(I wrote this email on my laptop this past Friday after school. After an hour or so of typing I realized that in order for the email to send I would need internet and, of course, the internet was down with the rest of the power. If you’re interested, I wrote out an account of our bizarre Friday with little/no electricity and below that there are updates for each grade. It turned into the longest email in the history of the internet, so don’t feel bad for just skipping to your child’s grade level!) It’s not unusual for my morning routine to include a walk back to the Art room in total darkness—those mornings when the building is still sleeping and the motion sensors haven’t yet been woken. When I reached my classroom this morning, though, I was surprised to find that not only would the motion sensors not turn on the lights, but the switches wouldnt turn them on either. No worries, I thought, I’ll find our head custodian and let him know that a breaker has been tripped or somesuch. It wasnt hard to find him in the dark hallways as he had found a solitary florescent light to stand under as he spoke on his phone. As I approached him he turned toward me and uttered into the phone, “Well this is going to be interesting. Thanks anyhow.” Uh oh. I’m going through the trouble of painting this scene so that you can fully appreciate what came next: one of the most organized, structured days of teaching in the face of adversity Ive had the privilege of being a part of. The prospect of having 700+ students in a darkened building (with fading heat!) on a Friday before a long weekend is enough to send shivers down the spine of even the most battle-hardened elementary teachers: No phones! No intercom! No internet! Few lights! Our staff joked and laughed our way through our morning meeting and the moment it concluded we fanned out, ready to tackle the day. The School Patrol 5th graders were eager to help us out as 8:15 approached, the time when each morning students are let into the house areas of the Riverview. Remember the scene in The Fellowship of the Ring when the river begins to swell and magically turns into a pack of charging horses? This is what 8:15 on a normal day looks like. Now imagine that scene in the dark. Out of nowhere--flashlights! Students took out their ipads; teachers took out their cellphones—I saw a 5th grade girl holding the hand of a kindergartner, walking the little one through the dark hallways and to the safety of the kindergarten area that were bathed in light from the sunrise outside. Through the ruckus I could hear things like, “Here let me help you find it!” and “I’ll hold the light, you put your stuff in your locker.” Our good fortune of having students tackle the challenge of lost power continued throughout the day. When my first class of the day was preparing to come down to the art room I met them in their locker bay and explained that they would indeed need their paint-shirts. “The lights are working in the art room??” they asked. “Nope! But we won’t let something like that stop us from painting today, will we?” I told them. Ms. Current jumped in. “You heard him guys! We’re not letting this stop us!” Our students set the bar high today. Despite having to move the art room out into the hallway (where sunlight provided ample light and warmth) we were able to get through each of our lessons without much trouble—including two classes painting all hour. Sometimes we say that we’re proud of our school or proud of our staff or proud of our students for no reason other than it’s a nice thing to say. This is not one of those cases. I’m so proud of my students, of my staff, and of our school for how everyone made light of less-than-ideal circumstances and powered through to turn today into, to quote O’Shea Jackson, “a good day.” 1st Grade The first graders have begun learning about abstract icon Jackson Pollock and his famous “drip” paintings. Students created their own paintings in his style, using string instead of paintbrushes to give the “splatter” effect. Next week students will be giving a title to their artwork and will be helping in creating a splatter mural to be hung up in the hallway for the rest of the school to envy! Following the abstract theme, students will begin learning about Paul Klee in the coming weeks and will be making their first portrait in art class (albeit an abstract one!) 2nd Grade The second graders learned some simple tricks and tips to making block/bubble letters last week. Little did they know, as they were practicing this, that they were beginning the first steps of creating their name-tiles out of clay. Next week the students will begin transferring their two-dimensional drawings into three-dimensional tiles made of clay that will have the students’ names scored and slipped onto them. Eventually the tiles will be bisque-fired and will be painted and then sealed before being sent home. 3rd Grade The third graders have begun learning about one of the super-stars of modern art history: Vincent Van Gogh. His style is fun to replicate and the third graders got their first taste of it today—ask your child how Van Gogh painted and they’ll (hopefully!) tell you: Short brushstrokes going in the same direction, over and over and over! (we’ve repeated this mantra more times than anyone wants to count in the last few days) 4th Grade The fourth graders are knee-deep into what is by far the most difficult work that we do in 4th grade: linear perspective drawing. Specifically, students are learning the ins-and-outs of one-point perspective drawing. Starting with a horizon line and a vanishing point, students are learning to draw in ways to mimic 3D space. This is no small feat (I say if it stumped Giotto throughout his life they can cut themselves some slack for not getting it right away!) as it requires them to visualize drawing space in an entirely new way. That said, I’ve been amazed at the speed that students have picked this up this year. Of all of the learning that we do in the art room at Riverview this project has the most pronounced, “Ah ha!” moment where things “click” for students. Seeing that happen today with students in Mr. Caduff’s class today was a real treat. 5th Grade This past week we started our Mask Making unit—or as I like to call it, “Mop the Art Room Every Day Season.” Students were sent home with Plastercraft with the task of having a mask made on their faces. Masks are due back to the art room by next Friday, January 24th. Students that bring their masks in early (which about 60 students already have!) will begin using papier mache this coming Thursday. Yesterday 5th graders looked at the various functions of a mask (to hide an identity, to change an identity, to protect the wearer, to protect those around the wearer, for cultural celebrations and traditions, etc.) and we looked at examples of masks from Mexico, Alaska, China, Japan, central Africa, and Italy. As the mask project has become a part of Farmington tradition, students often want to “go big” with this project (an approach I full endorse!). I told students that they will have access to any and all of the art supplies I have here at Riverview. However, if there are supplies that students want for their design that we don’t have available they are more than welcome to go out and buy them. This is an option but it absolutely is not required. If you have any questions or anything about this, by all means, let me know. Minecraft Club Both the Monday night session and the Tuesday night session of Minecraft Club filled up within a day or so of registration opening up. Talk about demand! Neither the Monday night group OR the Tuesday night group will be meeting this coming week as Monday students are not in school and Tuesday Mr. Stanley will be absent from school. We’ll make that time up in March. Bonus points to anyone who is still reading—this has to be a candidate for “longest email in the history of the internets”. As always, if you have any questions or comments or concerns, please let me know! Paul Stanley Visual Arts Teacher Riverview Elementary School
Posted on: Tue, 21 Jan 2014 00:45:36 +0000
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