http://www.stlblog.org/ggallagher/ en Copyright 2010 Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:51:24 -0600 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Kindergarten Art Students are learning basic art concepts: primary colors, mixing colors, warm and cool colors. These will come home at report card time in their portfolios marked, My Kindergarten Art. First Grade Howdy Partner!! The Hobby Horses are complete and cowboys and cowgirls were seen all over the halls. Second Grade Students made portraits of a snowman. In February, we made hand stamped valentines which should have come home. We are currently working on a poster honoring St. Patrick and St. Joseph Third Grade The students are currently working on an Easter themed project. Students should finish next week. This project will have taken 3-4 week to complete and will be sent home for you to see. It is a project that involved cutting, painting, poetry and reinforcement of Catholic ideas. Fourth Grade This grade level chose to do more Paper Mache. Students could choose whatever they wanted, some are doing their initials, others are continuing with animals and some are making piggy banks. Fifth Grade Students are doing paper mache letters. Sixth Grade Finished an outer space project and now we are working on an Ancient Greek cross curriculum with social studies, religion and gym. In art students are learning about Greek pottery and are making their own Amphora’s. Seventh Grade Recently learned how to “pray in color.” These prayerful, drawing projects are displayed in the hall. Eighth Grade Had an opportunity to finish their Ministry Fair posters in Art Class. Students are making a “stained glass” window of their saint, using paint. Finally they have begun to work on the art work for the Memory Book. http://www.stlblog.org/ggallagher/2010/03/whats_happening_in_art.html http://www.stlblog.org/ggallagher/2010/03/whats_happening_in_art.html Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:51:24 -0600 ]]> http://www.stlblog.org/ggallagher/2010/01/7th_grade_paper_mache_letters.html http://www.stlblog.org/ggallagher/2010/01/7th_grade_paper_mache_letters.html Fri, 08 Jan 2010 16:41:51 -0600 ]]> http://www.stlblog.org/ggallagher/2010/01/more_4th_grade_paper_mache_ani.html http://www.stlblog.org/ggallagher/2010/01/more_4th_grade_paper_mache_ani.html Fri, 08 Jan 2010 16:11:02 -0600 ]]> http://www.stlblog.org/ggallagher/2010/01/decemberjanuary_art_photos.html http://www.stlblog.org/ggallagher/2010/01/decemberjanuary_art_photos.html Fri, 08 Jan 2010 12:43:18 -0600 ]]> http://www.stlblog.org/ggallagher/2010/01/2nd_grade_snowman_project.html http://www.stlblog.org/ggallagher/2010/01/2nd_grade_snowman_project.html Mon, 04 Jan 2010 14:58:46 -0600 Grace Green completes her beautiful tissue paper pointsetta and nativity collage.]]> http://www.stlblog.org/ggallagher/2010/01/4th_grade_christmas_project.html http://www.stlblog.org/ggallagher/2010/01/4th_grade_christmas_project.html Mon, 04 Jan 2010 14:54:07 -0600 These are a few of the 4th graders working on their Paper Mache Animals. This project was a cross curriculum. Students learned about animals in class, broke into groups or worked individually in library to research their animal and then made the animals in art class.]]> http://www.stlblog.org/ggallagher/2010/01/4th_grade_paper_mache_.html http://www.stlblog.org/ggallagher/2010/01/4th_grade_paper_mache_.html Mon, 04 Jan 2010 14:32:28 -0600 1st Grade The 1st graders did a service project which is now mailed and on its way to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, DC. Using their very best printing they wrote a note to a recovering soldier and inserted it into a card with a finger painted snowman on the front. Grade 2 Made Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer with their hands and feet as the pattern. The students also made a very special painting which will be used in the Christmas Music Show. Grade 3 Made candy cane cards and learned the Christian meaning of a candy cane. They are currently finishing up a snowman’s head and should be bringing this home this week. Grade 4 Are putting the finishing touches on their paper mache animals. The project turned out really well and many will be displayed at our Open House in January. Grade 5 It’s all about Bunco! We are working on a quilt which will be raffled at the Ladies Guild Bunco Night on January 23. Grade 6 It’s a surprise-but when complete it should find its way to your tree. Grade 7 Has been working with air dry clay. Their special nativity scenes are currently on display in our hallway. Grade 8 8th grade is finishing their memory project which will be on display during Open House in January. Their Christmas project is to illustrate the 1st Nativity. I hope all St. Linus families enjoy this season of Advent, when we remember that Jesus, Our Lord and Savior, came to us as a child. This is THE WORD made Flesh, who came among us to illustrate what LOVE is. May you feel the warmth of the Holy Family within your home this Christmas. May you see the face of Jesus in your own children. May God’s love surround you and bless you in the New Year. Thank you for entrusting your children to the staff at St Linus. I am honored to be here with them each day. http://www.stlblog.org/ggallagher/2009/12/advent_to_christmas.html http://www.stlblog.org/ggallagher/2009/12/advent_to_christmas.html Tue, 15 Dec 2009 08:26:27 -0600 The Art Room is in full swing. Hopefully all parents enjoyed receiving the 1st quarter artwork that came home in the students portfolio. Every grade level is beginning each class with a 5 minute warm up drawing. This is to fire up the right side (creative side of the brain). Similar to a warm up before starting a sports event. The students seem to enjoy it. Hopefully, this will help them improve their drawing skills. At every grade level we are doing less step by step instruction projects and more projects that will foster the students’ individual creativity. First and Second Grade are doing an Indian unit in preparation for Thanksgiving. Third Grade is doing a step by step directed project and hopefully you will see some pilgrims arrive just in time for your Thanksgiving table. Fourth Grade did a report on animals and are busy in art making a 3-D version in paper mache. This is a challenging and a very creative project. Students have to build the "frame" to put the paper mache on to, paper mache the project-1 layer /week, so it takes at least 3 weeks and finally painting it to look like their animal. Sheep, dogs, bunnies and hawks are all starting to emerge. Fifth grade is busy on their CD covers and beginning the quilt for Ladies Guild Bunco party. 6th Grade will be starting something new after exploring the works of the Abstract Expressionist. 7th grade is busy with sculpture-both clay and paper mache-students were able to pick which medium to work with. 8th Grade are developing a Memory into an artistic expression these are very interesting and I am excited to see them all finished. Additionally three 8th graders painted a chair with a patriotic theme and it was used for our Veteran's Day assembly. http://www.stlblog.org/ggallagher/2009/11/november_art.html http://www.stlblog.org/ggallagher/2009/11/november_art.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:04:52 -0600 Kinders are having the letter A reinforced with a coloring project. We will be doing a haunted house that will reinforce shapes and enhance listening skills. Grade 1 finished a Halloween scene. This week with the Oct 13 anniversary of Fatima the children learned about Fatima and what Mother Mary said and did when she appeared in Portugal to the 3 young children. The art project this week is about what they learned. Grade 2 will be finishing their unit on caterpillars and butterflies. Grade 3 is making “paper bag” pumpkins-this is a simple technique for this grade and will prepare them for next year’s 4th grade level paper mache projects. Grade 4 has started the “bones” for their paper mache animals. This is a cross curriculum with library and science. Grade 5 will be beginning a quilt sewing project to be raffled at the Ladies Guild Bunco party in January. Grade 6 is beginning a lesson on the Abstract Expressionists of the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. This art was highly controversial in it’s day because it was questioned if it was really “art” or just splatters that anyone could do. The students will paint in the style of Jackson Pollock the leading American Abstract Expressionist of this time. Grade 7 has begun “select a project” some are drawing and painting, some sculpting with paper mache and others are sculpting with air dry clay. Grade 8 has begun a memory project. Developing 1 memory into an artistic expression. http://www.stlblog.org/ggallagher/2009/10/the_october_art_scene.html http://www.stlblog.org/ggallagher/2009/10/the_october_art_scene.html Wed, 14 Oct 2009 11:59:12 -0600 The art studio is very busy this year. We began in our newly expanded classroom; we now have 2 classrooms combined into one large room. The art room overlooks the courtyard and the room receives tons of natural light, a perfect environment for young artists. Kinders are improving their small motor skills and expanding their vocabulary. They began the year making sunflowers. They were able to see and touch 4-5 sunflower heads I receive each year from a farmer. We talked about what it means to harvest. We also did a 2 week project of butterflies. Students enjoyed finishing their butterflies and “flying” them around our big room to the tune of “The Butterfly Song” 1st Grade has made beautiful sunflowers and a fall leaf banner these projects are now on display in the hall way. 2nd Grade created beautiful sunflower paintings with tempera paints some are currently displayed in the hallway. We have begun a lesson on butterflies. This lesson incorporates science as the students will learn the life cycle of the Monarch butterfly. We began the art portion making caterpillars. 3rd Graders are working on a directed collage. They began by painting a watercolor and are finishing the project by cutting the watercolor into leaf shapes and making a collage with the cuttings. They are really beautiful. 4th Graders are learning to watercolor. First they had to learn about color intensity and how to mix complimentary colors to create shadow and depth in a painting. They currently are finishing a still life painting of an apple incorporating what they learned in the color lesson. 5th Grade-This is a large class and we have not quite got our groove going yet. They are working on a watercolor lesson. This group loved to sew last year and next week we will be dividing up into smaller groups where students can pick a project and work at their pace from start to finish. Sewing will be one of the options. 6th Grade-This group is learning all about Monarch Butterflies and will be completing their lesson by learning about watercolors and using that technique to create a watercolor painting of a Monarch Butterfly. 7th and 8th Grade are doing a directed collage. They learned a new painting technique used to create what looks like Birch tree trunks. They had to do a watercolor painting. Now they are combining all these elements on dark blue paper into a fall collage. The results are quite striking. http://www.stlblog.org/ggallagher/2009/09/the_art_studio.html http://www.stlblog.org/ggallagher/2009/09/the_art_studio.html Wed, 30 Sep 2009 08:45:35 -0600