Mr. Mills Blog

Please come see our booth on Satuday, June 7th at the St. Thomas Art Fair. Mr. Brown and I will be selling watercolors made by the 1st graders, prints made by the 3rd graders, and canvas paintings by the 5th graders. Above, some of the students are painting a sign for our table at St. Thomas. The funds raised from these artworks will be used to support the fine arts department.

The 3rd graders finished their prints this week. Above, you will see some of the students rolling out the ink, pressing their printing plate on paper, and pulling their printing plate off the paper to reveal their print. As stated above, these prints will be available to purchase at the St. Thomas Art Fair on Saturday.

The 4th graders finished up their light and shadow paintings this week. The paintings were an exaggerated look at how a direct light source can effect the color, in this case, of a cube. Not only does it change the appearance of the colors on the cube, it casts a shadow. They will be bringing them home this week or next week.

The 5th graders finished up their canvas paintings this week and worked on signs for the St. Thomas Art Fair. Some of the finished pieces are above. And, as stated above, these will be on sale this Saturday.

The 6th graders are in the middle of watching My Kid Could Paint That. We have been watching the movie to discuss two questions, “Is abstract art art?” and “Did the parents help their child paint the artwork?” I would suggest asking your child about this movie since it touches on a lot of different ideas about art and, as I have told the students, they have to form their own opinion about the above questions because the movie will not answer it for them.

Until next week…

During parent/teacher conferences this week, we will be selling DVDs of the African American History Fair and Motown Madness performances. Sales from the African American History Fair DVDs will go to help support technology in the school while sales from the Motown Madness DVDs will go to help the 6th grade class. Each DVD will cost $5. Check out portions of the Motown Madness performance below:

Download The Temptations

Download The Supremes

Welcome back! I’m using this post as a way to make a quick announcement. It occurred to me that I had not made a big deal about the new computer lab. Above, you will see pictures of the renovated 204 computer lab. It is going to be used exclusively as a World Language Lab, and the World Language teachers will be using Rosetta Stone software to assist their curriculum. The beginnings of the new lab started at the end of 2006. Myself and two students from the University of Chicago went through the entire lab and either threw away, gave away, or sold much of what was already in there. This summer, I came in to paint the room white. Also, Mr. Williams helped get the new tables and secured someone to rewire the room. Mr. Keno helped find funding for new computers, new tables, and the wiring. Thanks to everyone involved with making this lab a success!

Someone asked me the other day when we start to pack it in for the year as it gets closer to winter break. I’m happy to say that Murray continues to expect a lot from our students right up until the last day of the calendar year. I know it can be tough as the holiday’s approach, but I wouldn’t have it anyway. You almost feel like you would be doing the students a disservice.

For fine arts, the third graders are in the middle of their music paintings. This week, the students used a pencil to draw the outline of their drawing so they could begin painting. Mr. Brown and I were a little cautious with them since this is the first time all year we have painted with them, but it has been a great experience so far.

The fourth graders are just about to finish up their inspiration pictures. These will be on Art Sonia and hanging in the hallway before we leave on break. Next week, we will be doing a few art activities in the computer lab before starting a major project in January that I am very excited about.

The fifth graders are in the middle of creating their foamcore houses. Basically, they have been cutting out a pattern for a home using foamcore and they are going to glue it together. For most students, this is the first time cutting anything with an X-Acto blade and it is not an easy thing to learn AND do correctly. I’ve been happy that the students have taken it so seriously and have been very patient with each other as they share the X-Acto knives. I’m looking forward to seeing the finished products.

Download Animation Example

The sixth graders have started their stop animation videos this week. Above is an example of what they will be working on. The students are working in groups to create short stop animation videos. I showed them a 40 second stop animation that I created so they get an idea of what is expected of them. We talked about how each second of animation has about 8 pictures/second. In other words, they will need to take a lot of pictures to make their animations look just right. The group needs to decide on a final animation to create by making a storyboard. They will be working on that next week while also creating the “parts” to their animation. I expect we will be doing most of the photography after the break.

Also, check us out here on the Saatchi Gallery site in London.

Until next week….

We have finishing up a lot of projects recently in fine arts and starting new ones…always an exciting and interesting time.

The 3rd graders are going to finish up their symmetrical aliens next week with Mr. Brown. I love their imagination and ingenuity with these aliens…it is a great project to start off the year. Next week, we will begin making flip books…a new one for me!

The 4th graders began working on their high contrast portraits this week. All of their pictures were taken and then manipulated on the computer so the pictures became just black and white. Then, we took the picture and placed on it on a piece of carbon paper so it could be transferred to a larger piece of paper. It is difficult to forget what you know about what a face looks like and just trace the outlines of your face, but we are getting there.

The 5th graders are still working on their weavings. I feel it is important that they really learn how to weave and make something they can keep. Mr. Bynum’s class will have their weavings due on Thursday, October 4th. Mr. Rowell’s class will be due on Wednesday, October 10th.

The 6th graders are finishing up the last parts of their emotion pictures. I can’t wait to hang these in the hallway because they are such dynamic pieces.

Also, since midterms are coming up next week, it will be the first time I’m giving the 4th-6th grade students grade. Please look at the rubric on my blog to see how I will be grading students. Thanks.

Until next week…