The 3rd graders continued working on their symmetrical aliens. The students have learned about the terms balance, symmetrical balance, and asymmetrical. They will finish them up next week, and we will be hanging them in the hall way and putting them on Art Sonia.

The 4th graders are still at the beginning stages of making their propaganda posters. Since we had a short week, we only saw Ms. Gorman’s class. This week, we had the students practice making propaganda posters by imaginig a scenario where kids had to go to school for an extra two hours every day. We gave them posters where either the text or image was missing, so students could practice matching text and image together correctly. There are some examples above. The posters the students will be making center around child labor. The students had homework between both classes where they had to read and respond to some stories about child labor. After putting students in their poster-making groups, they had a chance to discuss what they learned the night before and eventually share that with the class. Next week, Ms. Finke’s class will do these activities, and Ms. Groman’s class will begin to make their final poster.

The 5th graders are continuing with their weaving. I have been pleased with the progress the students have made so far. As I have told them, it is not a tough process, but if they do not concentrate on their work, it becomes very difficult. We will continue with their weavings until at least Thanksgiving. It depends on the progress each class makes over the next few class periods.

The 6th graders are still at the beginning stages of their embroidered pillows. The students have learned the two stitiches they will need to master and are starting to draw their designs on the cloth. Each student should have brought a note home explaining the project.

The after school technology program will meet twice next week.

Until then…

The 3rd graders are working on symmetrical aliens. They have learned the terms balance and symmetrical balance. The aliens they create will have to be completely symmetrical with some asymmetrical parts. It does allow them to be very creative with how they decide to make their alien. Mr. Brown and I are looking forward to seeing the results.

The 4th graders are beginning a project that will last until winter break. For the past 6 years, I have worked with an organizatin called Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE). CAPE asks teachers to create arts intergrated projects that they will implement in their classrooms. Over the past 6 years, I have worked with Jessi Walsh from the Hyde Park Art Center, and this year is no different. Every year we have done a difference project, and this year the students are going to make screenprinted propaganda posters. This week, we looked at the word propaganda and its definition. Then, we looked at propaganda posters from World War II and how thyey were used to persuade Americans to support that war. Next week, we will continue to look at propaganda and prepare the students for the posters they will be creating. We also wanted to let you know that two sheets are going to come home soon. The students already got a photo permission sheet. As part of this projects, we will be taking video and pictures, so we need permission from parents to use those images. Also, we are taking a field trip to the Hyde Park Art Center at the end of December. That trip slip will be coming home soon.

The 5th graders began working on a weaving project this week. The students created their looms and began weaving yarn this week. The students learned how to weave, and we talked about some of the things they need to watch out for. The process is not difficult, but if the students do not concentrate and pay attention, they might make a lot of unnecessary mistakes.

Finally, the 6th graders began working on their embroidered pillows this week. Each student should have gotten a letter this week to bring home. The letter is also here. The students will need to learn many different processes in order to correctly make these pillows. This week, we just had enough time to explain the project and start working on designs. In the next week or two, the students will begin embroiderig their pillows.

Enjoy all the time off and we will see you on Wednesday for conferences!

In fine arts this week, the 3rd graders continued creating their voting posters. By making these posters, the students are learning a lot about what makes a successful poster design by deciding on what colors to use, how to place things on their paper, and what information to include. Our goal is to have these hanging by the morning of November 3rd, the day before the presidential election.

The 4th and 5th graders are either finished their logos this week or will finish them next week. These will be put on Art Sonia and you can view the gallery here. Above, you can see a few examples.

The 6th graders finished up their emotion paintings. They will soon be writing a story, poem, or song that explains why they are feeling the way they are feeling. These will be hanging in the hallway very soon.

First quarter grades are coming up in just a couple weeks, so the projects above will be the last projects they do before the end of the quarter. I am expecting everything to be completed by that point.

Also, we started a video/technology after school program this week. Our first “project” is to create an animated children’s story. The students were busy writing their stories this week on Microsoft Word. As a reminder, we will not have class next week. When we return to class on Tuesday, November 4th, we will begin looking for and creating pictures for our stories.

Until next week…

This week, Ms. Fischer finished up all of the projects she had started with the students. The 6th and 5th graders completed their “instructed” paintings. And, the 4th and 3rd graders finished their gesture drawings. Check out the pictures below of the students hurriedly completing their gesture drawings.

All of these projects will be graded and part of the students quarter grades which will are just around the corner. Next week, we will be finishing up the projects we had started before Ms. Fischer began teaching. The 6th graders will finish their emotion paintings, the 5th and 4th graders will finish their logos, and the 3rd graders will finish their voting posters.

Until next week…