You "BEE-long" at Waitsfield School

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You #bee long at @waitsfieldschool #backtoschool #bulletinboard

A post shared by Nora (@artclass_allday) on Sep 6, 2019 at 8:39am PDT

Waitsfield Students Reach for the Stars!

Welcome back, Waitsfield School!  

All students (even pre-K!) created a hand for our "Reach for the Stars" bulletin board. Students wrote their hopes and dreams for the school year on the stars.

High Flying Hot Air Balloons

Students responded to this inspiring quote by Dr. Seuss by creating hot air balloons for our school-wide Welcome Back bulletin board!

Welcome Back to Art Class!

 

Welcome Back to School Waitsfield Families! 

After a fantastic summer filled with relaxation, family time and creative adventures, I am excited to be back in the Art Room! This year in Art Class we will explore a variety of arts media, areas of interest and new techniques.  I strive to help each student feel success and pride in his or her work and understand that, as Picasso said, "Every child is an artist." 

This fall we will be gearing up for our all-school Artist-in-Residence in just a couple of weeks! We will be working with different artists to create artwork that ties in with the new Mad River Path that goes by the school.  More information will be forthcoming! 

There are several ways to make sure you know what is going on in your child's Art Class.  Make sure you have signed up to receive Art Blog updates by email. On the first page of the Art Blog, please enter your email in the white box on the upper left. This way you will never miss a blog post! 

You can also see what's happening in Art Class on Instagram! Follow ArtClass_AllDay on Instagram to see quick peeks into the Art Room.  

 

Art Room Expectations

DO NOW! (5 Min)

Please WRITE or DRAW an example of how you can be 
ENGAGED
RESPONSIBLE
SAFE
or
KIND
in Art Class!

First Challenge (5 min)

Brainstorm with your table about ways to illustrate the expectation on the card in the center of your table.

Second Challenge (15 min)

Take 2-5 photos of members of your group acting out ways to show your expectation.  
If you need props, please ask. Use the PhotoCollage app to create a photo collage of your images and add text. 
Email your photos to nmcdonough@wwsu.org with the subject line Engaged, Responsible, Safe or Kind

Third Challenge (10 min)

Share

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FINISHED PHOTO COLLAGES!

Why is ART Important?

Taking Risks: Challenge, Adventure and Growth Mindset

What does it mean to take a risk?

• Do something you haven't done before.
• Do something that is challenging.
• Go out of your comfort zone.
• Be unsure about something.
• Try something new.  
• Do something you don't know how to do. 
• "Go for it!"
• Push yourself into new things even if you don't want to or feel scared
• You may make a mistake! 

Why is it important to challenge yourself?

• To have fun and excitement in your life.
• To do something thrilling.
• To do something difficult because you won't learn if you do things you know.  
• To see what something new is like.
• To learn and get better at something.  
• It is the only way to experience new things! 
• You might learn something new.
• It makes you feel good!
• You may not feel scared anymore after you do something challenging.  

How does it feel to be outside of your "comfort zone?"

• You might feel nervous.
• Palms sweating
• Proud of yourself
• Scared and Uncomfortable
• Happy and Scary
• "Wow! I can't believe I did that!"
• Happy that you tried something new 
• "GULP!" 
• Awesome!  
• Exciting!
• Nervous because you don't know what's ahead 

Draw an example of a time when you challenged yourself or stepped outside your comfort zone!

What is art and what is Art for?

 videos to get us thinking about why people make art and WHAT IS ART anyway??

Creature Comforts USA - Art from ART 110F on Vimeo.  (RATED PG!)

Welcome Back Artists!

For our first day in art class, each student made a star to contribute to our rock star bulletin board. We talked about how it feels when you do your best and create artwork that your are proud of. We also started to think about what it looks like to be ENGAGED, SAFE, RESPONSIBLE and KIND in art class. 

Here are some students demonstrating these expectations. 

Engaged

Responsible

Kind

Safe

"Working together" Circles

"Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success." -Henry Ford

Each student made an individual quarter circle. We put the pieces together to make whole circles, illustrating the point that we are each essential to the whole and that together we can do great things. Artists focused on using patterns and making their artwork stand out. 

It's photo day!

I love photo day because everyone looks so sharp!  Don't worry, we will not be using clay, paper mâché or permanent paint in art class today!

We Rock!

Students are excited about our new system of recognizing positive behaviors around our school. In art class and all other parts of the school day, a student may receive a small card if he or she is "caught in the act" of following our school-wide expectations. We are especially promoting several key student behaviors, which we have identified as essential for student success in and out of school. They are engagement, responsibility, safety and kindness.  With a little creativity, this loosely works out to the acronym WE ROCK.  In art class over the first few weeks of school, we will be discussing what this "rockstar” behavior might look like.

Being ENGAGED looks like:
listening, following directions, being focused, raising your hand, helping clean up, answering a question, looking at the speaker, doing your best, "Stop, look and listen" when you hear the bell, working hard

Being RESPONSIBLE looks like:
keeping a reasonable volume, helping clean up, taking care of art materials, respecting musical instruments, respectfully helping others remember classroom expectations

Being SAFE looks like:
moving carefully in the art room, using materials safely and appropriately, following instructions, having safe hands and bodies

Being KIND looks like:
using kind words, sharing materials and space, giving thoughtful and truthful compliments, helping a classmate, making all classmates feel welcome and valued


WHAT ELSE??  Classes will continue to add to these lists as we discuss our art room expectations and continue to earn cards toward our school-wide goals.

Welcome Back!

Art room expectations

Fifth and sixth graders chose key word or phrases from our classroom expectations to make into posters.  We used crayons, liquid watercolors and sharpies. I am excited to have these beautiful reminders decorate our art room! 

Our classroom expectations fall into four categories:

Respect yourself and others

Respect materials and surroundings

Be safe

Do your best!

Self Portraits by Ms. Basom's Class

Self Portraits by Mr. Hubbard's Class