Thursday, November 7, 2013

120- I took the last small group to work on their portraits. They were really excited to see the studio and they worked really well together.  We had a great conversation about Puerto Rico and the beach, inspired by a question about how we're spending the upcoming long weekend ("I want to go to the beach!") then we had a debate about whether or not sharks are pretend or real. (One student explained that they are real because he swam in a beach that had warnings about sharks.) This class is the bilingual first grade, so some of the students remember living near the beach before they moved to Buffalo.

112- They finished their globes.  We talked about the upcoming Puerto Rican Day Celebration and brainstormed ways to decorate the stage. I introduced them to a Puerto Rican artist, Miguel Conesa Osuna, and asked if they'd like to use his style of painting to create a big painted scene of Puerto Rico.  They searched beach scenes on my iPad and found one they felt was perfect.  They drew it on blue mural paper and began to paint the water just as class was ending.  

The water in Puerto Rico

108- We had some crazy action on the community building today. The students created School #33, a police station, a grocery store, a bait shop and a McDonald's! 

Our Police Station

The Golden Arches of McDonald's

School #33 and the Grocery Store

Our class fisherman made a bait shop for the community.

The community from 108 with the playground from 118.

118- My playground group visited one last time.  They had to choose a student representative to join the next group, which is the "Church Group"- the students who drew the church next door to our school and who will now make a 3D model of the church. The student representative will offer suggestions to the new group, based on his experience with the playground, and add some finishing touches on the playground.

Detail of our playground wall. 

101, preschool.  The students came in to add marker drawings to their painted murals.  As they worked, I heard them talking.  "I'm going to make a wicked witch!" "Look, I made a monster!" "I made pizza!" Now, I can't wait to do the critique and write a story with them! I'll post a pic after their next class, when the other half of the group adds their marker drawings.

103, preschool.  Our school is doing a big celebration on the Discovery of Puerto Rico.  Since this class has gone through most of the materials in my studio, I asked if the teacher would like me to provide an opportunity for the students to make a project that mixes media and allows them to test these new skills. She agreed.  I showed the students masks from Puerto Rico- both the simple masks of the Taino people and the Vejigante masks, which combine influences from Spain and the Tainos. I let them choose any color of construction paper and, without much direction on my part, the students started making their own version of the masks on paper.  We will make these masks out of paper mache, a new material, and then the students can use any of the beautiful stuff, markers, paint, etc. that we've learned how to use previously.