Artsonia Christmas Special!

Use code HOLIDAYFUNDS13 for your discount!

Van Gogh Sunflowers by Second Grade!

First Grade Winter Landscapes

First grade is finishing up their COOL Winter Landscapes this week. Most classes have added their snow and details. Our final step is our self assessment. Students will do a small self evaluation of their work. Our first grade self assessment is simple, but it is an important step in learning how to look at our work.

Students will be gluing their self assessment to the back of their work. Be sure to check it out when your child brings their work home!

 

For this project, we learned about landscapes, space, proportion and cool colors (blue, green, purple). First graders learned how to identify the three parts of a landscape (foreground, middle ground, and background). We also discussed space and proportion (in first grade terms!). We discussed how objects appear smaller as they get farther away and how objects that are close appear larger than objects in the background. 

Students chose to add either a tree or a snowman to their foreground (making it big, of course!).

In the picture below, you can see the student demonstrated an understanding of space by drawing a tree in the middle ground that is smaller than the snowman in the foreground!

Volunteers Needed!

Art Volunteers from Mrs. Stormes

What we are working on....

Currently in the art room,
Kindergarten is working on creating winter trees.  We are learning about color mixing to make our green paint.  We will be cutting out our trees to make a collaged image.  The final step will be adding in snow!

First grade is working on creating winter landscapes.  We watched a video about Grandma Moses and talked about her landscape paintings.  We are working on creating a collaged landscape using the cool colors.  We will be adding in objects and talking about the relative size of objects in space.  Our final step will be adding in snow!

Second grade is learning about Vincent van Gogh and still-lifes.  We read the book Camille and the Sunflowers and looked at work by van Gogh.  We are currently sketching our sunflower still life.  Soon, we will trace our still life with Sharpies and begin painting them.  I hope to have these finished before Christmas break, but they always take longer than expected.  However, they are usually very impressive when they are done!

Third through Sixth are continuing their studio work.  We recently opened the painting station and the students are learning a variety of painting techniques.  Since the end of the trimester is quickly approaching, many students are handing in WOW pieces.  Our WOW pieces include an artist statement.  Many students have been furiously working on typing their artist statements during the last few classes!

If you stop by Leib, please take the time to look at the art hanging around our school.  Many of the students's WOW pieces are hanging up around our building, as well as kindergarten's fall trees, first grade's texture paintings and second grade's Mondrian art.

Artsonia Christmas Items!

Artsonia offers Christmas items!


If you are interested, Artsonia offers Christmas items with your child's artwork.  These items can make great gifts from your child.  Personally, I purchased Christmas ornaments with my children's art on it last year as presents for the grandparents.  I loved them, such a great keepsake. I plan to do it again this year.  I love ornaments that mean something!  So, I thought I would share.  I can't be the only one that loves a memento of what my kids have made!

So, I know most of what we have done this year isn't very winter or Christmas related.  K and 1s are working on winter trees and landscapes right now.  If you have request and your child is in grades 3-6, let your child know.  They have free choice during studio time.  They can make something to fulfill your requests. :) If your child is younger, I will be posting their winter items as soon as possible, but I can't guarantee it will be soon enough.

One alternative to using the work that I post, is posting work your child makes at home.  You can photograph it and upload it yourself.  It super easy if you download the free artsonia app for your phone or iPad.  

Happy Shopping!

ColorCycle!

Leib is proud to participating in Crayola's ColorCycle program. ColorCycle is a program that recycles plastic markers and turns them into fuel! We will be collecting dried out plastic markers in the art room. After we get enough markers to fill a box, we will ship them to Crayola for recycling! 

http://www.crayola.com/colorcycle.aspx

If you have any dried out markers at home, please send them in and we will add them to our ColorCycle box! We can recycle any type of plastic marker, including dry erase and highlighters, and any brand, not just Crayola!  

Artsonia!

Leib's Artsonia Gallery is up and running!  Students, that have chosen to display their artwork, have their work photographed and uploaded to the Artsonia webpage.  If you have already registered your child, you will get an email directly from Artsonia when  a new work is published.  If you have not yet registered, you will be getting a slip of paper with your child's Artsonia information on it.  When you receive the paper, we would greatly appreciate it if you would take the time to register.  All registration requires is an email address.  Your registration will help save paper and save the planet!
If you would like to register and have not yet received your paper slip, you can email me, Mrs. Stormes, the email address you would like to use.  I will enter your email under your student's account for you!

Studio Work

The amazing thing about studio time is that students really get the opportunity to explore their own ideas. They are learning through experimentation and discovering where their creativity can take them. It is fascinating to see what the students try in each center. Currently, we have three centers open for grades 3 - 6, drawing, collage, and painting. Below, I am posting some images of student work. Students have done everything from still life setups with pumpkins and gourds to abstract tissue paper collages!

This is what Choice studio is all about...

One of our third graders, Leah, found nature supplies and pumpkins in the drawing center, set up a still life and starting working away. All without a bit of instruction from me! I am so impressed with the independence that choice studio is building in the students. Their work is really reflecting their individual interests and everyday I am seeing them grow in the creative process!

Great job Leah!

Artsonia!

I finally got artwork uploaded to Artsonia! Yes, I know, it was long overdue. But, with so much new stuff to prepare this year, I just now, found some time!  :)

A few notes about Artsonia.....

1. Artsonia is a free online art gallery for students

2. If you register and activate your students account, they will send you an email whenever new art work is posted. Please activate your account to help save paper!

3. You can comment on student work. Please share your comments with the students. Feedback is so important to keeping them encouraged in the art making process. Comments will only show up after the parent on he account has approved them. 

4. If you purchase any items from Artsonia, we get 20% back! I use that money to buy things for art room- supplies, rewards, and soon, apps for our iPad!

5. Artsonia has an iPhone and iPad app. You can upload images that your child has made at home to their account. The image above is what the app looks like when you open it up. Just tap on parents and you can easily upload your at home masterpieces!

Artsonia is an amazing free resource to help encourage creative kids! Please take advantage of it and encourage your young artists!

Third Grade Art!

Fall is with K and 1

Kindergarten and first grade read the book "Art is" and discussed the season of Fall/Autumn and warm colors. Then, we made "Fall is" picture using fall images and the warm colors.

Sixth Grade Art

Photos from recent studio time!

So many creative works are coming out of our studio time! We have amazing artists in third, fourth,fifth, and sixth grade! I'm so proud of how they are using their studio time to express their interests and ideas!

 

Shape and Texture Men by 1st grade!

Collage and Drawing with Third Grade!

Fourth Grade Drawing and Collage

Work from 4th grade! Students are choosing to work in either the drawing or collage center. It is amazing to watch their creativity when they have the freedom to express themselves!