Mr. Mills Blog

We spent the past week finishing a few things up in each grade before starting new projects next week. The 3rd grade students finished up their voting posters. We should have some hanging before Tuesday. The 4th and 5th grade students finished up their logos, and they are all on Art Sonia. The 6th grade students finished up their emotion paintings. They will be hanging in the hallway soon. These will be the final grades the students receive before the quarter ends.

I had to shake the rust off a little bit this week after not being the “official” teacher for over 5 weeks. Regardless, I am happy to be back in front of the students. While some might view having a student teacher as “easy”, any good teacher will tell you that it is hard being away from the business of teaching.

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…

Technically, it is the second long weekend, but Labor Day always precedes the first day of school. It never really seems like I am getting a “day off”. Anyway, Ms. Fischer is about to enter her last week here at Murray. The 5th and 6th grade students have finished their artist trading cards. The students were allowed to take them home right after the project, and we have put them on Art Sonia. Both grades are now working on a short project based on the artwork of Yoko Ono. Each student wrote down directions for making an artwork that would be given to another student. The students were given some freedom on the how to write the directions, but they could only use paint, scissors, and glue as the materials.

The 3rd and 4th grade students have finished their contour line sculptures. They are also on Art Sonia. Now, the students have started a gesture drawing project. A gesture drawing is a quick drawing of a model’s pose. The idea is to quickly draw the shapes and position of the model.

If you have any questions about your child’s midterm, please contact me at the school. Thanks.

Finally, I am offering an after school video and technology class. If your child is interested, please see me for a permission slip.

Until next week…

As some of you might now, we are using a new grading system this year called Gradebook. With any new technology, you have a learning curve. Since we have midterm grades due this week, the curve is certainly steep but it has to be done. Speaking of grades, all students in Ms. Kaiser’s, Ms. Gorman’s, and Mr. Brookin’s class will be receiving a “B” for the midterm. The beginning of the year schedule meant that we could not finish their first project. Since Ms. Fischer and I did not want to rush the project, we felt this was the best solution. If you would like to no more about your child’s progress, please contact me.

The other 5th and 6th grade class have finished their artist trading cards. Some of the examples are above.

Also, the other 4th grade class has finished their Alexander Calder Contour Line Sculptures. Check them out above. All of this work has already been or will be posted on Art Sonia.

Until next week…

First…an announcement. I am offering a video/technology after school class starting on October 7th. The class is on Tuesday and Wednesday and will last until after school ends in early March. If you need a permission slip, I have them. I hope to only give these to students who are interested. Have your student please see me.

Ms. Fischer is finishing up her second week of teaching. That is a picture of her working above. The 3rd and 4th graders are in the middle of working on their Alexander Calder contour line mobiles. This week, they began shaping wire into one of the contour line portraits they drew during the previous 3 class periods. The 5th and 6th graders are in the middle of creating their 3 artist trading cards. They are applying the skills they learned last week to the cards they made this week. I plan on putting all of these artworks on to Art Sonia next week.

Also, in case I did not mention it, I have a download page where you can download and install free/open source programs. These are all programs I have either used myself or checked out. In some cases, I have used them with the students. They should install easily on your home computer, so if you get a chance, check them out.

Until next week…