Mr. Mills Blog

I’ve always considered this part of the school year the “busy season”. With ISAT testing less than two months away, teachers have a lot to do. Plus, it is good chance for us in the art department to start new projects…it makes for an interesting time of year.

The third graders have finished up their music paintings. Above, you can see some examples. Some of them are already on Art Sonia and we will soon be hanging these in the hallway near the art room with titles explaining which song they were inspired by. I’m very excited to see if the display turns out as I am envisioning it. This week, they began working on felt puppets that we will be using to create short plays with.

The fourth grade students are starting a project well they are eventually going to make public service announcements about global warming. As I have explained to the students, I am part of an organization called Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE). They look at arts integration projects in public schools. As part of the project, we are supposed to document our work. Also, I am working with a teaching artist from the Hyde Park Art Center, Jessi Walsh. This week, we began our journey by looking at the difference of weather and climate, looking at average global temperature, and watching an animation about how greenhouse gases get into the air. It will be pretty intensive project that we have high expectations for.

The fifth graders are continuing to work on their foamcore houses. Some students this week started to add more decoration to their house with cardboard, sequins, cotton balls, etc. It looks like we have a little neighborhood in the fine arts room now.

The sixth graders are continuing work on their stop animation project. This week, some group are starting to take pictures of their animation. As we discussed in class, creating the parts for the animation can be difficult, but the picture goes relatively fast and smoothly. I’m looking forward to eventually getting to the computer lab to put these together.

Until next week…