Welcome Back! CRES Art Program 2014-15

Welcome back to the CRES Art Program at Central Riverside Elementary! I am so excited to serve as the Visual Arts Educator for another year and look forward to presenting instruction for many artful projects that support the Florida Sunshine Standards for Visual Arts!  My overarching goal as a Visual Arts Educator is to instill the love of art in my students as well as encourage creative thinking that carries over into their everyday lives. 

CRES students, Kindergarten through 5th grade visit the Art Room for Art Resource Classes each week for 50 minutes. Within this post you can view the colorful learning space that awaits our students as well as some of the teaching tools that are used to expand their art knowledge.

The Art Library is comprised of "How To Draw" books, biographies about artists and general art books on a variety of elementary reading levels. My goal is that students will use these books as part of their school-wide reading goals in English/Language Arts.  

The Word Wall is divided into sections headed by The Elements of Art and the Principles of Design, the language used to talk about art. These magnetic words are removable and will be placed in the vocabulary box on the main teaching board along with the objective and essential question for each art lesson taught.

Student Gallery and Teacher Workspace

Back View: You can see the table markers hanging from the 16 feet high ceilings, each labeled with numbers, and the parts of the color wheel (Primary Colors, Secondary Colors, Intermediate Colors, Mono-cromatic Colors, Warm and Cool Colors, each with a lantern painted the corresponding colors for better understanding.   Notice the tennis balls that help muffle the sound of active students as they sit and create! This view also allows one to see the large color wheel collage made by students using a large donation of National Geographic magazines. 

View the Art Timeline, an important teaching tool used to help students understand what was happening in the art world throughout world history.  Although the timeline seems far up on the wall, I use a laser pointer ("let's follow the little red dot") to help students understand the vast amount of time covered by this teaching tool. The timeline helps reinforce math skills as well.

Also in view allows the view of technology equipment used to enhance art learning. After a summer of professional development classes, my current goal is to incorporate the use of the interactive white board to enhance art learning.

The world map ties in nicely with the Sculptures From Around the World display. Also, the four images on the cabinets help cue my students when we have conversations about art using the Feldman Method of Art Criticism.  The first (from the left), the students DESCRIBE what they see in an artwork. The second image prompts them to ANALYZE what they see first. The third image asks them the students. "What is the story about?" which is the INTERPRETATION of the artwork and last their  JUDGEMENT or opinion of the art - "thumbs up or thumbs down."

The large display above the board illustrates the meanings of The Elements of Art and The Principles of Design - the language of art. It is an important goal that students learn to use this language. On the right side are designated places for art vocabulary words, objectives and essential questions for each lesson taught.  

CHAMPS: CHAMPS is a proactive and prosocial approach to classroom management.   Classroom behavioral expectations are plainly posted and reviewed periodically. Each of my art lessons are divided into three parts:  Instruction, Studio Time and Clean-up, each with their own specific behavioral expectations. For example, students know they are free to get up for a sip of water from the fountain if desired but only during Studio Time.

Art From Around The World - This display shows my students that art isn't just paintings and sculpture.  We explore the art in clothing, jewelry, architecture and bridge design as well as stained glass windows and kites! My goal for this teaching tool is to open my students minds to the possibilities of what paths they choose in the future. The opportunities for careers for students with the ability to be creative are endless.

Expectations: This Art Project Rubric explains how student artwork is assessed. Student artworks chosen for DCPS district level exhibitions as well displayed around our school and it should meet the highest performance standards as described by the rubric.  Each year we hold an annual ARTWALK with a students artwork exhibited.  The Art Project Rubric is used to assist in creating the students art exhibit.

The Behavior Meter is a communication tool I use to inform teachers the overall performance of their classes when they arrive to pick them up from their art class each. It is directly linked to the Art Room Noise Levels as seen on the left. If students earn a happy face each week, the class with the most each 9 weeks earns an "Arty Party."

Students are encouraged to visit this blog so I have printed the blog address and made available for them as they line up each week to exit the art room.  

This is Arturo, Mrs. Woodlief's special art assistant.