Arts at SMG
Celebrating music and art at St. Maria Goretti
Artsonia,
www.artsonia.com -- the world's largest online kid's art museum -- is displaying artwork by SMG students.
It’s done! After much work by some wonderful
volunteers (you know who you are!!) the “Under the
Sea” mural is up! It is just loaded with projects by our
school artists. Kindergarten helped with the sandy
shore and also drew themselves as scuba divers or
mermaids. First grade created the blue sea background
on blue paper with a monoprinting process. Second
grade got to choose between coral or seaweed with fish
swimming through the strands. Third grade caught
their flying fish in jumping poses. Fourth grade went
with the flowing water line design up near the top and
even used water colors to paint them. Fifth grade used
color schemes and patterns to embellish their starfish.
Sixth grade printed schools of fish with collaged texture
in the collagraph method. Seventh grade drew the
contour line shells that are tucked into the bed of sand
at the bottom. It really is a site to see! Just don’t get
that tune stuck in your head as you pass by…
It is also coming to that time of year when we begin the
Rainbow Park Project with my third graders. You
might remember seeing the projects in the hall as you
passed by last year. Everyone designs their own
amusement park ride or structure at a park to be built
out of recycled materials. They then have to color all
the pieces in rainbow order and put it together. They
love this project and I love all the creative ideas and
problems that arise that we have to solve in a creative
way. We even have to be engineers to get things to
work!
This project is fantastic, but it does require some help
from you, too. We have depleted our supply of
materials and really need to restock, ASAP! Could you
save and bring in all your toilet paper tubes, paper
towel tubes and egg cartons? If you have anything else
that you think could be an interesting part, please send
that in, too. Last year we had some coffee creamer
containers brought in and the lids looked just like stools
which two girls used in their concession stand project.
Another thing we need is glue gun operators. Most of
the pieces are hot glued on and I will not let the
students use the glue guns. I usually spend all hour at
the glue gun, applying glue so they can put it together.
The line goes so much faster if there are more adults
manning the stations than just me! If you have time to
volunteer, please let me know!
My last order of business is to honor my latest artist of
the week. The art work comes from the fourth grade
class and their drawings based on Van Gogh’s “Starry
Night”. This is one of my favorite projects and it
always turns out great but this year… wow. First of all,
we were able to watch a movie about Van Gogh. All
the kids loved it and we all learned about him in a fun
way. They were excited to create a drawing/painting
based on his most famous works. Some artists really
made the sky brilliant with colors and broken lines to
show the rhythm with some using the smallest lines
imaginable! Amazing!
Although all the projects were wonderful, I had to
narrow it down to a few to show the Kindergarten
teaching team so they could help me choose. We all
agreed that one stood out because it had such a nice
rhythm in the sky. Each of the brushstrokes in the sky
is like a little comet shooting around and in between the
others. Another part that we all liked was the way the
artist drew the land and buildings. There is a sense of
real depth in the drawing as the buildings that are close
to us are larger than the ones that are further away.
This is a technique we learn about in fifth grade and
here it was done very successfully. Of course, I need to
mention the tree that is in the foreground. It reminds
me of a cherry tree in bloom with tiny leaves and
flowers all in pinks. All of these elements combine to
create a unique and well designed composition that is
beautiful. Congratulations to Jaden Kraemer!
Music Notes
We are working hard in the music room!
The K-2nd graders are taking a vacation to a
warmer climate! Our destination of the month is
Latin America. We are visiting countries such
as Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, and Brazil. We learn
about each culture and what makes them unique,
the music, and the language. Next we are going
to begin learning about the different instruments
of the orchestra!
As you may have heard at home, the 3-5th
graders are in their recorder unit. The 3rd
graders are learning the basics of the recorder
while the 4th and 5th graders are going through
the recorder karate program. They pass a
certain level song to gain a colored belt (string)
for their recorder. Once they hit the black belt,
they are recorder masters!
The middle school is working hard at preparing
for their concert. We just had auditions for solo
parts and every Thursday students who wish to
meet with me after school to come up with skits
that will be performed with the concert. Our
theme this year is Disney medley which we are
singing songs such as
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocous (did I spell that
right?) and Circle of Life.
Don’t forget the middle school concert is on
THURSDAY March 4th. If your student is
unable to attend, I need to be notified by YOU
by either a note, e-mail or phone call.
Thank you!
Also, starting in March, the middle school will
be beginning their Piano unit. I am requesting to
borrow any unused keyboards at home. They
will be returned at the end of the unit.
Keyboard stands are welcome too. Please let
me know if you have one!
Thank you!
Questions regarding SMG's music program can be directed to Melissa Dohn.