Learning and Working Together

Primary Reviews the Continents Together

Our five year old Primary students are reinforcing their understanding of the art element of color as they learn about the leaves of North America through printmaking. Using the traditional Japanese printmaking technique, Gyotaku, students are printing images of leaves from North American trees such as the Royal Mountain Ash, the Red Mulberry, the White Ash, the Bear Oak, and the Northern Pin Oak. As they create their prints, they are reviewing warm and cool colors and observing and describing the colors of the leaves as they change and fall.

Third Grade Weavers

Lower Elementary children continue to reinforce their understanding of the Elements and Principles of Art as they learn about Native American culture through drawing, sculpting, and weaving projects. Inspired by the Native Americans' reverence for the animals they depended on, the children are creating animal landscape paintings and drawings that include wolves, buffalo, horses, and eagles. Within these works, the young artists are developing concepts of foreground, middle ground, and background as they use scale to create the visual illusion of space. Third Graders are weaving with burlap as they learn about warp and weft and the beautiful, woven patterns of the Navajo People. All Lower Elementary students are learning about the subtractive sculpting process as they create animals in clay.

Collaborative Design

As our Upper Elementary children continue to reinforce their understanding of the Elements and Principles of Art, they are brainstorming ideas and creating sketches in preparation for a relief printmaking project. The students are learning to draw animals by moving from general shapes to specific details as they are introduced to the North American wildlife that was an integral part of the Native Americans' existence. These wildlife studies, as well as explorations in creating the visual illusion of space within a two dimensional format, are being incorporated into the children's subject matter for their prints. The drawings are transferred to EZ cut blocks and the children are learning to use cutting tools to create the relief surface.