Abstract Art

Earlier on this year, Room 24 viewed the awesome artwork of the students in Huzzah, a class in British Colombia.  They entitled their work "Eye Candy" - and we thought it looked pretty scrumptious.  Three weeks later, we saw some more artwork that was almost identical to Huzzah's Eye Candy.  This time it was called "Blob Art" and it was the stunning work of the students in Room 6 @ Halcombe School, New Zealand.  

We'd thought about doing some pieces of our own after seeing Huzzah's masterpieces but after seeing the powerful finished products of Room 6 we decided it was time to stop thinking and start doing.  With two classes artwork in front of us, we had the privilege of being able to spend some time examining and analysing what was before us.  

We highlighted what different techniques both classes used to make their art effective before reaching a consensus as to what we were going to incorporate into our compositions.  What an opportunity it was to exercise our Habits of Mind and higher order thinking skills!  We decided on the name "Abstract Art" for our creations because while we were viewing the other classes' work many of us commented how we could see different things in the various pieces.

We'd like to thank both Huzzah and Room 6 for their inspiration.

What does our Abstract Art remind you of?

What is an art project that you've completed recently that you're proud of?

Do you have a favourite artist or favourite style of art?

Guest Post by Ashleigh - Friday Enrichment Progammes

Friday enrichment programmes are a great way to do something that you love, out of class. At the beginning of Term One we got a list of all the Friday programmes which included Culinary Arts, Extension Art, Performers group, Funky garden art, Take 2 – (learning digital ICT skills), Media team – (creating the school magazine), Sewing, Kapa Haka, and Enviro Leaders.

Then you had to write an application explaining why you think you would be a good student to have in the programme you want to be a part of. If you wanted to you could get a letter of recommendation from your parents and teacher. In some activities there were stages that you had to get shortlisted for. For Culinary Arts you had to cook or bake something. For Extension Art you had to sketch a scene from Aladdin (which is our school production coming up this year). Fortunately I made it in to Culinary Arts which is really exciting for me. We get to cater for meetings, make home-made pasta, bake macaroons and participate in lots of other activities.

I think having Friday enrichment programmes is an awesome idea as you can try something different and learn new skills.

Does your school have any extra activities for the students to participate in?

If so what are they?

Credible Characters & Puppets with Personality

Just over two weeks ago, we watched a video tutorial by the puppet genius, Jim Henson, about how to make puppets from regular household items.  Room 24 were inspired at how he brought the puppets to life - treating them as real characters with their own personalities and mannerisms.  


As our main writing focus this term has been narratives, we decided to create puppets for our lead characters.  


The requirements for our puppets were that they would be made from readily available items and that they would be a true representation of our main character.  They needed to show the visual qualities of our characters and, in some way, demonstrate behaviour that our characters would typically display.


We LOVE writing with our puppets close by as they are a source of inspiration and creativity.


Stop by in the next two weeks to read excerpts from our writing and to see some guest appearances by our characters/puppets.

Can you recall your most favourite character that you've ever created and written about?

Have you made a puppet before?  What was he/she made of?  

Or, if you were to make one, how would you create him/her?

World Read Aloud Day

Yesterday our class celebrated .  To do this, most of us bought books from home.  The books we bought in were "old favourites" - the ones we've read over and over.  We also bought our favourite novels and shared either an excerpt or gave an overview of the plot.  We talked about how family memories of reading books also makes them special.

We now all have several books that we're wanting to read.  Books become even more exciting when we see how much enjoyment others have got from them.  

Miss McLeod read the Mudmen chapter from Andy Griffith's book, Just Crazy.  It was hilarious with lots of crack-up moments - the reader had to work hard to read on past her laughter at times.

We then got into pairs and started rehearsing poems to read to the class.  Our task is to read/recite the poem expressively and with 'drama' in our voices.  Stay tuned ... we may post a video or two of this.

What are your favourite books and why do you like them?

Do you have any special 'book' or 'reading' memories?