Tuesday Clay Day

8th Graders are making their clay plates in preparation for the sgraffito work they will start next week. 

6th Graders are glazing their ceramic leaves.  These will be fired this week. 

Fresh Out of the Kiln

Glazed and fired ceramic fall leaves from the 6th Grade Thursday's art classes were just pulled from the kiln today!  They look spectacular!!!!   

The Tuesday 6th Grade art classes will glaze their leaves next week.  

These little plates are great as a candle holder, soap dish, jewelry holder, candy dish, or spoon holder in the kitchen.  A treasure for years to come!

8th Grade: Sgraffito Project Planning

8th Graders are beginning their sketches for their ceramic sgraffito plates.  An initial drawing was done on construction paper and then traced onto tracing paper.  The tracing paper will then be placed on the top of their ceramic plates and traced into black glazed leather-hard clay.  From that point, the students will use a variety of sgraffito carving tools to carve the designs out of the clay exposing the white clay underneath.  

What's Going on In the Art Room: Week of November 7th

4th Grade:

4th graders just completed their Owl in Moonlight project.  Next week, we will begin work on our first Christmas project.

5th Grade:

5th graders just completed their Glue Line Pumpkin projects.  We studied how light direction affects shadows and highlights and shading on objects.

6th Grade:

We just completed the beginning stages of our ceramic leaf plates.  These will be fired in the kiln this week and ready for glaze work soon!

7th Grade:

Today students finished the clay work on their ceramic angels.  Once these are fired, we will be fusing  glass to the body and wings of the angels and glazing them.  Excited to see these completed!

8th Grade:

8th graders are finishing up torn paper portraits and beginning to sketch their designs for their sgraffito ceramic plates.  Pics to follow in the next few weeks!

Upcoming Projects...

4th Grade:

Students will be creating Mission-style Christmas churches using chalk pastels and focusing on creating depth by using shading, dimension, and paying attention to creating distinct foregrounds/middle grounds/ and backgrounds.


5th Grade:

Students in 5th grade are continuing to work on a Pumpkin Glue-Line Pastel Shading Project.  Students learned about light direction and how this affects shading and shadows.  Students explored using colors other than black to create shadows in their pictures.



6th Grade:

We are currently juggling a few sculptural projects.  This week, students begin making their ceramic leaf plates.  In between the drying, firing, and glazing of this project, students will continue to work on their paintbrush people.


7th Grade:

Our next project involves the fusing of ceramics and glass in a ceramic Angel project.  The students angels will be carved out and frit added to the carved out areas of the angels and re-fired, melting the frit into glass and fusing the clay and glass together.


8th Grade:

Students are finishing up their torn paper portrait projects.

Students who have completed the project are beginning the planning stages of their ceramic sgraffito plates.  8th graders will be making ceramic slump plates and using a sgraffito technique to glaze and design their plates.

Doodle -4- Google

Just a reminder that the due date for turning Doodle -4- Google entries into me is Thursday, November 17th.  This contest is optional.

Students in grades 6th-8th who participate (with effort) will receive 3 sketchbook credits for the 2nd trimester.

Please make sure that you have filled out all of the information on the bottom of the form and that it is signed by a parent before turning it into me.

More information about the Doodle -4- Google contest can be found at www.doodles.google.com

Sketchbooks Due Next Week

Sketchbooks for 6th-8th grade are due next week in Art class.  Please bring them to class on the day that you have art.  Sketchbook requirements can be found on the right hand side of the blog under the newsletter/syllabus section. 

Projects in Progress: Week of Oct. 17th

6th Grade Paintbrush People:  

Students have painted their base coats on their paintbrush people.  In a few weeks (working on a ceramic project simultaneously) they will complete the paint work on these adorable brushes.  

8th Grade Torn Paper Portraits:

A few students have completed their portraits and more will be completing them in the next week or so.  The results are nothing short of SPECTACULAR!

Proud.

I came into school today, walked into my classroom and closed the door.  There was almost complete silence.  Middle school students were at an assembly and the only noise I could hear was the quiet humming of a leaf blower out on the school yard.  As a teacher, you get very few moments of complete silence.  I savored it.  I walked around my classroom, getting materials ready for my classes of the day and thinking of all that lay ahead today.

I went to the back of the classroom and picked up a few stray pencils off of the floor and as I was standing up I saw the Creative Compassion Project bin.  I paused.  I saw that the bin was starting to fill up.  I started rifling through the projects and my heart filled up with so much pride.

I saw worry dolls that 4th and 5th graders have been making that will some time this year be in the hands of a child, most likely their same age that is battling with cancer in a cancer hospital.  The bright colors and happy smiles drawn on the dolls such a token of hope.

I saw joke books, created with so much love and concern, with notes in the back of them for the recipients of them wishing them well and telling them that they are thought of and loved.

I saw notes to police officers thanking them for their service and for protecting us every day.

In the silence of my classroom, I was nearly in tears.  I am so blessed.  I am so blessed to be surrounded every day with children that understand what it means to be compassionate.  I am blessed to work in a school where parents and faculty instill these ideals in our children daily.

I could not be more proud of my students.

I hope that everyone today gets a little quiet moment to remember how lucky we really are.

It's Getting Spooky in the Art Room...

4th Grade Halloween "Inchies":  

Students are just finishing up their Halloween Inchies project.  This is one of my favorite Halloween projects and the students always seem to have fun making these little adorable squares of Halloween awesomeness.  It also helps that we listen to a Halloween playlist as we work to really get up in the spirit of things.  Next week we will be finishing up the final details and they will be ready to take home to add some festiveness to your home.  **Hint..these look adorable framed.

Art Teacher Find! Terrific Tuesday!

Super excited about my Halloween store find!  Hopefully it brings a little joy to the art room today! 

San Jose Landmark Map: Do you know the Way to San Jose?

4th Graders landmark collage is now gracing the hallway bulletin board.  Do you recognize any of these San Jose/Silicon Valley landmarks?