In Art Tech class, 6th graders have been drawing plant and animal cells and labelling photos of their drawings with the Sketchbook app on their iPads. This work combines scientific illustration with graphic design in a STREAM project which reinforces middle school science content. STREAM refers to an approach to teaching involving science, technology, religion, engineering, art, and math. This cell project directly addresses science, technology, and art. Our religious faith is part of all that we do at Saint Peter, so it is part of every project and class, even when a specific lesson does not directly include religion course content.
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Seventh grade art students are currently working on a project related to the San Damiano Cross. This original iconic crucifix painting was created by an unknown artist, possibly a Syrian monk, in Umbria, Italy in the early 1100's. Saint Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) is said to have been praying before the large wooden cross where it was hanging in an abandoned chapel which had fallen into ruin near Assisi, Italy. While praying, he heard the voice of God commanding him to "rebuild my church". (Sources: franciscanmissionservice.org and monasteryicons.com)
The students' drawings of Jesus on the shape of the San Damiano cross (shown here) are the first stage of a long-term art project. The next step will be to draw people, things, and places that they are thankful for in the space of the cross surrounding Jesus. Students will color their drawings and then cut away the paper outside the shape of the cross. Each student will glue their colored crucifix image to a piece of 9 x12-inch black paper. Pieces of colored card stock will be glued to the black paper in a way that simulates a stained glass window. Thin areas of the black paper will be left between the pieces of colored paper. Thus, the final images will be of each student's personalized version of the cross surrounded by a stained glass window. Mr. Bell's 8th grade Art Tech classes are currently creating cat masks that they will be using in video and drama work in Mrs. Wright's Fine Arts classes. The 8B class photo, which was taken during the second week of school, shows the paper base structure of the head. The 8H photo, taken during the third week, shows the masks with noses. Students are in the process of sculpting the surface contours of the faces with white paper towel and tape. Soon, a colorful skin of paper mache, paint, and glitter glue will be added. Whiskers can be created using various possible materials. When the masks are nearly complete, students will create headbands so they can wear their creations as they sing and speak. These masks will serve as catalysts for some exciting video and dramatic productions.
Last May, Kindergarten art students made colorful popsicle stick boxes. To make their boxes, kindergarteners glued and stacked alternating pairs of colored popsicle sticks. The floor of each box is a flat grouping of sticks that are glued to one end of the stack. Also, Mrs. Baker, the KB assistant teacher, enjoyed making her own box along with the students. She appears in the KB class photo.
Toward the end of the Spring 2022 semester, 4th graders worked with Sketch Up for Schools Computer-Aided Design (CAD) software on their Chromebooks to create sailboats in an environment.
The videos titled "5 Green origami birds" and "5 Blue origami birds" show our fifth graders flapping the wings of their origami creations and practicing their bird calls. It started to rain at the moment we began shooting the 5 Blue video. The students and their birds bravely continued flapping and tweeting. However, after the bird bath, the origami projects were a bit soggy. This week's images from the art classes provide a variety of student artworks. Paintings, drawings, computer-aided design models, and pillow sculptures are featured. Kindergarten art students have recently made paper flower collage drawings and paper hats. The paper flowers were made by folding and cutting colored paper squares, and then gluing a small piece of paper behind a hole in the center of each flower. Students glued their flowers to a sheet of paper and drew a springtime landscape. To make their funny paper hats, kindergarteners were provided with 2-inch wide strips of cardstock which they taped together according to instructions. Students relied on their classmates to help them fit the headbands to their heads, which is the first step in the project. Perpendicular arcs of paper completed the base form and provided a structure upon which cones (spikes), cylinders (cannons), and curled paper strips (curly-whirlies) could be taped. Students employed structural reasoning to design and assemble the geometric forms that comprised their hats. Also, Mrs. Baker, the KB assistant teacher, enjoyed making her own paper hat along with the students. She appears in the KB class photo. The 6W art class is shown below in the video, 6W Robot Exam 2022, running robots that they built and programmed. Working in groups of 3 or 4, students built their EV3 Lego robots according to specifications. They programmed their robots with the EV3 Classroom iPad app to use color sensors to drive along the edges of black lines. Each team had to develop unique code to accomplish the goal, because each team's track design was different. The challenge was to program the robots to follow a line to each of 3 target objects, pick up each object, throw it into a "catcher box" with a forked lifter arm, and return to the base area. As you can see in the video, all eight teams achieved success. Excellent work, 6W! This week's student art features portrait head drawings and still life painting by eighth graders, sixth and seventh grade pillow sculptures, and seventh grade Tinkercad and colored pencil drawings. To create their head drawings, students gridded photos with the Sketchbook app on their iPads. They made corresponding grids on sheets of card stock. Students observed the visual information in each block of their photos and recorded their observations in the corresponding squares on their paper grids.
Fifth grade art students have been creating virtual 3D models with Sketch Up for Schools computer-aided design (CAD) software on their Chromebooks. These photos show students' airplane design projects. As with all of the CAD projects that we do at Saint Peter, students built their complex structures by creating, manipulating, and combining basic shapes. The photo of Lucas Mora's jet construction steps shows how he executed sections of his aircraft, which he combined to complete his jet. Although students were taught the same general construction method, each student's jet was visibly different. Steps included the wing set, the fuselage, and the landing gear. After creating and coloring the jets, students were able to duplicate and rotate their aircraft, and create other structures for their compositions.
This work helps our students develop structural reasoning capabilities. It also affords students the opportunity to work creatively in a medium that is similar to what architects and engineers use for planning structures that will be built. |
Mr. John Bell, Art TeacherMr. Bell focuses on an interdisciplinary approach to teaching and presented STREAM (Science, Religion, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) workshops at the Diocesan Teacher Conference, as well as multiple workshops throughout his years in the Diocese. Archives
July 2024
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