Happy Catholic Schools Week!

Happy Catholic Schools Week!  The week was filled with pride in our school and many fun activities.  We are grateful for our Catholic education!

*** Special thanks to our volunteers this week, Mrs. Connor, Mrs. Patton and Mrs. Stratton! Students accomplished so much with your support this week!***

This week we also began our collaborative painting project of "The Starry Night" over the Chicago skyline on a large canvas donated to our school.  So far, eighth grade students have sketched the skyline, which third graders painted; kindergarten and first grade have painted stars; and fifth, sixth and seventh grade have begun painting in the rest of the sky. We look forward to having students of all grades participate.

 

Kindergarten

Kindergarten students painted backgrounds for their Wintertime Penguin Collage to be completed next week!  Then, students learned about form.  After discussing what form is, students then learned about sculpture with a Brainpop video!  Students played with clay to create forms.  Many students opted for help in creating a heart for Valentine's Day as a special keepsake.

First Grade

First grade shared in a readaloud of a Tomie de Paolo story, The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush, read by our parent volunteers! We discussed how Native Americans used stories to explain things in nature that were not understood at the time.  We also learned from this story how God gives us all different gifts with His special plan in mind for us.  It is a blessing that we all possess so many different gifts! Students painted their backgrounds for their landscapes inspired by this story.  Check back for photos of these beautiful sunset paintings!

Here are some of the early finisher paintings from last week:

Second Grade

Second grade students who had not finished their clay hearts last week because of the delay created by the snow day finished this week.  Then, all students had "free paint" time to exercise their creativity and to relax.  Many students opted to create Valentine's Day cards for their loved ones.

 
Third Grade

Third grade students had a final day to paint their Found Object Letter sculptures! Many students who chose not to add another coat participated in an "early finisher" project similar to that of the first grade by drawing hearts and exploring pattern in warm and cool colors in crayon.

Fourth Grade

Fourth graders finished using glue to create the borders of their "stained glass" portraits of their saints, whom they are studying in class, and moved onto paint!  Students are painting carefully, and these will look so beautiful when light streams in behind them.

Fifth Grade

Fifth grade, too, worked in paint, continuing their hot air balloon sculptures! Students who had finished the balloons moved on to painting the baskets, which will be assembled together soon.

Sixth Grade

We had our final day to work on our cast hand symbols this week, standing them up on foam board bases with wire and writing a description of their symbolism to be displayed with the artwork on white paper backed in black.  Early finishers followed steps to draw pictures of simple objects, break them and the background into a grid, and color different colors inside each section.  Good work, 6th grade!

Seventh Grade

Seventh Grade students continued to paint their Variety Seascapes! Students with paint that had dried created unique designs in black and metallic Sharpie.

Eighth Grade

Eighth grade did not meet because of the "Fun Wizz" presentation/game show for Academic Day.  See you next week, 8th grade!

Finishing touches

In most grades this week (among those which met; third and fourth grades did not meet because of MLK, Jr., Day), we wrapped up our projects we have been working on!  Seventh and eighth grades also began their next units.  Read on for details!

*** Thank you to Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Marino, and Mrs. Moran for volunteering in the art room this week! You made a big difference in our classroom!***

Kindergarten

Kindergarten reviewed a gallery of the work of Romero Britto for inspiration before painting their own bright colors and patterns of choice on the paintings we began last week.  Students mixed many new colors, as well!

First Grade

First grade concluded their Jim Dine style hearts in oil pastel and watercolor.  Here they are on display in the hallway!

Second Grade

Second grade worked on their heart medallions this week by painting and coloring over in oil pastels.  Here are a couple that are finished.  Students can use them as a paperweight, gift or decoration.

Fifth Grade

Fifth grade continued to paint their hot air balloon sculptures. We are practicing painting carefully and covering all the white space in paint for some excellent craftsmanship.

Sixth Grade

Sixth graders traded turns in creating plaster castings of their hands in approved symbols/signs.  All students have had a chance now to work with this unique medium!  Check back soon to see the final display of hands, as well as student writing to explain their work.

Seventh Grade

Seventh grade began a new unit: the study of variety in design!  Students began by using a variety of types of lines, line thickness, color and pattern in the creation of our Variety Seascapes watercolor project.  This project will continue likely into February.  Students also helped create a poster to celebrate Catholic Schools Week, beginning Sunday! Here is the "silly" take of the 7th grade photo!

Eighth Grade

Eighth graders also will be using watercolor; they began preparing for the application of watercolor in this project that continues the exploration of positive and negative space that students began with their African masks project.  In this case, students drew animals you might see on safari as silhouettes to be used as stencils.  They will paint around them to leave the negative space as the subject of their painting.

Hope to see you at the kickoff of Catholic Schools Week Sunday!

Wintertime Fun in the ICSJ Art Room

It might be cold and blustery outside this time of year, but we have been having so much fun in the ICSJ art room! Students this week worked on a variety of projects ranging from Valentine's Day-themed artwork to be up on the halls leading up to the holiday to 3-D form projects and more.  Take a look at our art room activities below.

Also, be sure to enter our Yearbook inside cover drawing contest by Friday, Jan. 23 to be included in the voting! We will have four winners (two per campus) whose work will be printed on the first page of the yearbook, inside the cover.  Students should put their names on their drawings, which are to be completed on computer paper, portrait-style (or vertical) orientation.  Show your ICSJ pride and spirit in your drawing, and return it to Mrs. Musick or Ms. Leibold for consideration.  There will be a student vote during Catholic Schools Week to determine the winner.

**Thank you to Mrs. Benjamin and Mrs. Bredemann who returned to the art room this week to continue helping 3rd grade with their form project! We accomplished so much with your guidance and support!**

Kindergarten

Kindergarten students learned about pop artist Romero Britto from South Florida.  We looked at a variety of work done by Britto, and students noticed his use of bright colors, lines, shapes and pattern!  Students followed directions to paint a sun rising over a hill.  Then, students painted large, bold hearts across the sky.  Next week, when the black paint we used has dried, we will add bright hues to make our work cheerful and fun like that of Britto!

First Grade

Having created symmetrical hearts and assembling them into designs inspired by Jim Dine, students painted on top of their oil pastel work with watercolor.  The oil pastels resist the watercolor; these media work very well together! Great work, 1st grade.

Second Grade

Second grade students who did not meet last week completed their clay heart medallions this week!  Students who did meet last week painted their hearts; when they are dry, we will apply oil pastel in rainbow colors to complete this fun and tactile project.

Third Grade

Third grade is nearing completion of their Found Object Sculpture project! Students painted this week, and we will put finishing touches on when we meet again Monday. 

Fourth Grade

Fourth grade finished applying acrylic gloss to their Pop Art Meals, and they are now on display in Ms. Lawrence's room/the ICSJ library!  Next, students placed wax paper on top of their saint sketches from last week.  We went over the lines with black glue on wax paper.  When this mixture of black paint and glue dries, we will paint inside the lines with tempera paint to make our stainted glass windows!

Fifth Grade

Fifth grade attached yarn to hang their hot air balloons and began painting with acrylic paints this week!  Next week, we will continue painting our balloons and also our baskets (actually Dixie Cups).  Then, we will put the two together for our finished hot air balloons!

Sixth Grade

Sixth grade experienced the fun of plaster molding!  Students also were tremendous helpers to one another, with half the class applying plaster gauze to a classmate's hand.  Then, student helpers cleaned the inevitable mess with great thoroughness.  Students who helped today will have the chance to cast a mold next week with the help of the students who made molds today.

Seventh Grade

Seventh grade students spent their last class day making tessellations.  Most students finished, but those who did not may certainly complete theirs at home or leave at school to complete when they conclude another project.  Early finishers either made Northern Lights chalk pastel drawings or created Notan-style designs, like our 8th grade class (see below).

Eighth Grade

Eighth grade concluded their positive/negative space mask designs this week.  Early finishers learned about the Japanese Notan style of art and used flipping to create unique designs inspired by it.  Great work, 8th grade!

 

 

Making Art in 2015

Happy New Year! I hope you had a safe and healthy break and are enjoying the excitement and hope that each new year brings.  In the art room, students kept busy completing projects from the end of 2014 and beginning new projects, as well.  Many classes experimented with 3-dimensional form this week.  Read on for details.

**Thank you so much to this week's classroom volunteers, Mrs. Bredemann, Mrs. Benjamin, and Mrs. Harrison!  You had such an impact on our students' learning.**

***All parents, please note: I have begun a Google calendar for parents to sign up to volunteer in the art room, particularly the K-2 classroom but all grades welcome.  If you would like to sign up and are Virtus certified, please contact me for an invitation to the Google calendar.***

Kindergarten

Students learned about Vincent Van Gogh this week.  We began by observing "The Starry Night," especially its visible brush strokes that Van Gogh used with his "impasto" technique.  We also watched a Brainpop, Jr. video that taught us more about Van Gogh's life and how he liked to use color to express his feelings.  Then, we participated in a step-by-step lesson to create our own version of "The Starry Night" in oil pastel!  We concluded with a reading of Sky Color by beloved author Peter H. Reynolds.  We noticed the connection between this text and "The Starry Night": the artist in each scenario painted a beautiful sky with many imaginative colors!

First Grade

First grade continued to explore symmetry; this time, we explored symmetry in relation to the upcoming Valentine's Day holiday!  Students created symmetrical hearts by folding and cutting across a line of symmetry.  Then, students traced the heart according to their own design across a piece of watercolor paper.  Some students drew inspiration from the Jim Dine painting with four hearts evenly placed into four quadrants of a paper.  Others chose to overlap or create other unique approaches.  Finally, students created designs in oil pastel.  Many attempted to blend the oil pastels into one another as demonstrated in class.  Next week, we will paint our hearts!

Second Grade

Because of the snow day, only one second grade met this week.  We learned about 3-dimensional form, and how it is not flat like 2-dimensional planes.  Students explained that 3-D objects can be viewed from all different angles, unlike many of our 2-D projects.  Then, we began the process of creating Jim Dine-inspired heart medallions with radial swirls inside them using clay!  The first step was to play with the clay to warm it up and make it flexible.  Students greatly enjoyed creating impermanent 3-D creations during this stage.  In small groups, students learned how to make a pinch pot formed from a heart.  Then, students learned to roll the rest of their clay into thin strips to be formed into spirals and placed inside the hearts.  Students pressed the spirals in to join the pieces together.  The next step was to smooth out cracks by putting water on our fingertips and sealing the gaps.  Next week, we will paint out hearts and finalize them by applying oil pastel if time (and timely drying) allows.

Third Grade

Third grade students brought in resealable bags filled with many fun and unique "found objects" for our found object sculpture this week!  Students began by arranging the found objects on the wooden letters they received.  (Each student received the letter of his or her first initial.)  Once students had decided upon an arrangement, they worked to complete their Haring-style movement drawings from last week as they awaited their turn to glue.  Our parent volunteers, Mrs. Bredemann and Mrs. Benjamin, worked to help students glue their objects to their letters by having students tell them where to place the objects.  Parent volunteers then applied hot glue to ensure strong adhesion.  This helped facilitate the process tremendously!   Next week, students will select a color to paint their letter and found objects for a very lovely sculptural effect! Below, see both of these ongoing projects.

This final artist seemed to have drawn inspiration not only from Haring but also from Marc Chagall!

Fourth Grade

Fourth grade students applied acrylic gloss to their Pop Art Meals.  Then, as the gloss dried, students learned about proportions of the face in preparation for our upcoming Saint Portrait project.  We observed how the eyes are actually halfway from the top of the head to the bottom of the chin; in addition, the nose falls halfway between the eyes and the chin and the mouth halfway between the nose and the chin (lots of fractions!).  Some students began sketching their saints.  Check back next week to learn how we will transfer these sketches into an apparent "stained glass" portrait of the saints students are studying in their self-contained classroom.

Fifth Grade

Fifth grade was canceled because of the snow day.  We will have to wait one more week for the painting and further construction of our 3-D hot air balloons!

Sixth Grade

Sixth grade put their planning skills (both conceptualizing and sketching) to work this week in preparation for a fun and tactile (and gooey) project that combines symbol and self-portrait!  Students will be making a plaster gauze mold of their own hand as a symbol. Students reviewed the meaning of a symbol, and how we can sometimes make a symbol through a gesture or way of holding your hand.  For example, a thumbs up can signal enthusiasm or encouragement; a peace sign can show a happy attitude.  Students also observed the sign language alphabet.  Then, we reviewed the definition of a self-portrait.  We know that the portrait need not be of one's face only to be a self-portrait. Students viewed videos of how to cast a plaster mold of your hand and passed around a sample casting to see its flexibility.  Then, students wrote their plan using words and drawings for teacher approval.  Next week, we will roll up our sleeves (quite literally), and get started expressing ourselves through this art project!

Seventh Grade

Seventh grade continued to work on their tessellations.   Students have shown perseverance in the face of a time-consuming and detail-oriented project.  Great work, 7th grade!

Eight Grade

Eighth grade continued their African mask project using positive and negative space.  This project required some very careful cutting under close supervision; students waiting to use supplies that are limited in the classroom worked independently to create beautiful chalk pastel renderings of the Northern Lights.  Still others offered to volunteer in preparing plaster gauze for the sixth grade.  Thank you, students, for showing consideration for your fellow classmates at ICSJ!

Stay warm this weekend!