Week Three

A lot has occurred in the art room this week! I posted earlier this week about the Balance drawings students were working on and they are now complete and will be uploaded to the Virtual Art Show this weekend (as well as more images of the class flags). I believe I've said it before, but the VAS is used to showcase strong examples from each project and I try to take photos of everyone's artwork at least once.

Thursday students wrote their first artist statement. I explained to them that artists will generally write a few paragraphs about their artwork if they are exhibiting it in a gallery explaining to the viewers their thoughts about their work and why they created in. In creative arts, students will write an artist statement after every project for a few reasons: 1) To let the viewer know about their intent for creating their artwork. 2) To show me what they've learned about the culture or content we studied in order to create this artwork. 3) To further practice their ELA writing skills. Creative arts is a class that ties in to just about every other middle school content area, so I try to make the connections clear to my students!

I'm including a few photographs of completed drawings. I have a handful of students who are not quite finished, so I will be pulling them for ELT next week to provide them additional time to complete their drawings.

 

I'm excited for students to dive into their next project, the Kaleidoscope Name Drawing next week. Check out my social media pages for images of their progress throughout next week!

Week three of I&I had students building and testing their marshmallow launchers. I was impressed by the many different designs students came up with, all of which were successful! You can see some images and videos of the marshmallow launchers on my Instagram @msstrasserart_fcps. This was students' first experience using a design log and working through the design process. Thursday most students began working on a design process playlist, a mini-project that I'm excited for students to work through. The playlist allows for students to experience several different design challenges at their own pace and even selecting which order they would like to complete them in. Most of the lessons in I&I are designed for students to conduct their own research and spearhead their own learning, allowing for students to take their time and work at their own pace. Look for more snapshots on Instagram and Twitter as they begin sketching and building!