Welcome to a new school year in the St Francis of Assisi Art Room! 

I am so excited that our school has added a full day Pre-K program this year.  They come to me Tuesday mornings, bright and early, for 30 minutes.  I thought I would share one of our first projects of the year.  The students worked very hard for two weeks to create these.

We started the lesson last week with cutting skills: a quick check to see who knows how to hold scissors and who might need a little help.  NOTE: A huge THANK YOU to my friend Maureen who told me to put a happy face on thumbs so they can be reminded to keep the thumb on top when cutting (BRILLIANT!) Strips of paper made cutting easy to do...SNIP SNIP SNIP...soon we had confetti.  Lots and LOTS of confetti to use for the second day of our project.

This week we began by identifying shapes, talking about what told us a rectangle was a rectangle, a triangle a triangle, etc.  Using a white crayon, each student drew his/her favorite shape on black paper.  The shape was filled in with confetti from last week.

I'm sure you can imagine that some of my friends made more than one shape and that was okay.  All seemed to enjoy the activity and we were able to touch on multiple skills in the process.  I'm pretty excited to see how much they can do: cut strips, identify shapes, and draw shapes. 

End of the Year Recap!

It is hard to believe that an entire year has flown by, but here we are...at the end of the school year!  I spent yesterday packing up my room, clearing out hidden projects and passing them to the proper students, 6th graders flowed through to glue down airdry words to Pop Art pieces, and my littles finished decorating the skirt of my One-Of-A-Kind "designer" dress.  Here are some highlights from this year's creativity in the art room.

4th Grade Radial Symmetry:  paper folding, color, design.  Well worth the 4 weeks they took to complete!

 

 

 

 

Clay projects with 4th grade and 6th.  4th graders created beautiful polymer clay star nativity ornaments.  6th grade created beautiful Altoid tin shrines in a cross curriculum project (Religion and Art).  7th grade created Bottles of Hope for patients undergoing cancer treatments.  Some students kept their bottle to "gift" to a family member or significant person with health struggles of their own.

 

 

 

Our year started off with a bang!  A collaborative school project followed by Square One pieces and then classroom auction pieces!  Busy, busy classroom

kindergarten Dr Suess chalkboard 

  2nd grade shrink plastic rosary

1st grade Alphabet

4th grade patterned weaving

7th grade organic -vs- geometric lamp

3rd grade flag

6th grade Unique personalities

6th and 8th grade Square One

 

 

School wide collaborative wing project 
One feather designed by every student in the school plus a few teachers

Oil pastels on top of a black background made the most amazing "Starry Night" nativity canvases

4th grade experimented with printing techniques.  This was a new project and it will definitely be making a comeback in 2019/20!

 

Weaving was introduced to multiple classes throughout the year.  4th grade created recycled magazine baskets complete with air dry clay eggs. 3rd grade wowed with mixed media creations that started by weaving on paper plates.  2nd grade created amazing dimensional weavings that wowed all who saw them on display!  And 8th grade work for 5 weeks on large fiber weavings, incorporating 5 different elements (color, texture, beads, etc), tassels, and an angle.  The project was completed by tying the weaving to a stick for display.  All weaving projects were a hit 😄

 

 

 

Art History is always a part of the year.  All ages are exposed to famous artists, past & present throughout the year.  Here are a few of my favorites:

  Charley Harper

Lois Malou Jones

  Grant Wood (American Gothic) 

  Diego Rivera

  another American Gothic

  Andy Warhol

3rd grade was able to make handmade papers at the end of the year!  So much fun and the kids were amazed at the process (bonus points for combining science with art) 😉  Completed papers were showcased in painted frames backed with texture rubbings or wallpaper.

Two separate people sent me a Pinterest post with an Art teacher in a dress decorated with her students' artwork.  Don't you know I had to make one...I found a white dress on Amazon and let the kids draw directly on the skirt with Sharpies.  Every student in K-5th grade is represented on this dress in some way or another...some large, some small, but all signed with their artist signature.  There was much excitement when I wore it to school for the 8th grade graduation ❤

  Well that's it...another fabulous year at St Francis of Assisi School completed.  Way too many projects to share them all...I am hoping to be a bit more tech-savvy next year.  Time will tell.  Have a marvelous summer.

With Love, 

Mrs. Hess 

💜