Mrs. Collins' Class Animated Creatures

In second grade, we created articulated creatures inspired by mythology and imagination. After creating the creatures (which had movable limbs from using fasteners) we made short animated movies in partner groups. Below are their finished videos organized by class. Here are Mrs. Collins class' videos

Ms. Barnett's Class Animated Creatures

Mrs. Thibault's Class Animated Creatures

Mrs. Davis' Class Animated Creatures

Working as a Team to Create a New Mural

If you've been into the front hallway of UMS, you've probably noticed the mural has changed. The original mural was painted almost twenty years ago with Ms. Joppe, the art teacher at the time. I met with Ms. Joppe last spring and she suggested I paint over it with some of our current students. Her blessing got me thinking, so I asked permission and took some suggestions from faculty and staff to plan for a new one. It's going to take a number of months to accomplish! 

Based on the art schedule, it works out that I have a free period every Thursday afternoon. That's when 1st graders have flex time in their schedule as well. So, every Thursday I've planned to take 3-5 students to help me paint the mural. We began with a coat of white paint, and have just begun painting the background image. After that's finished we'll begin adding characters in the foreground who are playing, learning and having a good time! 

Here are some pictures of our progress so far:

SUPERHEROES!!

Check out these sweet superheros made by Ms. Barnett's Class! Boom! Pow! KerSplat!

Self-Portraits

We've been working on our Self-Portraits in art class this week. We talked about how different colors can convey different emotions. Some of us decided to show ourselves realistically, while others took a less traditional route (and decided they'd rather have green skin and grow a mustache!). Keep your eye out for our unique and descriptive portraits in the hallway next week.

Just Make a Mark & See Where It Takes You

For our first art project of the year, all students at PPS got to explore their own unique "art mark." We read the book , "The Dot," by Peter H. Reynolds which is about a little girl who doesn't think she can draw, but discovers she really is an incredible artist. 

On its own each student's mark is gorgeous, but when pieced together, they look even more impressive!

Ms. Vella's Summer Art Projects

I've been doing a lot of painting this summer, as I hope you all have too. I was lucky enough to take a course with Julian Bradshaw at St. Michael's College entitled, "Educator as Artist." The course focused on personalized learning in the arts. Each student enrolled in the course were encouraged to work on their own passions and interests as an artist while developing a large body of work.

Here are some of my paintings I did during my time working on my concentration; you might see some of these at the South End Art Hop in Burlington in September, if you get a chance to visit the Innovation Building off Lakeside Avenue.

Tracy Campbell Pearson Visits UMS!

You may have already heard about our special guest, Author and Illustrator, Tracy Campbell Pearson. She visited UMS today, speaking to all students about the process of being an artist and writer. To celebrate her visit, I was inspired to design a fun lesson based on one of my favorite characters she created: Bob the Rooster. To make their pictures of Bob, students followed a step-by-step drawing guide, outlined their work in black oil pastel, then added splashes of paint to bring their "Bobs" to life. These were a great end-of-year project!

Painting Our Clay Birds and their Nests

We owe Vito Canizarrio, the high school art teacher, a big thank you for firing our entire school's clay pieces! He fired over 257 ceramic works in the kiln at the high school as well as another 250 from Porters Point School. He said he's happy to do it because he knows how important it is for children to have the opportunity to work with clay. 

Clay is such a rich artform that everyone connects to in a very real and tactile way. There's something deep and special about clay that allows children to truly connect to their work. Today students in Ms. White's and Ms. Barnett's 1st grade classes enjoyed painting their sculptures of birds with their nests. Check out some of these fun photos a student helped me take in class: