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This week was "Open House" at Hendrix! I love when families get to visit our Art room. It's important to me that parents understand what their child will truly be learning in Art this year. Yes, we're going to make nice-looking artwork, but there's a lot of important learning happening! Making art involves a lot of science and math, and there are many opportunities to practice writing skills. We also learn to look closely at artwork and interpret the artist's message- which helps build skills used to analyze literature. In addition to all that, students also develop real-world skills like coming up with original ideas, collaborating successfully with others, and learning to persevere through challenges instead of giving up. This is why I think the Art room is one of the most special places in our whole school! Open House allows me to give parents a preview of some of the learning experiences their child will have in Art. I set out examples of some activities we've already completed this year, and have information ready about upcoming projects. I also let parents know the month that each grade level's Art Show will be occurring. And I make sure parents know how to find this blog! Examples of finished projects for parents to see. For parents who were unable to visit during Open House, here's a tour of our Art room! ![]() This is the IB Connections board. Each grade level's current unit is displayed, including the central idea, lines of inquiry and key concepts. Having this information easily accessible helps me easily integrate the learning from the main classroom with the activities and projects in the Art room. It also helps students grasp how their learning is connected- how concepts from one subject area easily transfer to other areas. Students in the art room continue to develop in the IB learner profile. These traits encourage life-long learning. Another art teacher generously shared these posters, which outline characteristics of an IB learner and how they relate to art-making. Attitudes of an IB learner are similarly displayed. This palette-shaped poster is a fun way to remember the attitudes and profile words! Another aspect of an IB classroom is creating an Essential Agreement together. These expectations are ones that the students and teacher agree are necessary for a productive and pleasant classroom environment. An important part of an Essential Agreement is that all members of the classroom sign his or her name. By signing, each student enters into a contract and is agreeing to follow these expectations. This is the display space at the front of our classroom. These posters contain information to help students make decisions about their artwork- when it is completed, how to take artwork from just "good enough" to amazing, and how to fix mistakes that occur in their work. I need to further explain this cupcake poster. You may see your child come home with a cupcake sticker like the one pictured, and your child will explain that they won the "cupcake award" in Art. This cupcake is a symbol for incredible work that day in Art! The different types of cupcakes on this poster function as a rubric for students to check their level of success. When I explain it to students, I say that sometimes students turn in artwork that looks like the first cupcake- their work is not even finished, and they have made little to no effort. The next cupcake symbolizes work that is technically complete- all the necessary parts are there- but the artist was sloppy and did not do their best work. I explain that the third cupcake represents artwork that is "fine". The artist completed everything I asked them to do, but did nothing extra. The artwork may be good, but not great. It stops just short of being special. The last cupcake- we call it the "fancy cupcake"- symbolizes work that is extraordinary. It goes above and beyond expectations. Each week I choose one student in each class who truly gave their all to the day's activity and honor them with a cupcake sticker. I make sure every single student in our school receives the cupcake award at least once each year. It's awarded based on effort, not skill! I often refer to these posters explaining the elements and principles of Art! We call these the building blocks of art-making. You can compare making art to cooking- the finished artwork is the food you eat. The elements are like the ingredients- line, shape, form, color, texture, and value. The principles are the recipe- the way you mix the ingredients together. Artists make decisions about balance, variety, emphasis, unity, proportion, pattern, and rhythm. Just like there are infinite possibilities in cooking, there are infinite possibilities for making art! Did you know that approximately 6,500 works of art are created each year in this art room?! With that many pieces of paper being moved around, organization is a necessity! These tubs are labeled with each classroom teacher's name, and in-progress works of art are stored here from week to week. Students have a good bit of choice and freedom in this art room. While each project has specific expectations, older students are often free to choose the medium (art-making material) that they wish to use. For example, some students prefer the spontaneity and adaptability of painting, while others are more comfortable with the precision and control of colored pencils. The materials on this shelf are available for students to access themselves- including crayons, markers, permanent markers, scissors, glue sticks, rulers, colored pencils, and paint. Students know how to go and get what they need, and they also know the expectations for how each material should be cared for and cleaned up. (They do have limited access to the paint- they can get it out themselves, but have to have permission from me first!) Another way I offer choice to students is through this shelf of resources. The binders on the top are full of reference images. I sorted through my collection of magazines and calendars to find photos of all different types of objects that students may want to draw. It took weeks of organizing one summer, but now if a student says, "How do I draw a giraffe?" or "How do I draw a bridge?" I can tell them to go find a photo in the binder to use as inspiration! The books on the lower shelves are ones I have collected through the years. Some of them are artist biographies or collections of artwork, some are tutorials about different art-making techniques, some are non-fiction books about different countries and cultures. And some are storybooks! Students can also use these books as inspiration, or they can enjoy looking at them if they finish their work early. Another option for students who finish early are the puzzles and games in these drawers. Most of them are designed to build spatial reasoning and pattern-matching skills, which are helpful in art-making. Now I want to share some of the fun and unique things that make our Art room special! This is my wall of color words. My goal is to have the names of the colors displayed in the native languages of all of our Hendrix students. Most of the translations have been given to me by the families of my students, though I've had to do internet research for a few words. I've tried to be as accurate as possible! Currently the languages that are represented are Spanish, Vietnamese, Cambodian, German, Russian, Ukrainian, Armenian, Japanese, American Sign Language, Arabic, Hindi, Hmong, Thai, Braille, and Dutch. I would love to add more! I've had fun collecting these brightly colored crayons- each of them is 12" tall, so they make a fun display! I think this is the most special part of our Art room. This is my graduation wall... it showcases the graduation poster that our district publishes each year, and I've highlighted the names of each student I've taught- "my" kids. I keep a document listing the name and expected graduation year of every student I've taught- it's currently at 2,717 names, and I haven't yet added the students who are new to me this year!
This wall also displays the group photo of each Art Club group. This is the graduation year for my very first Art Club! They were my fourth graders in my first year teaching, and now they are graduating from high school! I am still in touch with a few of these students, and it's been so fun to watch them grow up! I try very hard to make our Art room a happy place where students feel comfortable and able to succeed. I hope I have accomplished that goal!
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