Valley Metro Contest Winners Assembly

Valley Metro came to Simis this week and presented our 3 bus contest winners with their prizes.  Their work is featured for a month in a calendar that is distributed throughout Maricopa County.  Over 300 students entered from schools throughout the valley, so it was quite an accomplishment to be selected.  They received their artwork framed, a certificate, and a prize package that included a set of art supplies.  It was great to see our deserving 3rd graders recognized, and thank you to Valley Metro.  You can see the calendar at:
Valley Metro Bus Contest

"I.B. Postcard Exchange" 4th Grade

Simis is on its way to becoming an International Baccalaureate school, and our 4th graders had a chance to see what an I.B. art project might look like.  We exchanged 35 regional postcards with Jefferson Lighthouse Elementary 4th graders in Racine, Wisconsin.  They are already an I.B. school, and we compared the process they used to create their postcards with ours.  Simis students learned about spacing, foreground, middleground, background and a shading technique called modeling.  They all used india ink to outline their drawings and colored pencils to show light, medium and dark values.  The students picked 5 from each class as representatives to send.  The students from Jefferson Lighthouse researched and wrote a report about an artist of their choice in their homeroom.  They created a postcard showing a Wisconsin scene in the style of their artist in the medium of their choice.  Our 4th graders compared their more open ended approach and how it contrasted with how we made our postcards.  Here are some examples:

SIMIS ELEMENTARY

JEFFERSON LIGHTHOUSE

What We Are Working On

1st Grade- Students are drawing a food that has details.  They are creating two additional items to go with their food (Plate, drink, fork, etc.).  They are using their food and items to create a repeating pattern on the edge of their paper.  The border creates a frame for their composition.  They are using marker to add color to their piece.  The work is in the style of the artist Wayne Thiebaud, who used repetition and often painted desserts.
2nd Grade- Students are learning to draw instruments and figures.  They have to pick at least 4 instruments and have a person playing them to create a band.  They are working on creating realistic shapes and details.  They learn to outline their drawings using thick lines for bold shapes, and thin lines for the details.  They add color using four shading techniques.  They fill the shapes with hatching (diagonal lines), cross-hatching (diagonal lines going both ways), scumbling (circles), and dotting (pointillism).  They use a wide view, or panorama, to show all of their band members on their final.
3rd Grade-  Students are beginning their hybrid animal project.  They are planning and designing a new species using the features of two different animals.  The animals cannot be from the same class (ex. both mammals).  They decide what features of each animal to use and create a drawing of what they want their animal to look like.  The second part of their plan is where they show how they will create 3-dimensional forms out of each part of the animal.  Each 2-dimensional shape (like a leg) will be made by either twisting, crumpling or folding newspaper.  The forms are taped and connected to create an armature, a basic 3-dimensional structure that will be the foundation of their sculpture.
4th Grade-  Students are designing buildings like an architect.  They plan for the shape, windows and color choices.  They each receive a foam rectangular prism that they will create a model out of.  They have the option of carving into the block to alter its form, or keep it as is.  They paint each surface of their model using tempera paint in preparation for drawing their windows and adding their additional colors.