting these AMAZING animal pictures and I just HAD to learn how to create! After I bugged him a couple times, he sent me the directions and I JUST KNEW it would be the perfect, 1-day indoor lesson for my stir crazy 8th graders. :) Check out these beautiful Double Exposure Animals!

 

8th Grade Google Vector Portraits

OMG! One the THE BEST additions to the Expressions curriculum by far this year is the Google Vector Portraits. I follow this FAB Art Teacher on Twitter and Instagram named @amsaviatorart and over the summer inquired about a Google Draw portrait she was posting about. She instantly shared the lesson and I went to work! It look me about an hour to get the hang of how to use the tools, but once I got them I was instantly hooked and created this!

It was then that I new the kids would totally get into this form of digital art so I added it to the Digital Art Unit that we kicked off this week. Holy Cow- just look at what they are turning in!

7th Grade Inspirational Word Sculptures

The Block letter Project has been a part of the Expressions curriculum for 14 years now and I think I am finally satisfied with it. In the past the project was always an individual project with a specific theme assigned. Themes of the past ranged from literature, poetry to free choice. And because the construction process is so time consuming a portion of the designing had to happen at home for the sake of materials and time. This year my goal was to modify the project so that the entire process could be finished in class. In order to do that I needed to simplify the requirements so that I could ensure that I could provide all of the required materials. That's when I realized that the focus of the project needed to change from an individual design to a more group themed project that focused on a message.

Enter Robert Indiana's Pop Art Sculpture LOVE. Why I had never thought of having the students collaborate on a word is beyond me, but since I shifted the block letter project to combine with the 8th grade Pop Art Unit transitioning from a letter to a word in this style was the obvious choice!

I totally expected students to push back on the word idea since a majority of students have older siblings that had completed this project using their initial. Honestly, I was blown away at their immediate by-in at the thought of inspiring others through a positive message. All I did was show them this slideshow and they were pretty much hooked!

I cannot say enough about how much MORE meaningful this block letter project has become by focusing less on individual design and focusing more on a collaborative, inspiring message. Check out how these look displayed in the exhibit! :)

No copycats- 8th Grade ORIGINAL Book cover Ceiling Tile Murals

Seriously, did this REALLY happen? YEP!

So, on the first day back from winter break- the entire 8th grade class was divided up into 3 different classrooms for The Big Day of Reading. This day is designate for activities that promote reading campus wide. The 6th grade students engage in all sorts of reading activities from poetry art, read-alongs, library talks, and reading games. 7th grade students get more technical with creating book trailers, competing in reading challenges, and creating reading posts. The 8th grade class shifts from reading to becoming reading advocates. Their role on The big Day of Reading is to paint  27  original book cover ceiling tiles to advertise books to new readers and this year they did not disappoint!

To start off I have to give props to three collaborators. Cary Zierenberg-Senge, our amazing ELA Teacher, for encouraging me to steer students towards survival-themed book titles that the 8th grade were currently reading in their Lit Circles. The relevancy of this idea was the first hook. The second hook resulted from the efforts of our extremely dedicated and talented librarian, Elsa Prettol. Elsa created a lesson to inspire original book cover designs which included anecdotes from Chip Kidd's Ted Talk, key elements of book cover designs, and ethical practices of designing an eye catching book cover that can appeal to all. The third collaborator is Joanna Mattsson-Boze who is an extremely artistic person that happens to be our Math Teacher! Since the murals were a scale project, her involvement in the process helped to calibrated student learning and also connected all three subjects together: Art, ELA and Math. I LOVE my Colleagues!

I linked all the projects here and posted some of my faves below. I am SO VERY proud of every student and their efforts! YAY Team!

 

 

January Charter Chat

Expressions Charter Chat: January 2017 from Jenell Novello