Week in Review: March 4-8

This week was ISAT testing week!  That means that art classes were very short - less than 30 minutes each day for 7th & 8th graders!  So most of our days were spent on the "less messy" arts, like drawing and using computers!

6th Grade:


6th grade students are working on their second sketchbook assignment (we're taking a hiatus from our letter sculptures, but we'll get back to them next week!) - a "dream room" design that uses our knowledge of 1-point perspective from our first sketchbook assignment.  These drawings will be due on Monday, March 18th (so there's still another week to work on them!).  The photo above is the display of this same assignment from last term's sixth grade art classes.  Don't they look great?

7th Grade:


Seventh grade is also working on their second sketchbook assignment: a drawing inspired by Op Art and Zentangles!  These black and white drawings are intricately patterned and use drawing techniques that we previously learned in 6th grade: hatching, cross-hatching, stippling, and doodle techniques.  We also learned some cool new contour line tricks for giving our work a 3-D effect!  These drawings are due March 18th.

8th Grade:


Eighth grade students are using the computers and iPads to create Papercritter sculptures as part of our paper sculpture unit!  We have 15 laptops in the classroom that use the Papercritters website to design and print out our creations.  We also use our three iPads and the Papercritters app to do the same thing!  Because the iPads are so popular in art class, we had a "raffle" to pick which three students would get to use the iPads to make their Papercritters.

Each student is required to design, print out, and assemble one Papercritter for this assignment.  If students finish early, they are allowed to make additional Papercritters just for fun!  These paper sculptures are due this Monday, March 11.

Students are also working on sketchbook assignment #4, which is a design for the cover of the program for our 8th grade promotion ceremony!  Not only is this an assignment for a grade, but the winning design (as voted on by 8th grade teachers) is used for the 8th grade program cover!  Whee!  This drawing is due next Wednesday, March 13th.

In other news...

March is Youth Art Month!  Celebrate by doing something art-minded!


Thanks for another great week!
-Mrs. L.

Help Support the Arts!

Thanks! - Mrs. Leban

a referendum tomorrow in Oak Park.

My husband Mr. Leban, was in the newspaper over break to talk about the art program at his school.  It comes right before the big vote tomorrow in Oak Park that will decide (among other things) if he gets to keep his job or not, and if their district will continue having art class at all for elementary students.  You can read the full article at the Oak Park Wednesday Journal website.

Please cross your fingers and hope the vote tomorrow comes out a big giant YES for art!  Do you know anyone from Oak Park?  Call them up and let them know that we need their yes vote!

Obama asks for respect for our Nation's teachers.

Have you seen this excellent blog post from the White House?  Notice what's going on in the photo: students showing off their ART PROJECTS!

But the point of the post is that Obama has plans to fix NCLB!  Yayy!  Loud applause all around!  Read about it here:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/03/14/president-obama-it-s-not-enough-leave-no-child-behind-we-need-help-every-child-get-a

My favorite quote is this:

“Every day in this country, teachers are doing a heroic job for their kids -- (applause) -- every day.  They’re taking on the problems that follow students into class, come in early to re-write lessons, spending hours after school tutoring students.  I know; my sister is a teacher. In South Korea, teachers are known as “nation builders,” and I think it’s time we treated our teachers with the same level of respect right here in the United States of America.”

...Wisconsin, are you listening?

Oak Park K-8 Art Show

I went to the Oak Park K-8 show at OPRF High School last night.  It was so cool to see the MASSIVE amounts of artwork on display from all of the schools!  Mr. Leban teaches at Brooks Middle School, so he let me tag along and eat some cookies.

Do you recognize the inspiration for these works of art?  They're Faith Ringgold, just like we do in sixth grade!

I really like these cool iPod-inspired paintings.  They give me ideas for some projects of our own!

The above two photos are from the display case where Mr. Leban's students work is located.  They create their own marble-maze games, make masks, cut out and design miniature model guitars, and even stretch their own canvas onto frames they build themselves!  How fun!

As you can see, the walls are really full!  I couldn't believe how many people showed up!

(I told Mr. Leban to allow me to take a photo as he ponders the artwork.)



Above, you can see just some of the awesome Oak Park K-8 art teachers that work in the district.  They're super friendly, they love what they do, and many of them have become my friends.  It's makes me sad that for many of them, their jobs depend on the referendum passing. Here's information from their district website on what programs will be cut: http://www.op97.org/referendum/Reductions-Information.pdf

Oak Park Referendum

Most of you know that my husband is an art teacher in Oak Park.  His school district is trying to pass a referendum next month.  The bad news is that, if it does not pass, all of the art teachers from grades K-8 except for TWO will lose their jobs and there will be NO elementary art education at all.  Can you believe that?  In Oak Park?  Neither can I.

So, on Friday night the art teachers gathered together (they're nice enough to let me hang out with them!) and we made posters to display in community businesses.  The one above is Mr. Leban's, and the other three you see here are mine.  My apologies for the blurry photos - I took them with my cell phone.

Do you know anyone who lives in Oak Park?  Please share your support for the referendum with them, or pass along these other valuable resources: Vote Yes for Oak Park Schools (Facebook) and @referendumyes on Twitter.