PK - 3 Art in Stafford, CT

new blog

2008-10-02T13:53:00.000-07:00

This blog will no longer be updated, since it is now blocked from my school system. I am in the process of creating a new one at edublog, at this address: http://longmore.edublogs.org/

Found Object Sculpture at our town environmental fair

2008-05-20T21:00:00.000-07:00

Responding to a call for art made from recycled materials, several young artists lent their sculptures to an environmental fair held at our high school on Saturday. People enjoyed looking at the work, and some people even wrote comments for the artists, as follows:

"The kids did a great job. The art is very colorful and it looks like a lot of effort was put in. Thank you!!"

"Simply fabulous! Such creative minds"

"You should all be really proud. Wonderful and creative."

"Your work was great and I enjoyed reading what you had to say about it."

"It was really fantastic and cool, thanks for all your creative work, many people loved all your creations, thanks for all your imagination."

"Cool artwork, made the building look much better."

"Such creative artworks. What a fantastic job everyone did"

Found Object Sculpture

2008-05-20T16:49:00.000-07:00

The children learned some techniques for joining, and invented more of their own. Ask them what "the upside-down test" is!

Watercolor

2008-05-19T17:51:00.000-07:00

Our "regular paint" in the art room is opaque tempera. Watercolor, luminous and capricious, is a new painting option for Kindergarten and First Grade that many children have used.

One girl was inspired to paint pages for a little book.

Hats, hats, hats . . .

2008-05-19T14:52:00.000-07:00

Hat-making has been a big hit for several weeks in Kindergarten and First Grade. Starting with the common base of a paper bowl, children took their creations in many directions . . .

(And yes, its pretty hard to photograph hats and not get faces in the photos!)

To see cool photos of paper bag hats by an artist named Moses, follow this link (If you are a kid, ask your parents first. I am just mentioning the one page: I don't know what is on the rest of the site) http://www.paper.com/blog/2005/11/paper-hats-mad-hatter.html

Statue of Liberty

2008-02-13T11:53:00.000-08:00

Several First Graders worked together to build Liberty Island

Drawings

2008-02-13T11:25:00.000-08:00

Second Grade Spiderman, First Grade artists at work, and 2 drawings completed as a present for a First Grader's Webkinz monkey.

More cardboard people and animals

2008-02-13T11:10:00.000-08:00

Assembled from cardboard pieces and dressed up with fabrics and more.

Drawings

2008-02-13T11:03:00.000-08:00

PK chalkboard drawings, and 3 First Grade landscapes

Recent clay from PK, K, 1st Grade

2008-02-13T10:26:00.000-08:00

Snail, dirt bike, mask, house, fair, animal, masked alien, person

Cardboard people and animals

2008-02-13T09:17:00.001-08:00

Many Kindergarten and First Grade children assembled people and animals from cardboard pieces, and then "dressed" them with a variety of fabrics and other collage materials.

Drawing from observation

2008-02-13T09:06:00.000-08:00

A Kindergarten child drew the puzzle he had arranged. A First Grader saw the drawing and liked the idea, so also drew the puzzle. he told me he changed the white shapes to black so they would show up on the white paper.

Collage creations

2008-02-13T08:44:00.000-08:00

PK, K and First Grade putting pieces together

Block buildings

2008-02-13T08:36:00.000-08:00

A few buildings from Kindergarten and First Grade.

PK painting

2008-02-13T08:25:00.000-08:00

PK began painting with water on "magic" paper that temporarily darkens when wet. In December, they could use white paint on dark paper. Next, both red and white were available, and they could put two colors on their tray. Most children chose red and white. One boy told me he chose "red and red, because I like red better."

Tempera paint - primary colors, black and white

2008-02-13T08:16:00.000-08:00

With these five colors, painters can mix any color they want . . .

Tempera paint - cool colors

2008-02-13T08:06:00.000-08:00

After a couple of weeks, the palette for tempera switched to yellow, blue, black and white.

Tempera paint - warm colors

2008-02-13T07:51:00.000-08:00

In October, I introduced tempera painting to Kindergarten through Third Grade with a limited palette of white, red and yellow. This gets the kids really interested in color mixing and makes learning to clean the paint between colors a little more manageable.

paper turkey duo

2008-02-13T07:24:00.001-08:00

I am continuing to catch up by posting photos taken long ago - before Thanksgiving, in this case.
A First Grader arrived with the intention of making a turkey for her Thanksgiving dinner table. She not only carried out this intention, but shared her process with a friend who liked the idea:

Across the room, at the drawing table, another child thinking about Thanksgiving made a card.

2nd and 3rd Grade masks

2008-02-06T15:31:00.001-08:00

2nd and 3rd Grade masks

2008-02-06T15:27:00.001-08:00

2nd and 3rd Grade masks and other paper sculptures

2008-02-06T15:20:00.001-08:00

PK drawings

2008-02-06T15:03:00.001-08:00

Pre-kindergarten children draw on the whiteboard at Staffordville and the blackboard at West Stafford

Kindergarten and First Grade clay

2008-02-03T18:09:00.002-08:00

Kindergarten and First Grade children have done a lot of clay sculpting. At this point, I don't restrict them to building in a way that is strong enough for work to be fired in the kiln, so they squash their work when they are done - all that remains is these photos . . .

more and more clay

2008-02-03T18:04:00.002-08:00

5 more clay photos

2008-02-03T18:01:00.000-08:00

Kindergarten and First Grade clay

2008-02-03T17:54:00.001-08:00

Kindergarten and First Grade clay

2008-02-03T17:31:00.000-08:00

2007-11-04T13:03:00.001-08:00

A First Grade gravestone and Kindergarten and First Grade drawings of walking outside in the dark.

2007-10-11T15:24:00.000-07:00

For Pre-K, joining drawing, sewing and puzzles and paint on magic paper, the clay sculpture table is open with modeling dough, the sculpture and structure area is open, and the collage table is open with scissors and strips. As the children learn to use scissors, cutting colorful strips into pieces that fall into a shallow box is an absorbing and satisfying activity. We have been reading some books about colors and some with collage illustrations.

These centers are also open for Kindergarten and First Grade, with paint markers in the painting area, and in the collage area plain and patterned papers, scissors and glue. The children have made many designs and representations in both collage and painting. Drawing is popular in First Grade, and almost everyone has taken a turn with modeling dough, sewing cards and pattern block puzzles. All the classes are doing a good job with remembering how to set up and clean up their work areas. Sharing work is going well, with children asking each other interesting questions. Books we have read recently are Elephants Swim, with cut-paper illustrations and Little Beaver and the Echo, a story about friends, with beautiful watercolor illustrations of pond and wildlife that Stafford children would be familiar with. We also read "In a Dark, Dark Wood," which helped inspired many pictures by the children about walking outside in the autumn or going trick-or-treating.

My second and third grade classes have finally finished the labeling a map of the new art room to know where to find art materials in the cupboards and drawers. We now have the drawing center, paper sculpture and collage open. Last week, many students made paper masks inspired by some masks from various cultures that I brought in, and the Metropolitan Museum book of pop-up masks. They found lots of different ways to make 2-D paper become 3-D sculpture.

The beginning of school . . .

2007-09-20T13:37:00.000-07:00

At Staffordville and West Stafford I have re-arranged the art rooms into centers at which children can use various art media. The centers will open gradually as each class shows me they know the routines for using and cleaning up each area.

Many of the PK children are coming to Art for the first time, although some of the four-year-olds were here last year. So far, the work tables have included drawing, puzzles, sewing cards, and painting with water on reusable "magic paper." The children are getting used to coming in, choosing a place to work, cleaning up and coming back to the circle for a short art-related book. We have read Elephants Can Paint Too, I See Colors and Mouse Paint.

Some of the Kindergarten children had me as a teacher last year, and others are new to me. I am gradually learning names! The centers open so far to Kindergarten include Drawing, Sewing and Design, Blocks and Painting with paint markers. The children are getting used to coming in to a circle, choosing a place to work, cleaning up and coming back to the circle for a short art-related book. We have read Elephants Can Paint Too, The Painter and Mouse Paint.

First Grade has been using the same materials as the Kindergarten students,with a longer time for working. They have enjoyed the same books as Kindergarten, and we have practiced art sharing for the first time. In art sharing, each artist (who wishes to) shows their work and says something about it, then says "I am ready for questions and comments." The artist can then call on classmates with raised hands to ask helpful questions or make friendly comments.

I am at SES on Fridays with four Second Grade classes and one Third Grade class. We have been admiring the beautiful new art room in the brand-new school. The first week we discussed some of the routines for using the art room, and the children got their sketchbooks and personalized the covers. The second week they did a scavenger hunt exploring the room and its many cabinets and doors, so that they will be able to find the materials they need for their artwork.