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!