Merry Christmas!

For God so loved the world

 that He gave His only Begotten Son

that whosoever believeth in Him

should not perish

but have everlasting Life.

 

John 3:16 

Lending PTF a Helping Hand....

What a treat it has been for the children and me to lend the PTF a hand with their current fundraiser, a Christmas ornament sale. We have painted, glittered, sewn, beaded, and glued some of the cutest holiday baubles ever! Check out samples below! Want to make sure you get your child's ornament? Place your order by Thursday, December 13! Unsold ornaments will be on sale  to the general public at the PDS Christmas Program at the BPAC Thursday night.



Row 1: Preschool, 5K, First Grade
Row 2: Second Grade, Third Grade
Row 3: Fourth Grade, Fifth Grade, Sixth Grade



It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Just like the song says...It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...in the art room! We have been as busy, busy, busy as little elves making very special Christmas ornaments and painting beautiful nutcrackers. Here's a glimpse of some of the fun!

Congratulations!

Congratulations ...
to Cleveland's Jr. Auxilliary on their fabulous production of "A Child's Dream!" ....
to all our talented dancers/PDS students who took part in the ballet.....
AND to our PDS art students who placed in the JA art contest....Group  1 Second Place - Gypsy Griffin, Third Place - Chloe Spitz and Group 2 Second Place - Kathleen Tarver and Third Place Nicholas Brown! WE ARE SO PROUD OF all of YOU!

Sunflower Teaser

PDS is about to be ablaze with the students' beautiful sunflower drawings ala Vincent Van Gogh! Below is a bit of a teaser.... aspiring artists hard at work! Stay tuned for pictures of the final projects!

Inspired by Monet's Garden

Our Third and Fourth graders' Gardens

Impressions of Monet

The breathtaking landscapes Claud Monet painted of his gardens are inspiring the latest art project for our Third and Fourth graders. Here is a sneak preview of these works in progress. We'll post pictures of the finished paintings soon!

Pumpkin Life Cycles

This week the First Graders spent part of their computer class drawing the stages in the life cycle of the pumpkin. These girls are proud to show you theirs!

Fishing with 4K




Bubble wrap + paint + art foam + 20 excited 4K students
equals 
one beautiful school of fish!



Fall Trees....Kidpix Style!

More awesome PDS graphic artists in the making...

 

Studies in Tints and Shades

 

Sixth Graders have been busy exploring the endless possibilities of Tints and Shades with these cool designs!

 



5K Flower Power

Computer Fun!

Computer lab is in full swing for K5 through Sixth grades, while the K4 classes will join the fun next week when the new grading period begins! First through Sixth graders have begun racking up those AR points, along with completing various Word projects. Fifth graders have researched their reports on Native American tribes as well. While First and Second graders are learning about highlighting, changing fonts, and font sizes the upper grades have been honing their typing skills in Mavis Beacon. K5 has been exploring how to manipulate the mouse in Kidpix. Check out one budding K5 Graphic Artist below!!!!!!

I Spy....

Art is all around us....only sometimes we just don't notice it! This year in art class the children are playing a game of  "I Spy Art" and it is my hope that it will entice the children to discover and appreciate the wealth of art in and around Cleveland. Periodically, I'll be posting new photos of paintings, sculptures, buildings, pottery, etc.on my bulletin board. The first children to correctly identify where each is located or something else about it wins a small prize. Below are the first postings. The kids did GREAT!  What about YOU?

Where is this relief?

There's LOTS of artwork here!

Who made these?

Where is this mural?

4K Butterflies....Symmetry in Motion

 

 

  

The 4K classes had an awesome time exploring the primary colors AND symmetry when we made beautiful butterflies. First, we painted the butterflies' bodies. Next, we dripped drops of red, yellow, and blue paint on one wing. We folded the insects in half and had fun squishing and rubbing the blobs. The children squealed with delight as we opened the folded butterflies!

 

Welcome Back!

Summer vacation is always fun, but it's great to be back in school. Art and Computer classes have begun this week, and we're off to a fabulous start! We've reviewed classroom and lab rules, discussed plans for some exciting projects in the months ahead, and gotten to know some new classmates. In addition, K4 - 1st grade students are learning about the components of a computer. Second graders through sixth graders are taking the STAR reading and STAR math beginning of the year assessments.

One of my goals this year for our Art program is to help the children become more aware (and more appreciative) of the wealth of art around them. To this end we have embarked on a year-long "I Spy Art" scavenger hunt! Periodically, I will update our bulletin board with photos of art pieces located somewhere in the Cleveland area. It is the children's job to keep on the lookout for them! Hopefully, they will point them out to YOU, too! What's on the bulletin board right now? Ask your children!!!!!

THANK YOU, CROSSTIE ARTS COUNCIL!!!!

Thanks to a generous grant from the Crosstie Arts Council our PDS Sixth Graders enjoyed a delightful afternoon creating these wonderful reminders of their years here. Aren't they beautiful?!

Zentangles?

What's a Zentangle? Structure, contained doodles comprised of repetive patterns.....the Sixth Graders really became "entangled" in creating their Zentangles!

Crosstie Arts and Jazz Festival

We are SOOOOO proud to announce that PDS had age group winners in both the Children's Art and Children's Writing competitions! 4K student, Claire Rizzo, and third grader, Caleb Williams won first place in Art while first grader, Rett McKnight won first place for his poem and sixth grader, Erin Raye Owens won for her short story. We will post pictures soon. The arts are definitely alive and well at PDS!

MANY THANKS!!!!!!!!!

What a wonderful Spring Art Show (and Pre-Crosstie Competition) we've had! And we couldn't have done it without a LOT of help! Many, many thanks go to Mrs. Howarth, Mrs. Turner, Mrs. Clark, Ms. Ann, and Mr. Dan for helping get the show up; to Mr. Jordan and his fantastic crew of carpenters for building such great display units; and to the Sixth Grade class for so carefully dismantling the exhibit. Thanks, too, go to our wonderful PTF for their support in so many ways! Last, but not least, we thank Coach Cox for graciously allowing us to invade the gym for three days! I leave you with a few pictures from the exhibit. We  will post pictures of the winners soon!

Food for the Soul .....and the Tummy!

You Are Invited

to our

GOURMET FOOD FAIR

and

STUDENT ART EXHIBITION

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Come enjoy your children's beautiful artwork...

and fill your fridge with delectable goodies from the Food Fair.



Perspective, Take Two

Our Fifth and Sixth Graders did a great job with their one point perspective projects!

One Fish, Two Fish...A Whole lot of Cute Fish!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!!!!!

KidPix Pizza Parlor

Welcome to the Kindergarten Kidpix Pizza Parlor!

 Check out some of our computer lab"chefs" with their delicious looking pizzas. Are you hungry yet?

This semester the 4K and 5K students have spent the first half of each computer lab completing a directed drawing lesson in Kidpix. The kids just think they are having fun drawing on the computer, but they are really practicing many valuable  skills like following multi step oral directions, manipulating a mouse, shape recognition, using drop down menus, and utilizing a variety of buttons. I can  only imagine how computer savvy they will be by the time they graduate from PDS!

It's All About Perspective

One point perspective that is! Check out these "works in progress" by our Fifth graders. Soon we'll post pictures of some of the finished drawings.

You Gotta Have HEART!

As February brings to mind Valentine's Day, it also brings visions of HEARTS! But this year at PDS Coach Cox is putting a different spin on things by partnering with the American Heart Association as we focus on keeping our real hearts healthy through exercise. During the next couple of weeks, PDS students will be participating in Jump Rope for Heart activities during PE. So what does that have to do with ART? Plenty...as every K4 through 6th grader has been painting/decorating hearts to help make the event more festive! Even Coach Cox joined in the art room fun!

Computer Copycats

In Computer lab, K4 through 1st grade have been working hard to master basic mouse skills. This week they followed oral directions to draw a cat, rocket and sailboat. They used a dropdown menu to change paint colors, varied the size/shape of their drawing tools, and used their imaginations along the way!

Fantastic Flowers......Georgia O'Keefe Style!

The beautiful artwork of Georgia O'Keefe provided the perfect inspiration for our Third through Sixth graders' watercolored flowers. Check out some of their work below!

Shake, Rattle, and Roll.....Painting like Jackson Pollock



Tempera + Marbles + Cardboard Boxes = Painting Fun!

Jackson Pollock's drip paintings emit a sense of energy, motion, and controlled chaos ...EXACTLY what you would have seen if you'd joined the 4K classes in the art room this week! The children rolled marbles in tempera paint, then put several marbles into a shallow cardboard box along with art paper. We put a top on the box so the children could shake, rattle, and roll the paint covered marbles to their hearts content. I wish you could have heard the "oohs" and "wows" as they opened the boxes to unveil their masterpieces!

Testing, Testing, 1,2,3 ....Take Two!

The Computer Lab has seen a flurry of activity since we've begun the new semester! Grades 1 - 6 have been taking their mid-year Star Math tests to monitor their progress. We will test one last time near the end of school. First semester the K4 and K5 students spent a lot of their computer time freely exploring computer/mouse basics by using Kidpix. This semester they are practicing those basic manipulative skills thru more teacher directed Kidpix lessons. This week they thought they were learning to draw a car.....they were really practicing using a drop down menu to change font color, listening to and following sequential oral directions, and reviewing the names of geometric shapes. Watch out, Detroit, PDS has some awesome car designers in the making!