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TRANSCRIPT
Arts a la Carte Department of Fine Arts December 2011—January 2012
Westfield Public Schools Westfield New Jersey
www.westfieldnjk12.org/finearts
*ALL CONCERTS BEGIN AT 7:30PM unless otherwise noted
Date Place Performance 12/6 WHS EIS 6th, 7th, & 8th Grade Chorus & Broadway Singers 12/6 Franklin Band 12/6 Wilson 5th Grade Band & Chorus 12/7 McKinley 5th Grade Band & Chorus 12/7 Washington 5th Grade Band & Chorus 12/8 Franklin Chorus 12/12 RIS 6th & 8th Grade Bands & Orchestras 12/13 RIS 7th Grade Band & Orchestra; Early Morning Orchestra & Jazz Ensemble 12/14 WHS Chamber Orchestra & String Symphony 12/15 RIS 6th, 7th, * 8th Grade Chorus & Sharps & Flats 12/15 Tamaques Band & Chorus 12/19 Jefferson 5th Grade Band & Chorus 12/21 EIS Elementary Advanced Strings 12/22 WHS Choral Concert 12/23 Elem. Schools Auditioned Groups Tour 1/9/12 WHS Instrumental Groups 1/11/12 EIS Symphony Orchestra & Early Morning Orchestra 1/12/12 EIS 6th, 7th, & 8th Grade Bands & Jazz Ensemble 2/8/12 EIS Elementary Beginner Strings-4th Grade (MCK, TAM, WIL) 2/9/12 EIS Elementary Beginner Strings-4th Grade (FR, JEF, WASH)
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Arts a la Carte December 2011-January 2012
Westfield
High School Art
The Foundations of Art classes
collaborated on the creation of an
anamorphic perspective chalk drawing on Tuesday, November 8.
The drawing was done in the courtyard outside of cafeteria B at
the high school. It was started during first period and completed
by the end of the school day.
Over 200 students participated in the creation of the drawing, which
was designed by Meghan Pettit, 9th grade, and Sameena Asija, 9th
grade, and is based on techniques
developed during the Renaissance, and made popular by current
artists such as Julian Beever. The drawing will slowly fade over time
as nature gradually washes it
away.
Please consider participating in any of the following fundraisers that will help offset costs of the
Westfield High School Bella Cora and Concert Choir’s Spring Break trip to perform in Austria and
Italy
Through February 2012 – Supermarket Gift Cards WHS Chorus is selling Shoprite and Stop & Shop gift cards. Both
supermarkets are giving 5% of all sales to WHS Chorus. (Order form is available on website below)
Wednesday, 11/30/2011 – Restaurant night at Five Guys
Five Guys (Westfield) will donate 10% of all sales from 4pm to 10pm to WHS Chorus.
Saturday, 12/3/2011 - Westfield Symphony Orchestra
The Westfield Symphony Orchestra has graciously invited Westfield High School’s Bella Cora and Concert Choir to perform in their Home for the Holidays concert. 50% of the ticket sales with code WHS11 will go to sponsor the WHS Chorus for their upcoming trip. (Ticket
ordering information is available on website below)
Wednesday, December 7, 2011 & Monday, January 9, 2012 - Restaurant day/night at Chili’s
Chili’s (Clark) will donate 10% of all sales with flyer to the WHS Chorus. (Flyer is available on website below)
Saturday, December 10, 2011 - Poinsettias
Orders for holiday poinsettias will be accepted until December 5, 2011 and delivery will be made to WHS on the morning of December
10th. WHS Chorus will receive 50% of all sales.
Saturday, January 7, 2012 – Christmas Tree Disposal WHS Chorus members will pick up and dispose of Christmas trees for Westfield families for $10. (Information is available on website below)
Friday, February 3, 2012 – Dinner Theater
WHS Chorus will host a dinner theater event at the Westfield High School with performances, food and prizes. Donations welcome.
(Ticket information will be able on website below soon)
For more information/flyers and to order tickets/reserve/participate on these fundraising events, please go to Mr. Brzozowski’s WHS
website – http://www.westfieldnjk12.org/education/staff/staff.php?sectionid=2
214&
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December 2011-January 2012 Arts a la Carte
In Mrs. Jarvis & Mrs. Hatzikyriakou's Foundations of Art
classes, students have been busy continuing to develop their
observational drawing skills by studying the art elements line,
texture, and value. The
exploration of these elements have allowed students to create highly
realistic renderings of still-life compostions. Students have also
found connections between math,
science, and art through the study of one point perspective. By
completing drawings of interior spaces, students have learned how
to put a 3 dimensional quality in
2D art.
Drawing students are moving right
along learning traditional academic
drawing skills. They recently added sighting to their repertoire and are
creating pieces incorporating layers of seeing from rapid light
gestures to controlled comparative
measurements. They have begun to use sighting tools to find plumb
lines and horizontal scans for spatial relationships and
proportions. Their diverse use of line sensitivity is wonderful to see.
Composition students are working
on acrylic paintings. They are first
studying basic geometric solids to understand how light fall across a
form. Later they can relate this
information to everything they see and paint. They continue to work
on brush time, as they become familiar with mixing paint,
quantities of paint and paint application to a gessoed and toned
surface. They have been working
on value massing and starting to understand how the Principles of
Design relate to creating more solid, compositionally intriguing
works of art. Their handmade
sketchbooks containing many of their studies will be in the art show
in May. Craft classes at Westfield High
School are learning about the difference between recycling and
up-cycling. Up-cycling is the term
used when the artist takes items that would normally be thrown
away and incorporates them into their work, in other words, turning
trash into treasure. With the
guidance of art teachers Leah Jarvis, Amanda Hatzikyriakou and
Lauren Schwarzenbek, students are learning how to create
beautiful artwork out of garbage.
Students were told to save old magazines, clothing tags, shopping
bags, junk mail, etc to use as inspiration for the project. Each
student had to brainstorm a theme and then begin creating.
Several students in Lauren
Schwarzenbek’s Crafts classes
have decided to donate their hand knit or crocheted scarves to
soldiers currently stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq. When Mrs.
Schwarzenbek’s brother, Platoon
Sergeant Frank Schwartzberg, was serving in Iraq, her classes sent
over the scarves as holiday gifts to show the troops how much they
were appreciated. Not only were the scarves a reminder to the
soldiers that we are all still
thinking about them, they also came in handy during sand storms.
In Ceramics students have learned how to utilize a slab-rolling method
to complete several different projects - tiles, plates, and
containers to name a few.
Creating all original work, students are designing functional and
decorative pieces by both carving away and adding on clay. Next
up, students will be learning about
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Arts a la Carte December 2011-January 2012
the ancient history of pottery making through the study
of vessels and techniques that are thousands of years old.
Music
The WHS Choral Department has
been very busy this fall with some wonderful music events. The Bella
Cora and Concert Choir attended a trip to Westminster Choir College
on October 28 where the students observed a Westminster
Symphonic Choir rehearsal of the
Brahms Requiem under the baton of Dr. Miller. On November 9, the
Chorale Choraleers, WHS’s premier chamber chorus, performed solo
and group numbers for the
Womens Club of Westfield at Echo Lake Country Club. Additionally, on
December 7 Concert Choir will be performing at Mid-Day Musicales
at the Congregational Church of Westfield.
One of the most exciting events
this year is a trip to Austria and
Italy scheduled for spring break 2012! Bella Cora and Concert Choir
will be touring the cities of Vienna, Salzburg, Venice, and Florence.
The singers will be performing in
cathedrals and castles alongside other choral groups from around
the world. A notable highlight will include touring the home of WA
Mozart.
In preparation for this exciting trip, the Choral Department - along
with the help of generous parental and community support - have
scheduled a variety of fundraisers to offset the cost of the trip for the
students. The parent fundraising
committee for the WHS Choir Department has organized many
fundraising events. Anyone interested in finding more
information about how they can
help can go to the WHS Choral website at
http://www.westfieldnjk12.org/education/staff/staff.php?sectionid=22
14&.
The Westfield Symphony Orchestra has graciously invited the student
singers to perform in the Home for the Holidays concert that will take place on Saturday, December 3 at
the Westfield Presbyterian church. Anyone interested in purchasing
tickets to the concert and allowing
50% of their ticket cost to go towards the choir may go to
Westfieldsymphony.org for more information.
Westfield had 7 students accepted
into the NJMEA All State Mixed Honor Choir. These singers
performed in Atlantic City at the
NJEA Teacher’s Convention on November 11 as well as NJPAC on
November 20.
On December 17, members of the Concert Choir will be attending a
reading of Charles Dicken’s classic story, A Christmas Carol at the
Baptist Church on Elm Street.
Students will be singing carols in between readings of the chapters.
The night will be music-directed by former WHS Choral Director, Mr.
Bill Mathews with readings by WHS
teacher and Project ’79 coordinator, Mr. Peter Horn.
All of the ensembles have been
preparing diligently for their winter
holiday concert that will take place on December 22nd. A highlight will
be a collaboration between the WHS Symphony Orchestra and
Concert Choir, with the students performing Gloria by John Rutter
and Hallelujah by LV Beethoven.
Hope to see you there!
The Westfield High School Marching Blue Devils have had an
extremely successful 2011 season. The band finished 6th at the U.S.
Scholastic Band Association’s New Jersey State Championships held
at Union High School on November
5th. The band finished with a score of 91.95 amongst a very
competitive group of bands. The band capped off a great
competitive season by traveling to
Orlando Florida as a feature performing ensemble at Disney’s
Magic Music Day’s parade down famous Main St. in the Magic
Kingdom. The band performed for
thousands of people who lined the streets for the parade. The band
will perform in the Homecoming Parade and Home Football game
on Thanksgiving Day before wrapping up their 2011
performance commitments. The
band would like to thank the Westfield administration and Band
Parent Association for their continued support.
The WHS Wind Ensemble and
Concert Band will give their Winter Concert on January 9th at 7:30 pm
in the High School Auditorium. The
Concert Band will be performing works by Karl King, Marco Pütz,
James Swearingen, and Claude T. Smith. The Wind Ensemble will be
performing works by Vaughan
Williams, Johannes Hanssen, Norman Dello Joio, Steven Bryant,
as well as Franz von Suppé. Both bands have been working
extremely hard to prepare these
challenging programs and they
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December 2011-January 2012 Arts a la Carte
hope to see a good turnout for what is sure to be a great concert
on January 9.
Auditions are currently taking place for the Westfield High School Jazz
Ensembles. The jazz bands will debut at an added concert
scheduled for Sunday March 18th
at 3 pm, which will include the Concert ensembles presenting
their NJMEA festival programs as well performances by both jazz
ensembles. Possible performances for 2012 include the Princeton Jazz
Festival, The Mongtomery High
School Jazz Festival, and the J.P. Stevens High School Jazz Festival.
Dates for these events are still being finalized.
The WHS Chamber Orchestra and
Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Mr. Raymond Wojcik
will be in concert on Wednesday, December 14th at 7:30 PM in the
WHS auditorium. The Chamber
Orchestra will perform Johann Strauss’ Overture to “Die
Fledermaus”, “Serenade“ for strings by Elgar, and John
Williams’ “Air and Simple Gifts”. The full Symphony Orchestra will
perform “Procession of the Nobles”
by Rimsky-Korsakov, the first movement from Dvorak’s
“Symphony No. 9” (from the “New World”), Borodin’s “On The
Steppes of Central Asia” and
Gershwin’s “An American in Paris”. The Chamber Orchestra will also
collaborate with the WHS Concert Choir in works by Rutter, Berlioz,
and Beethoven on December 22.
Roosevelt
Intermediate
Art
Mr. Thompson's 7th grade classes are finishing up the marking period
doing watercolor pencil insect illustrations. Our objective is to
improve our drawing skills through observation. Students are using
tons of reference material to draw
their insects as realistically as possible, carefully noting
proportion and shape. They will then finish their illustrations with
fantastical designs using
watercolor pencils.
Mr Thompson's 8th grade class has
just finished a very successful still
life project using "counterchange", the art of creating a checkerboard
effect of contrasting colors where one area crosses over another. As
you can see from the photo, the
results are stunning. Eighth graders have just started a very
green sculpture project entirely constructed of recycled cardboard.
We looked and discussed the art of
Louis Nevelson for ideas and inspiration.
Mrs. Cohen's 6th and 7th grade classes will begin the new marking
period with a still life drawing- they then will create their design for the
square one fundraiser!!!! Every
piece of artwork will be made into a set of "free" stickers for each
student!!
Mrs Cohen's 8th grade students will continue to work on their
enlargement drawing project and then they will be starting their clay
creations. They will sculpt a room (real or imaginary), make furniture
for it out of clay, and use fabric and other materials to enhance
their creation!!!
In Mr. Greenwood’s 6th grade
classes students are finishing up first quarter projects. This year the
students created artworks based on the artists Georgia O’Keeffe and
Vincent Van Gogh. 6th grade students also created figure study
pieces using abstract techniques
developing figures in motion. Inspired by the October snow fall,
students created winter watercolor scenes. This was balanced out by
seeking warmth making fantasy
tropical fish paintings and sculptures. In Mr. Greenwood’s 8th
grade classes Students created Fall still life drawings of pumpkins and
gourds. The emphasis was on
color development and contrast as half or each drawing was divided
between color and black and white. 8th grade students took on
current events topics with a mixed media collage while learning about
the artist Robert Rauschenberg.
8th grade students next developed winter watercolor paintings and
illustrations of New York City. Lastly this first quarter the 8th
grade students have been
preparing for an art history quiz based on selected famous
artworks.
Music & Drama
The bands at Roosevelt are excited
to perform in this year’s holiday
concerts! Our first performance is on Monday December 12 at 7PM.
This concert will feature 6th and 8th grade bands performing along with
the 6th and 8th grade orchestras. Some of the composers you will
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Arts a la Carte December 2011-January 2012
hear include Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Dvorak, and Feldstein.
Please come out and support our children as they perform holiday
themed selections along with standards from the classical music
repertoire.
On Tuesday December 13 at 7PM
the 7th grade band and the RIS Jazz Ensembles will be performing
along side the 7th grade orchestra and the Early Morning Orchestra.
This night you will hear plenty of holiday favorites, as well as the
music of Johann Sebastian Bach
and jazz composer Vince Guaraldi. Audience members will also have
the opportunity to see two jazz big bands- The Accidentals and
Morning Jazz. These two groups
will be performing in a variety of styles, including swing, jazz waltz,
samba, gospel rock, and popular music. It’s a must see!
The Accidentals will have another
performance on December 23rd when they travel to Franklin,
Washington, and Wilson Elementary schools. During this
tour current RIS musicians have an opportunity to play in front of their
old teachers and principals, as well
as for some of their younger siblings! The audience at the
elementary schools is always fantastic, and the students are
given a chance to see some of the
musical opportunities they will have when they reach middle
school. It’s a wonderful send off for Christmas break!
In our next issue, we’ll talk about
some of the exciting projects the RIS bands will be beginning after
the New Year. We will also talk
about upcoming performances for our jazz bands in the early spring.
Until then, stay groovy and have a wonderful holiday season!
At RIS The Eighth Grade chorus as well as the Sharps and Flats made
their performance debut at the annual Veterans Day Assembly.
Both groups sounded great and added to the day of honoring our
veterans. Now the groups are
focusing on their Holiday Concerts in December. The Eighth Grade
Chorus has been learning Key Signatures and building Major
scales. We are focused on singing
all three types of Minor Scales and they are doing a great job.
Seventh Graders are also
preparing for their performances while focusing on rhythm work.
We have been labeling various rhythm figures which helps them
learn music quicker. They are also
doing a great job learning and singing three part vocal music.
Sixth Graders have been learning
various vocabulary words to speak
more like musicians as well as learning how to approach learning
a piece of vocal music. They are a great group this year and we are
having a blast. I am sure the Holiday Concert Season will be fun
for all
The Drama Competition Club will
be participating in The Rumson Country Day School Forensic
Festival on Saturday, March 19th. They will be competiting in
Declamation, Dramatic Scenes and Storytelling. There are 21
students from RIS and the High
School attending the festival! Good Luck team!
Edison
Intermediate
Art
December will be an exciting month for Fine Arts students at
EIS in Mrs. Frees and Mr. Black's Class. They are collaborating on a
Diego Rivera inspired mural on the lockers in the hallway showing
events in recent history, and
influential political figures and issues of the USA. The students
will be visiting the Museum of Modern Art to see a show of Diego
Rivera Paintings and also the work
of Willem deKooning. The students have been drawing from
life beginning with skull drawings, self portraiture and working also
on a large grid drawing painting in the style of Pop Art. The students
have been preparing for the mural
through their life drawing lessons, and creative drawing exercises.
Crafts students have been making
use of grinders and glasscutting machines from a generous grant
for the Coalition for the Arts and
fundraising from the EIS art department. Students in 8th grade
crafts have been making fused glass tiles. They are truly enjoying
this exciting medium. At the Art Educators Conference Mr. Black
and Mrs. Frees went to a workshop
on felting with alpaca fiber. The students first worked on a
bookmark using needle felting. Then they created pumpkins out of
the fiber as seen in the pictures
below. The students enjoyed trying this new medium.
Sixth grade students worked on acrylic paintings exploring the
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December 2011-January 2012 Arts a la Carte
basic elements of art: color, line, shape, space and texture to create
abstract works of art. The students learned about the
Expressionism and Abstract Expressionsm movement during
this lesson. They truly enjoyed
working on this mixed media project with the addition of yarn,
carboard and other found objects. They all felt very successful with
their finished projects.
Seventh and Sixth grade students
are learning about weaving in
different forms. They are making twined baskets (Mrs. Frees gave a
presentation on this method at the Art Educators Conference with
Mrs. Alison Hooper-Korkuch from
Mckinley). The students created a weaving in the round to create a
vessel. They loved the method and found it to be a relaxing way
to express themselves. Both Seventh and sixth grade students
are creating recylced magazine coil
baskets to try another method of weaving.
At Edison Intermediate School, Ms. Wolff has been stressing the
importance of creating contour line
drawings as a way to develop ones drawing skills. In some of the
lessons she teaches, the students first create blind contour line
drawings, which means they are
not allowed to look at their paper while they draw. This forces their
brain to draw what they actually see, not what they think is there.
Some students feel uncomfortable not being able to look at their
paper, but Mrs. Wolff reminds
them that it’s just an exercise that helps to develop hand-eye
coordination.
Contour line drawing is so important, because it truly helps
an artist to accurately depict what they see in their everyday life. It
can be seen as an exercise that gets students away from drawing
symbols, to drawing a more realistic object or person. Ms.
Wolff reminds the students that
practice is what helps to develop ones artistic talent, and it doesn’t
come overnight. She also explains that even artists like Leonardo
DaVinci used contour line drawing
as an exercise to become a better artist.
Music & Drama
The Eighth grade Strings will join the EIS Choirs in concert on
December 6th at the WHS
auditorium at 7:30 PM. On January 11th at 7:30 PM, the 6th, 7th, and
8th grade orchestras at EIS will also join in the celebration of John
Williams’ eightieth birthday with music from “Harry Potter”, as well
as music by Tchaikowsky, Soon
Yee Newbold, and Handel.
The bands at Edison are in preparation for the upcoming
concert season. With over 220 students in the band program, it is
the largest group of performers
that we have had. The first concert performances for the
bands will be on January 12th when all four of the performing
groups –Jazz Ensemble, 6th Grade Band, 7th Grade Band and Concert
Band—will be on display.
The EIS award winning Concert
Band has already had the opportunity for performing when
they played a medley of patriotic tunes for the annual Veteran’s Day
assembly.
The Jazz ensemble will be traveling to the south side elementary
schools on December 23rd for their
annual holiday tour as well as to
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Arts a la Carte December 2011-January 2012
the Rotary Club Pancake Breakfast in March.
The EIS Eighth Grade Chorus and
the Concert Band recently performed at Edison School's
annual Veterans Day assembly, held on Friday, November 4th. The
Chorus, under the direction of
Kristine Smith-Morasso, performed several pieces, including a medley
of the service songs of the Armed Forces, which was accompanied by
photographs of veterans who are relatives of Edison staff and
students. The Concert Band, Under
the Direction of Dr. David Shapiro, performed patriotic marches and a
medley of patriotic music. The assembly also featured a Marine
Color Guard unit from Red Bank
and a speech by former Edison teacher John D'Andrea.
The EIS grade-level choruses, as
well as the Broadway Singers, are busy preparing for their Winter
Holiday concert, to be presented on Tuesday, December 6th at 7:30
PM. The concert will be held at
Westfield High School. The Broadway Singers will also perform
at the Westfield Recreation Department Holiday Concert, to be
held at Edison School on
Wednesday, December 14th.
The "Creating Opera" class has been busy learning about the art
of opera and the methods used to create an original work. They will
begin shortly to create the story that will eventually become a fully
staged production in the spring.
Students at EIS are excited about
the upcoming auditions for this year’s Spring Musical, Cinderella.
Auditions will be held during the first week of January. Actors,
singers and dancers will learn about the audition process at an
information meeting on November
22nd. The play will be produced
during the third week in March. Details will be forthcoming in the
next Arts ala Carte edition.
Franklin
Elementary
The Art students at Franklin School
are busy exploring and creating
with a variety of media.
The 1st Grade students just completed a self portrait using
crayon. Mirrors and observations assisted them with the placement
of their facial features. The end result was a success and proved to
be a wonderful tool for awareness.
The 2nd Grade students worked
with permanent markers. They learned the term "cropped". An
animal face was drawn, cropped and placed within a background.
This background was divided into puzzle pieces. Patterns of warm
and cool colors filled in each shape
and colors were explored and could be seen.
The 3rd Grade students used many
a texture to create a symmetrical
Indian mask. Feathers, beans and patterned paper added to the
whole experience. A good understanding of how texture can
be used in a project to create
interest was a highlighted moment.
The 4th Grade students were busy
painting using tempera and India Ink. Values were first discussed
and then drawn using a pencil. A still life was set up and through
observation, a painting was
created. Warm and cool colors could be seen and success was
had by all.
5th grade students at Franklin
School learned about Native
American art, in particular, about the Plains Indians. They learned
about the process of how shields were made and used. The symbols
painted on the shield, the feathers,
tassels, and other ornamentation, all had symbolic meaning. The rich
and colorful history of the Sioux Indians was further brought to life
as Mrs. Massenzio related some
stories about when she lived and taught on the Pine Ridge Indian
reservation in South Dakota. Students enjoyed a chance to
express their individual creativity when they painted and decorated
their own 3- dimensional shields.
SURPRISE!!! Did you go to this year’s Book Fair at Franklin? If
you did, you were probably thrilled
by the flash mob that opened this year’s fair. As people tried to
make their way through the packed gym to buy their books, a
beat in the background began out of nowhere. Before you knew it,
the fourth and fifth graders began
singing and dancing amidst the unsuspecting families. The song
“Dynamite” was rewritten by Mr. Geyer with lyrics that got more
students to the book fair this year,
because “they put their nose into a book each day, saying Ay-O.
Gotta read-O!”
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December 2011-January 2012 Arts a la Carte
In second grade, the students
have been practicing their rhythms through dictation and games.
They’ve also been singing a
number of fun holiday songs and will continue their note reading
throughout December. The third graders are also working on new
rhythms and notes and just recently discovered their mystery
rhythm the sixteenth note.
As the holiday season approaches,
the fourth graders will continue to sing songs of the season but in
harmony this year. They’ve studied different ways to create
harmony and are tackling it
through their singing beautifully.
Already exposed to this concept, the fifth graders will present their
chorus holiday concert this
December 8th through a variety of two part songs, rounds, and
partner songs. The Glee Club will also sing at this concert along with
another concert for the Women’s Club of Westfield in December,
and a caroling trip with the
Student Council later on in the month.
McKinley
Elementar
y
The students in the first grade at the McKinley
School were introduced to a Cityscape, a picture of a
city. They viewed photographs and paintings
of famous artist’s
interpretations of a city and identified the many
building shapes and styles. Using Color sticks
and crayons, the children
designed their own imaginary cities and
added water color washes to fill in the background
and sky.
The children in the second
grade used their Art time
to build a Tabby Weaving. Each student began this
project by creating a paper weaving for
practice. They learned the
appropriate language used by weavers including loom
(the surface to weave on), warp (the vertical strings) and weft (the
weaving strings). Afterwards, the students graduated to a more
challenging medium – felt. Once
their felt weaving was complete, each student used found objects to
stamp colorful patterns on top of their finished fabric designs.
3rd grade students started a project which incorporated a
RADIAL Design. A radial design is one which begins in the center and
radiates to the outside edges. Using rulers, compasses and
templates, the children were busy
Jefferson Artists Display Their Work
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Arts a la Carte December 2011-January 2012
creating original Radial Designs that were symmetrical as well as
eye-catching.
Exploring the artist within, the fourth grade students had the
opportunity to learn about Abstract Expressionism. This type of art,
made famous by artists such as
Jackson Pollock and William DeKooning, introduced the concept
of allowing the artist to “express” themselves freely with paint on
canvas. Each McKinley artist was able to experiment with the
application of paint to create 4
miniature paintings which revealed their own unique, personal style.
The art of shadow to create the illusion of space and depth on a
flat surface has been practiced by
artists for centuries.
The children in the fifth grade used a contour line to render a simple
Still Life object. Once the initial drawing was complete, the object
was brought to life by using pencil to shade and highlight the outer
edges. A blending tool, called a
tortillion, was used to blend the pencil smoothly to give the illusion
of a curved object on a flat piece of paper.
Congratulations to McKinley
students Anthony Maldonado,
Elaina Jones and Greta McLaughlin who had their art work selected to
be displayed at the annual New Jersey Teacher’s Association
(NJEA) conference in Atlantic City on November 10th and 11th. Only
75 pieces of art were chosen this
year to represent the Art Educator’s of New Jersey (AENJ)
efforts to promote the visual arts.
The fourth graders at McKinley are continuing to work on rhythms.
After performing the raps that they had written, they were able to
watch the video of the performance and critique what
they liked and what they may have
changed if they could perform it again. The last few weeks have
been full of rhythm games where students are able to clap and say
rhythms and also write down the
rhythm that they heard. Students are about to start learning how to
conduct and have been singing songs in different time signatures
that will go along with their conducting. Over the next few
months they will be learning
about music from around the world, music from different parts
of the United States, famous composers, and how to read music
throughout the year! The last two months have been
very busy for the 5th grade students at McKinley. In class
students wrote stories that went along with different selections of
music. The students had to have a beginning middle and end, that
corresponded with 3 different
contrasting musical pieces. After the students wrote, and illustrated
their stories, they had the opportunity to share the stories
with a 2nd grade class. The 5th graders have also been working
very hard in Chorus for the concert coming up on December 7th. They
have been busy preparing and memorizing songs, working on
dramatic expressions, and making
the winter concert very exciting for all the family and friends who will
be attending.
Tamaques
Elementary
The Tamaques art room was recently transformed at lunchtime
to host a holiday card making
project to spread seasonal cheer to the brave men and women serving
in our troops overseas. Students eagerly gave up their recess time
to cut, glue, and paste for the extraordinary cause! A special
thanks to all of the moms who
donated supplies and their time to facilitate the project!!
The third grade students have just
completed “artrageous” hats!!! After learning various methods of
construction and paper manipulation, students assembled
creative “thinking caps” adorned
with beads, buttons and macaroni!! They also made
wooden frames to highlight a class photo of everyone in their
artrageous hats!!
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December 2011-January 2012 Arts a la Carte
Fifth grade students are finishing
up the line drawing portion of their self-portraits. They are looking
forward to shading their
magnificent creations with oil pastel and watercolors.
Along with Art Teacher Lauren
Schwarzenbek and First Grade Teacher Mary Montes, two classes
at Tamaques Elementary School had the amazing creative
experience of painting the fences
for the new garden right outside of the school. The students in Mrs.
Montes’ class and Mrs. Eisen’s class got the opportunity to use
their artistic skills while painting
flowers on the fence using hand prints, sponges and q-tips.
Tamaques School's 5th Grade
Band is also preparing for their December 15th 5th grade Chorus
and Band Holiday program.
Selection's include the Jingle Bell Tones, Jingle Bells, Joyous Chanukah, My Dreydl, Ode to Joy and many other seasonal
favorites. Come and enjoy the music!!! The Tamaques Holiday
concert begins at 7:30 PM and is
held in the Tamaques School Gym.
At Tamaques School, students have celebrated the fall holidays
with song while learning something new every day about
music. The 1st and 2nd grades have enjoyed various music
games, activities, and songs that
include solo singing, learning new musical terms, and playing various
classroom instruments. The 3rd grade has been taking the next
step with sight reading rhythms,
notes on the staff, and understanding musical symbols.
The 4th grade has been hard at work practicing and singing their
solfege syllables, while the 5th
grade has been rehearsing for their Winter Concert which
includes Holiday, Velvet Shoes, Simu Shemen, Silver Bells, and
Snow, Snow, Beautiful Snow. The Winter Concert for Tamaques
School will be held on Thursday
December 15th. In the coming months, students will continue to
develop their understanding of music notation, learn about some
influential musical composers, and
maybe become composers themselves!
Washington
Elementary
The Washington School artists are
continuing in their creativity. The first grade students recently
completed a collage still life project. They carefully observed
different fruits before drawing
them on colorful paper. These were then cut out and arranged
onto a uniquely designed background. Everyone is excited
about the yummy results. This group will soon be learning all
about the art of the Ancient
Egyptians. We can wait to see all the mummies, pyramids, and
hieroglyphics that will be recreated in the most interesting of ways.
The second grade artists are
studying the art of Asia. They have painted cherry trees using
ancient Sumi techniques with real
bamboo brushes. It was so much fun to use the same process that
has been around for more than 1000 years! Recently they also
designed a special fish. This
animal was created out of paper and next it will be made with clay.
They will be "swimming" all around the school in no time.
Children in third grade are working
very hard to complete portraits inspired by Giuseppe Arcimboldo.
This famous artist used plants and
foods to form faces. These clever portraits have been both humorous
and challenging to make.
Fourth grade students have been learning all about abstraction.
They have begun to put this
creative twist on portraits, landscapes, and shape designs. It
has been fun to take ideas from reality and change them into
completely original works of art.
The artists in fifth grade are studying proportion. It is very
difficult to draw the human figure
with the proper measurements, but everyone has been working
very hard to make people and faces in the most accurate way
possible. They are all very proud of this major accomplishment.
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Arts a la Carte December 2011-January 2012
Washington School's 5th Grade Band members are hard at work
preparing for the December 7th 5th Grade Band and Chorus
Holiday program. Selections include Holiday Sampler, Bring On Da Band, Joyous Chanukah and
many other seasonal favorites. The program begins at 7:00 PM in the
Washington School gym.
Wilson
Elementary
Wilson School’s first grade
students are learning about the
role of an illustrator, and how literature and art are integrated.
After listening to a story that Mrs. Massenzio read to them, the
classes saw first-hand how illustrations enhance a story. In
keeping with the story, the
children created large size whimsical dogs. The children were
encouraged to write their own stories about their canine
creations.
Mrs. Massenzio’s second grade
classes created impressive 3-dimensional butterflies. Using
mixed media, the children learned that the wings of a butterfly are
symmetrical and have symmetrical patterns on them. Did you know
that there are over 20,000 species
of butterflies?
Leaps & Bounds students at Wilson School explored the creative
process as they made picture frames and decorated them, using
a variety of colors, textures, and shapes. Color and shape
recognition, counting, and strengthening fine motor skills
were all incorporated in this fun lesson. The Leaps and Bounds
have completed life sized self-
portraits!! They used paint brushes, experimental painting
tools, fabric, yarn, scissors and glue to create unique portraits.
Each portrait is sitting on top of a
swing that hangs from a tree branch outside of Ms. Flynn’s
classroom!! Stop by and take a look!!
Wilson School fourth grade
students are finishing up their unit on one point perspective. They
studied Salvador Dali’s
“Persistence of Memory” and then created Surreal inspired
landscapes.
The fifth grade students have
begun their unit on self-portraits.
They will critique master works of art by Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo,
and Leonardo Da Vinci to compare and contrast styles of portraiture
before deciding how render their
own likeness.
The first graders at Wilson School
are hungry for Thanksgiving! In a
special song, "Take a Turkey Out to Lunch," we discussed where
we'd like to take a Turkey out to eat. The restaurant list included
Vicky's Diner, Five Guys Burger
and Fries, Ferraro's, Emma's Pizza, and Xocolate. We definitely have
some foodies in the first grade!
They will soon be discovering the different Instrument Families:
Brass, Strings, Woodwind, and Percussion. We will be exploring
these instruments in an interactive book called "The House on Melody
Street" as well as a children's
classic by Sergei Prokofiev, "Peter and the Wolf."
Second graders are checking to
see if any Turkeys are following them home from school! That's
because our song "A Turkey Followed Me Home" is on their
minds. But they're not too sure
where they can hide their feathered friends if they decide to
come home with them, especially during the week of Thanksgiving!
This fast-paced ditty has got
second grade thinking about Tempo, which tells us the speed of
music. Some Tempo Markings include Allegro (fast), Andante
(walking speed), and Adagio
(slow). I wonder how fast they'll be able to sing this song once
Thanksgiving rolls around!
The third graders are diving into Music Ace and learning about the
Treble Clef Staff. With all of their note-knowledge from last year,
putting notes on the staff has been
a snap! Just like their fellow Wilson Schoolmates, third grade is
feeling thankful as well with the song "I Like Thanksgiving." They
are also buttoning up their coats and pulling on their gloves "For the
Winter," a jazzy tune that sets the
mood for the upcoming chilly season.
Lincoln
School
November was a busy month for the Lincoln School artists! We
began with colorful Scarecrows
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December 2011-January 2012 Arts a la Carte
which were decorated with mismatched patterns and patches
(photo). The next project was to build a special Pilgrim Hat to wear
during the Class room Feasts where the children celebrated the
first Thanksgiving between the
Native Americans and the Pilgrims.
The Lincoln School children ended the month by learning how to
manipulate Model Magic clay to create a three- dimensional Terrific
Turkey.
October and November have
proved to be exciting musical
months at Lincoln. The Preschoolers have learned to sing
a variety of Halloween and Thanksgiving songs such as 5 Little
Pumpkins and 5 Silly Turkeys. They have also listened to different
musical books and helped create
sound effects that go along with our story.
The Kindergarteners at Lincoln
have been busy learning about the different Instrument Families and
Peter and the Wolf. They are learning how to identify musical
instruments by their sounds,
decided if the sound they are listening to is high or low, loud or
soft etc. After learning about all of our instruments we have started
learning the musical story of Peter and the Wolf. The students were able to listen to all the different
sounds that go with all of the characters and were able to
identify the sound with the character on a fun coloring
worksheet. The next few months hold more exciting musical lessons,
which include The Nutcracker, famous composers, and more
musical reading.