Songfest 2010

DINNER AND SONGFEST - We would like to remind all parents that our annual Songfest will take place this coming Thursday December 16th. The DPTO will be selling Holiday food an hour before the student presentations, which will be starting promptly at 6:00 p.m. We invite all parents and students to come at 5:00 p.m. for supper, to catch up with friends, purchase the Choir CD and the Discovery School cookbook for holiday gifts, and enjoy the presentations our students have been working on. The program should last about one hour and thirty minutes. We hope to see you all there.

Elementary Grade 5 December 13-16, 2010

More Mummy Fun! Making Mummy Cases and Mixing "Goo"! It just keeps getting better. Fifth grade students cut the miniature sarcophagus in half, finished the edges and are one step closer to adding the decorations. We needed to mix a fresh batch of papier-mache "goo" to finish the work. It sure is slimy but it works very well. This week we will be working on the next step in making paper from the papyrus that has been soaking for three weeks.

Elementary Grade 4 December 13-16, 2010

At last all our fish have fins and tails and we have started the papier-mache! This week we will add another layer and hang them to dry. When we return they will be ready for a couple more layers and then COLOR!

Elementary Grade 3 December 13-16, 2010

This week third graders will make a holiday ornament using the cinnamon dough. They will roll and cut and bake. Then they will be ready to take home.



Here is the recipe just in case you would like to make more at home.



1 Cup flour

1/2 cup salt

1 Tablespoon Cinnamon

Water



Mix dry ingredients together. Add about 1/3 cup water - a little at a time until you have a nice stiff dough. Roll out to about 1/4 inch and cut out your shapes. Bake for about 1 hour at 275. Thicker shapes may need more time.

Elementary Grade 2 December 13-16, 2010

Run, run as fast as you can! You never will catch the Gingerbread Man!

Second graders measured, mixed, patted and rolled and cut out a gingerbread man and a star ornament. This week we will finish Georgia O'Keefe paintings and the ornaments.

Here is our recipe in case you would like to make more ornaments at home.

1 Cup flour
½ cup salt
1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
Water

Mix dry ingredients together. Add about 1/3 cup water – a little at a time until you have a nice stiff dought. Roll out to about 14 inch and cut out your shapes. Bake for about 1 hour at 275. Thicker shapes may need more baking time.

Elementary Grade 5 December 6-16, 2010

Grade 5 students have unburied their mummy heads and have started to make the sarcophagus forms. This week we will add more layers of papier-mâché and finish working on the burial chamber murals. We will also work on our papyrus paper by striping the outer green from our papyrus stems and pressing out the inner fibers. So much to do to get ready for the Egyptian Museum Opening in the New Year!

Elementary Grade 4 - December 6-16, 2010

Grade 4 students will add the first layer of papier-mâché to their fish sculptures and we will see them begin to take shape. The fish will be eager to start “swimming” in our library coral reef.

Elementary Grade 2 and 3 - December 6-16

Elementary Grade 2 and 3 will be measuring and mixing to make gingerbread-like dough. After they have kneaded the dough to a smooth consistency they will roll out a thin sheet and press out their gingerbread people. While they bake we will listen to the story of the Gingerbread Man and create original illustrations of the story. Later they will add finishing touches and sign and date their creations.

Elementary Grade 5 November 22-24, 2010

Yes! This is the week we will take a look at our "mummies". They will unbury them from the salt and soda mixture and see how they have been preserved. Students will weigh them to see how much water they lost in the process. They will also begin working on their mummy's sarcophogus. They will use balloons and papeir-mache. They will continue working on their mural designs as they have time.

Elementary Grade 4 November 22-24, November 29-December 3, 2010

Fourth graders will set aside their warm and cool color projects and return to their 3D fish project. Construction of the paper armature for the fish is completed and they will start the papier-mache phase. Things will get pretty gooey but they will wear their aprons and any drips that get on clothing will wash out easily.

Elementary Grade 3 November 22-24, November 29-December 3, 2010

Grade three students are continuing to develop their composition of musical instruments inspired by the work of Pablo Picasso.

Elementary Grade 2 November 22-24, November 29- December 4, 2010

Grade two students are continuing their compositions inspired by Georgia O'Keefe's flower compositions. They will be using water colors and oil pastels.

Elementary Grade 5 November 15-18, 2010

Fifth graders are continuing their study of Egyptian art. They will be researching the Egyptian mural style and the Egyptian palette and then create a mural for their classroom.

Elementary Grade 4 November 15-18, 2010

Grade 4 students re working with warm and cool colors in simple compositions to see how color changes the "feel" of a work of art.

Elementary Grade 3 November 15-18, 2010

Grade 3 is taking a closer look at the work of Pablo Picasso. They are making thumbnail sketches in their sketch book. They will draw several musical instruments in a composition. Then they will select the best composition to enlarge into a final project.

Above students pose with their Mondrian style pictures.

Elementary Grade 2 November 15-18, 2010

Second graders are starting their Georgia O'Keefe compositions. They have made small sketches in their sketch books. Next they will enlarge their drawings and use oil pastels and watercolors to complete their compositions.

Elementary Grade 5 November 8-12, 2010

The fifth grade mummies are buried in "natron", the baking soda and salt they mixed up last week. It will take four to six weeks for the mummification process to be complete.



While we are waiting, this week students will complete their aboriginal designs and begin their research on Egyptian art.

Elementary Grade 4 November 8-12, 2010

Grade four students are finishing their compositions based on the satillite veiw of their community in Tegucigalpa. We will also be putting the finishing touches on their fish forms to be ready to papier-mache soon.

Elementary Grade 3 November 8-12, 2010

Grade three students will be finishing their Mondrian style compositions. When they are finished they may have some time for "free drawing". That means the student artist gets to choose his or her subject.

Elementary Grade 2 November 8-12, 2010

Grade two students will be taking a closer look at the work of Georgia O'Keefe. Then they will try their hand at making art the way she did.

Elementary Grade 5 November 1-5, 2010

Is That Your Mummy ?

Fifth graders were surprised to find a mummy all wrapped in white bandages leaning against the wall in the art room when they came to class Tuesday. As they took turns unwrapping the mummy they discovered written on the "linen" strips 25 different mummy facts. Just as the mummy's identity was about to be revealed it came to life and gave everyone a bit of a fright.

Mr. Warren our volunteer mummy was soon exposed. After everyone stopped laughing, he explained how the students will take an apple and carve a face into it and mummify it. They will create their own recipe for "natron", the material the egyptians used to mummify corpses. Then they will bury their apple heads in the special formula. (Thanks to parent Nina Glynn for providing the ingredients for our "natron" recipe.)

To see how much water and juice their apple contained they will weigh it before it is buried and then weigh it after it has been preserved by the "natron".

They will form a mummy body and attach the preseved head.

Then they will construct a mummy case from papier-mache and paint it with authentic Egyptian designs. Finally their mummy will be placed in the case and shipped to the fifth grade classroom to be part of the Egyptian Museum exhibit.

We will be working on this project for several weeks. We will keep you posted as we learn all about MUMMIES!

Elementary Grade 4 November 1-5, 2010

Grade four is taking a break from under the sea. While their fish are resting waiting for the next step in the process students have moved into outer space. They have changed their point of view and have moved out of this world to take a look at their city and neighborhoods through images sent back to earth from an orbiting a satellite. They are making small sketches in their sketch books and will select a composition to enlarge into a finished abstracted composition.

Elementary Grade 3 November 1-5, 2010

Third graders are taking a close look at the work of Piet Mondrian this week. They have experimented with horizontal and vertical straight line designs on the computer. Now they are moving into the art studio to execute their ideas in cut paper.

Elementary Grade 2 November 1-5, 2010

Fritzi was Paul Klee's favorite cat. Fritzi was always welcome in the painter's studio, even though he would knock over pots of brushes and get under foot. Fritzi was also a "hunting cat" who liked to be outdoors stalking birds and mice. Paul Klee loved Fritzi so much he painted his portrait.

Second graders are taking a close look at this painting of Fritzi. Then they will think of a special cat that they know and use some of Paul Klee's ideas to draw a portrait of their favorite cat. If you look closely you can see what their cats are thinking about.

Elementary Grade 5 October 4-8, 12-15

Fifth graders have completed their "dream time" character designs and have enlarged them to fill their 12x18 inch paper. Now they will use the eraser on the end of a new pencil as the tool for filling their design with the colored dots that characterize Austrailian aboriginal art.

Elementary Grade 4 October 4 - 8, 12-15, 18-22 and 26 -29

Fish Story - the fourth grade fish are taking shape last week they stuffed their paper cut outs of the fish body with the recycled plastic bags. This week we will add fins and tails made from the cereal box cardboard. And then the fun begins. Layers and layers of newspaper soaked in papier-mache "goo" will cover the fish from fin to tail. When all is formed and dry students will add the vibrant colors found on the fantastic fish in the Roatan coral reef.

This is a multi week project. Watch for updates and pictures of our progress.

Thanks to everyone who provided recycle plastic bags and cereal box cardboard!

Elementary Grade 3 October 11-15

Using cut paper third grade students will explore the concept of composition. They will look at the abstract compositions of Mondrian and then using his ideas they will create their own line and space compositons.

Elementary Grade 3 October 4-8

Third graders have put the finishing touches on their still life compositions of flowers in a vase. They used cotton balls and dry pastel colors to create a soft background for their vibrant flowers.

Elementary Grade 2 October 12-15

Grade 2 students will explore the concept of relative size. While making their caterpillar pictures they imagined what is was like to be very small. Now they will explore the idea of "Giants". Changing the size of the elements of the environment they will change the percieved size of their subject.

Elementary Grade 2 October 4-8

Second Grade students completed their mixed media compositions of the caterpillar. They cut circles of their bubble prints and glued them to the environments they had created with marker and pen. Then they added paper antennae and lots of legs.

They are on display in the art room.

Elementary Grade 5 September 20-24

Grade five students are looking at the symbol writing and pictographs of Austrailian aborignal art. They are recording their research in their sketch books. Then they will design and paint an image of a character from the Dream Time legend.

Elementary Grade 4 September 27- Oct. 1

The library coral reef is missing some fish! Our grade four students are studying fish shapes and will be designing their own tropical fish to swim in the library. This week they are collecting ideas in their sketchbooks and will begin drawing and cutting thier fish shape. Next they will be stuffing their shapes with recycled paper and begin adding layers of papier-mache.

Elementary Grade 3 September 27 - Oct. 1

Get out the paint! Third graders demonstrated the water color skills they learned last year by painting their still life compositions of flowers in a vase. They will finish their compositions by adding pastel backgrounds.

Elementary Grade 2 September 27- Oct. 1

Grade two students have finished their flower compositions and are starting a study of capterpillars. They are exploring different ways of drawing caterpillars and their environments. Next they will make bubble prints and cut and paste them into a mixed media composition.

Elementary Grade 5 September 20-24

Fifth Grader are working on their Architectural collage. They are adding details of doors and windows and other architectural elements, using cut paper. They will add the last details with permanent pen.

Elementary Grade 4 September 20-24

Grade four students are putting the finishing touches on their architectural "folly".

Next they will begin studying fish shapes and designs in preparation for making their 3D tropical fish to hang in the Library "coral reef". Get ready to get messy!

Elementary Grade 3 September 20-24

Third graders looked at still life compositions by master arts. The compositions all had vases full of flowers. They have used symmetry to make their vases and then they used the "inside out" technique to draw a variety of flower shapes. Now they are adding leaves, stems and designs on their vases.

Next they will use their water color skills to add color to their sharpee pen drawing.

Elementary Grade 2 September 20-24

Students are busy completing their flower compositions. They worked from the "inside out", starting from the center of the flower and going "out". Now they are adding leaves and stems making connections and filling their picture plane.

Next they will make bubble prints and use them in a composition.

Elementary Grades 4 and 5 September 6-10

Shapes in Architecture

Students will continue their study of shapes in architecture. They will use painted papers and the concept of symmetry to design their own buildings.

Elementary Grades 2 and 3 September 6-10

Seeing Shapes in Shapes

Students will continue to look for shapes in other shapes and draw a complex still life of flowers. they will use permanent sharpee markers and colored markers.

Elementary Grades 4 and 5 August 30-September3

Shapes in Shapes in Architecture

Students will be observing the shapes that are found in architectue. They will be looking at their environment and will be using pictures of famous buildings as research for their own architectural designs. They will be using cut paper techniques.

Elementary Grades 2 and 3 August 30-September 3

The Element of Art - Shape

We will look for shapes in shapes and create a drawings from the inside out.
Our objective is to learn to take a closer look at our surroundings and to be able to describe the lines that create shapes.

Elementary Grades 4 and 5 August 23-27

Lines - Abstract to Representational

Fourth and fifth graders are starting the year creating lines in different ways. They are cutting lines, drawing lines and finding lines in texts. They are then taking their lines from the abstract to the representational by using them to form shapes.

Elementary Grades 2 and 3 August 23-27

The Element of Line

This year we will be identifying and working with the elements of art and the principles of design. We have started with the element line. Students are identifying line environments and finding lines in objects and in nature. Students then create their own line environments and line designs.