Thank you to everyone that supported Artsonia by viewing all our wonderful art work, and by purchasing items. Our school receives 15% of all items ordered!! This is such a great way to have unique, one of a kind items from your favorite artist while supporting our school. I am still astonished every time I go to the website and see the number of visitors we have had to view our student's work. Presently, we have had 34,304 visitors!! Amazing! It's such a great way to share art work with relatives and friends far away. If you haven't checked out Artsonia by now, please go to www.artsonia.com, or go to the school's website and click the artsonia link. Thank you again for supporting our very important art program.
Have a wonderful summer!
It's hard to believe we only have a few weeks left of school! Everywhere you look lately, everyone is busy, it's that time of year!
We are talking about symmetry in Kinder, creating crayon resist butterflies. I love the colors and the shapes. In Kinder, 1st and 2nd grade, we will be putting together and taking home our art books. These books will include the work we have accomplished since the first day of art this year. Wow! It's amazing to see the growth of just a few months!
First graders are making paper hyacinth "plants" that are so beautiful, you would think they were real! Second graders are very busy with painted birdhouses and psychedelic flowers. Beautiful work! Third graders just finished their weavings. They now have a real understanding and appreciation of all the work a hand woven art work takes.
Forth graders are creating designs in yarn using plastic canvas. Fifth graders are painting landscapes in the style of Maud Lewis, who is a folk artist from Nova Scotia. They are learning to use layers of colors to create different effects with the paint. Sixth graders are creating baskets using the coil method of weaving. It is a very old type of craft, used in Africa and the Caribbean still today. Seventh graders are weaving a more traditional type of basket, using natural reeds. And eighth grade students are finishing watercolors and creating graduation plates made from clay.
Our Art show/Auction/Fine Arts Night was great fun and a big success. It is wonderful to see all the work from all levels together. We have so many talented artists here at St. John Fisher. Thanks to all that helped make the night a success!
Enjoy this gorgeous season that God delights us with!
I give letter grades to 6th, 7th and 8th grade students. The students are graded on effort, performance in class, following directions, and finishing the project. I never grade on talent. I feel I provide projects for the students that everyone can feel a sense of accomplishment, even if they feel they are not "good artists". Most projects have rubrics that breakdown what they were supposed to do and what was actually done. The art projects in the upper grades all stress a certain art element that should be evident in the art work.
All art classes meet every other week, which amounts to twice per month (sometimes less if we have days off). Since I do not give homework, I expect the students to come in and work on the given project. When this doesn't happen, the student then falls behind. I do understand some students work slower than others; that is why I always tell the students I am here before and after school if they were absent or just need to catch up on a project. When they don't do this, I have to grade accordingly.
If you have questions about a grade, feel free to contact me.
