Ms. Schmidt's Art Explorers

RtI Celebration

At my school, art, music and physical education teachers are used at the end of the day to teach Response to Intervention. My group for the past 7 weeks has been 5th grade enrichment. We have been studying Latin root words and how English words are derived from them. Learning this vocabulary will enhance reading and comprehension in ALL subject areas.

Last week, our learning culminated in a Root Bee, like a Spelling Bee. Our winner was (drum roll please)....Michael Pu!!! Congratulations Michael!

A Generous Spirit

This is a shout-out to Connor C. in Mrs. Shaaber's first grade class. He was the only person to bring in donated items that I had requested several weeks ago. And he told me he bought them with ALL HIS OWN MONEY!! Thank you, Connor. Keep up your sense of citizenship and giving nature.

Second Grade Ponds

Second graders read the book, "In the Small, Small Pond" and learned about habitats for frogs. Using cool color pastels, they created a pond scene appropriate for a frog. They then learned how to stamp print and added dragonflies and a frog peeking out from under the water. Well done!

Kindergarten Snowmen

Even though it is unseasonably warm outside, kindergartners made some stamp printed snowmen. They learned how to make a print with paint and sponges. During the following class, they added realistic tree branches for arms and other embellishments. I think they turned out awesome!!

60's Art at the MOCA

Jan. 28 — April 8, 2012
ReFocus: Art of the 1960s
This exhibition delves into one of the seminal and radical periods of contemporary art. The arts—literature, visual art, dance, and theater—went through a fascinating period of growth and change during the 1960s. Join MOCA as it explores major movements of the decade: Pop Art, Op Art, Performance Art, Minimalism, Color Field Painting, Action Painting and Post-Painterly Abstraction. Experience master works by artists that defined a generation: Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Jasper Johns, and Robert Rauschenberg.

Luchadors!!

Dougie

Punto del Perro

Rabia de la Roca

Estrella de la Ram

Llama Encendida

Bloques del Rectangulo

Rey del Fuego

Pista de la Sandia

El Smasher

El Tigre

As you can see, my upper grade students have been very busy! These are just a few of the Lucha Libre masks - more will be framed and hung in the hallway next week! The students gave their characters names and I translated them into Spanish by with my translator app on my computer. Can you guess their names in English?

Happy New Year!

Welcome back to school! All my classes are starting new projects this month. Kindergartners are stamp printing snowmen and first graders are learning about tints and shades as they paint their dog pictures with what I call "Dr. Suess colors." In second grade, students will be learning about pond habitat as they create their mixed-media pictures. Third grades will be doing crayon resists of tropical birds, and fifth grades will be creating abstract texture pieces.

There are so many students that I am responsible for and so little "free-time" - I apologize for the delay in getting your luchador pictures photographed and framed in the hallway. I am working on them a little bit each day as I do the regular lesson preps. They will be here soon for all to look at!

WWE but no Sin Cara

Mark Henry - Where's Sin Cara?

Big Show - Still no Sin Cara

Randy Orton

Booker T - Do you know where Sin Cara is?

Sheamus - Well, I guess Sin Cara won't be here tonight. I really wanted a picture to show all my 4th and 5th graders who are working on luchador masks in art class.

I never in a million years thought I would go to a WWE wrestling event. What we won't do for our students!

November Artist's Birthdays

Auguste Rodin - 12th (1840)
Claude Monet - 14th (1840)
Georgia O'Keefe - 15th (1887)
Wayne Thiebaud - 15th (1920)
Rene' Margritte - 21st (1898)
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec - 24th (1864)
Charles Schulz - 26th (1922)

Can you tell me something you have researched about one of these artists?

Veteran's Day Weekend Event

I have mentioned this event to some classes and it sounds like it would be a fun time. It's called Family Art Fest and Salute to the Troops. It will be held on Saturday, November 12th from 10 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Midtown Centre. The Duval Art Teachers Association will be there with an art and game booth for kids. See the link below for more details.
http://www.midtownfest.org/

October Artist Birthdays

Fredric Remington - 4th

Faith Ringgold - 8th

Alberto Giacometti - 10th

Pablo Picasso - 25th

Roy Lichtenstein - 27th

Jan Vermeer - 31st

Can you tell me something you researched about one of these artists? Let me know the next time you have art class!

Wayne Thiebaud's Cakes

Second graders have been learning about American artist Wayne Thiebaud (pronounced Tebow). He began as a commercial artist and eventually started painting still-lifes of cakes, ice cream cones and other confections.

Please check out the following link to a neat activity from the National Gallery of Art - you can decorate your own online cake!!

http://www.nga.gov/education/classroom/interactive/cake.htm

Kids Art Fair 2011

Bella and kindergarten's turtles.

First grade's pointillism watercolor sunflowers.

Mya and her super-detailed tropical bird.

Altea and her banyan tree.

Abrianna and Petra, former Beauclerc students, working the refreshment table.

And finally, a Beauclerc Class of 2010 mini-reunion!

John Love's Art and Music Night a Big Success!

Cierra!

Antonio!

Our awesome guest artist, Adrian Pickett, showing the painting he did at age 9!

Taking questions from the audience. See the samples of his charcoal portraits - the one on the right of the cute dog won a prize!

Larry!

Demetrius!

Demetria!

Caleb!

Second grade art!

Cases Of Glitter Lung On The Rise Among Elementary-School Art Teachers

CHICAGO—The Occupational Safety And Health Administration released figures Monday indicating that record numbers of elementary-school art teachers are falling victim to pneumosparklyosis, commonly known as glitter lung.

Dr. Linda Norr scans a sufferer who spent more than two decades in the classrooms.

Nearly 8,000 cases were reported in 2004, the most recent year for which statistics are available. This is the highest number since the arts-and-crafts industry was deregulated in 1988.

Characterized by a lack of creative energy and shortness of breath, and accompanied by sneezing or coughing up flakes of twinkly, reflective matter, glitter lung typically strikes teachers between the ages of 29 to 60 who spend 20 hours per week in an art-class setting during the school year.

"When art teachers spend so much time in confined quarters with inadequate ventilation amid swirling clouds of glitter, it's only a matter of time before their lungs start to suffer negative effects," said Dr. Linda Norr, a specialist in elementary-school-related respiratory diseases. "Those sufferers who are not put on a rigorous program of treatment often spend their last days on respirators, hacking up a thick, dazzling mucus."

As incidences of glitter lung continue to rise, critics are accusing public schools of not doing enough to protect art teachers.

Former art teacher Miles Winfield, who recently testified before a House subcommittee on unsafe working conditions, said that, as his symptoms worsened, his principal looked the other way, fearing defamation lawsuits from the powerful glitter industry.

"Most art teachers are afraid to come forward, for fear of losing their jobs," Winfield said. "At an absolute minimum, an art teacher should be equipped with a respirator, thick goggles, and a reflective-field smock. But schools don't want to stand up to Big Glitter, which continues to insist that this stuff is safe. Schools end up falsifying the safety reports and hoping they get away with it. And they usually do."

Until heavier, less toxic forms of glitter are developed, physicians recommend using alternative media to enhance children's artwork.

"Cheerios, cotton balls, and popsicle sticks are considered very safe," Norr said. "Avoid colored string, however, because some studies show that it could be high in yarncinogens. And if glitter is absolutely essential to the craft project, try using a glitter pen, as the particles are less likely to become airborne."

Glitter guidelines established by OSHA in 1970 allow for no more than 0.4 flakes per cm³ of the substance in the air. Yet critics say the standards were developed to protect children, who typically only spend two to three hours in art class per week, unlike teachers, who spend as many as 40 hours per week in the toxic, high-glitter environment.

Though only 47 years old, Lawrence, KS art teacher Helen Niles was forced to quit her job and lose her health insurance after her chronic glitter lung rendered her unfit for full-time work in February.

"At first, I had no idea what was going on," Niles said. "I'd wake up in the morning and I'd have this gritty feel in my mouth. The school nurse told me it was nothing, but eventually I was waking up with a shiny, sparkling stain on the pillow."

"People who have worked with glitter know that it gets everywhere if you don't sprinkle it very carefully. It can stick to your clothes and your skin," Niles said. "Imagine working in an environment where the atmosphere contains 10 parts per million, and you quickly realize what our nation's art teachers are up against."

The medical community has been slow to recognize glitter lung as a public health threat. A 1993 epidemic of sequin fibrosis, which primarily affected dancers in the Las Vegas, NV area, was seen as an isolated case. Now, however, the disease is being re-evaluated, and many doctors believe it may be the most serious occupational health hazard to hit educators since the outbreak of gold-star syndrome in the 1960s.

Epidemiologists note that the increase in glitter-lung cases is occurring simultaneously with a general rise in other classroom-related diseases. Macaroni elbow, modeling clay palsy, crayon flu, and googly-eye are sidelining thousands of teachers each year.

But despite growing medical alarm, efforts to provide adequate safety measures and health care continue to be hampered by bureaucratic red, blue, green, and yellow tape.

Cherokee Nation

A Cherokee woman doing beading of garments and belts.

The village potter - she is making pinch pots and fires them directly in the pit fire.

This is where all the baskets are woven. The cane (similar to sugar cane or bamboo) is split and sometimes dyed with natural dyes. The dark brown color in this basket comes from parts of the walnut tree used as a dye. The split cane is then thinner and flatter and easier to weave with.

The village woodcarver.

These women are finger weaving. It is an elaborate system of braiding. As the belt is woven, it is wrapped around the cane at the top of the poles until it is long enough to be worn.

Visiting the Cherokee village in the Cherokee reservation was the best part of my trip. If you ever go to North Carolina, you should really check it out. There were also mock battles and other highlights of the tribe's life there.