Fine Arts Night

Drawing Practice

Looking for an awesome, fun and easy way to improve your drawing skills.  Check out Art for Kids Hub on YouTube- Rob and his kids guide you through drawing just about anything! They have tons of tutorials.  The subject matter of the tutorials comes in a wide variety.  There is something for everyone, from Minecraft to animals to Frozen. This a fun way to draw with your family members and to get in drawing practice!

Bell Ringers

All students in grades 3 - 6 are completing bell ringer drawings this year. As students enter the art room, they immediately pull out their sketchbooks and begin drawing. A timer is started and students must finish before the bell rings- hence, the name, bell ringer! Some days students follow a prompt, some days it is free choice, others we follow a drawing video. This exercise is building students drawing and creativity skills!

Mouse Paint by Kindergarten

Unity! Self Portraits that work together!

The entire school created a self-portrait using a monochromatic color scheme. The portraits were displayed together to create a rainbow, showing unity and uniqueness can go together!

Artsonia

What is Artsonia?  Artsonia is a free, online art gallery for schools.  Artsonia allows each student to have their own mini online gallery!  Artsonia allows parents to register, family and friends to become fans of a student, and fans to leave comments on student work.  Students really love seeing positive feedback on their artwork. The comments are very encouraging to our young artists! 

Artsonia also allows you to upload artwork at home.  If you are registered, you can use the Artsonia App to easily upload your child's work to their personal gallery.  

Lastly, Artsonia allows you to purchase items with your child's artwork on the item. Leib receives 20% of all sales on Artsonia.  Over the past two years, I have used money raised through Artsonia to purchase a variety of building blocks (wood, foam, and lego-style bricks) for our architecture center.  Artsonia provides us with the resources to provide a more diverse art environment!

Interested registering (if you haven't previously)?  Please send me an email from your preferred email including the name of your children and their classroom teacher!

Welcome Back....a little bit about our art room!

This school year, we are in our third year of a new approach to art education.  We will be blending our traditional style of art instruction with the nationally known art education philosophy called TAB (Teaching for Artistic Behavior). The concept of TAB is simple: Students are artists and the art room is their studio! During studio time, students will be taught techniques and then offered choices for responding to their own ideas and interests. When students are given the opportunity to explore their own ideas, passions and interests, students often find more meaning and relevance in their work. Students also become more reflective and engaged in the process.

Our blended approach will begin in kindergarten. Kindergarteners will have mostly traditional art instruction with a few days of TAB instruction each trimester.  With each year, students will be given more opportunities for studio work.  By third grade, students will have nearly equal amounts of studio time. By sixth grade, creative freedom abounds! 

Throughout the year, students will be given the opportunity to display their work in our building.  When students choose to display their art work, I also photograph their work and display in our online Artsonia gallery.  When you register for Artsonia, Artsonia will send you an email notification every time a work of art is published to your child’s personal gallery.   Many of our students are already registered and avid participators in Artsonia! Yay! Artsonia is a great way for students to share their art work with others and get feedback on their art work. You can check out our gallery at www.artsonia.com and search for Leib.

I am very excited to embark on a year filled with exploration and art making. Lastly, art exploration and art making are MESSY!  Please send in an old t-shirt for your child to wear over their clothing.  An “art shirt” can save many outfits from unnecessary stains.