6th Grade Baltimore Field Trip

On Friday, the sixth grade got to take a closer look at their very own city of Baltimore. This exciting day gave them a head start on thinking about their seventh grade History research project about Baltimore City. The day will began with an "urban ranger" guided walking tour through the Baltimore National Heritage Area, which is designed to highlight landmarks that students probably pass quite regularly in the city, but might not know much about (such as the Civil War Museum, shot tower, and Battle Monument). Students then traveled to the “Top of the World,” the observation level of the World Trade Center, to see the city from a bird’s eye view. Then, after a picnic lunch, we got a behind the scenes tour of Oriole Park at Camden Yards, including the press box, suites, and even the O’s dugout! Check out these photos of our amazing day:

At the base of the War Memorial, honoring the militia in the war of 1812

Outside of City Hall

The Shot Tower

Inside the residence of Balitmore's second mayor, Thorogood Smith

Checking out the artifacts in the Metro station (discovered upon digging to create the Metro line)

The 

Outside of the Flag Museum

Checking out Baltimore from above at the Top of the World, World Trade Center

At Camden Yards

In the O's dugout!

Chaperones having fun too

Umpires' hallway

In the Press Box

 What a cool city we live in!

Summer ART CAMPS

This summer I am excited to offer two weeks of Art Camp for students of both divisions. See details below... Both camps are about half full at this point, so hurry and sign up soon before it's too late- Click here to register!

MIDDLE SCHOOL ART CAMP
Who: Boys and girls ages 10-14
When: June 10-14, 2013 9:00am-3:00pm
Where: Middle School Art Room
What: Campers will spend the week creating a unique and whimsical painted chair! From the first steps of sanding and priming to adding colorful painted designs and even mosaic, each piece will truly be a unique work of functional art. (Each camper must supply their own wooden chair or other small furniture piece). Snack and lunch provided daily. Camp T-shirt included

LOWER SCHOOL ART CAMP
Who: Boys and girls ages 7-10
When: June 17-21, 2013 9:00am-3:00pm
Where: Middle School Art Room
What: Campers will have the opportunity to create a variety of fun and exciting two and three-dimensional art projects using collage materials, paint, ceramics and glaze, printing ink and more!  Snack and lunch provided daily. Camp T-shirt included

Spring Fine Arts' Night

Last night we had our Spring Fine Arts' Night during which we celebrated all of the amazing things going on in our middle school fine arts' classrooms over the course of the second semester. The evening featured performances by the 7^th and 8^th grade bands (music class), 8^th grade dance class, 5^th and 7^th grade drama classes, and presentations by the 7^th grade Digital Publications and 6^th grade Photoshop classes. Additionally, there was a slideshow of artwork from 5-8^th grade Studio Art, 6^th grade Photoshop and Art History, and 7^th grade Digital Publications. It was such a fun, energetic and creative night! Unfortunately I forgot my camera, but I was able to get these few pictures from a parent- they are of the 8th grade music class and 5th grade drama class... 

Dinner's On!

My second semester 8th graders recently completed glazing their ceramic food pieces and the 'dinner party' is on display in the lower lobby of the Middle School. I challenged them to create their favorite meal or food (plates included), and this time, many of them really stepped up and even did all sorts of additional pieces to accompany their dishes. Is your mouth watering like mine is?!

Here are a few snapshots of the students in the construction and glazing process:

Van Gogh-inspired Sunflowers

In this project, sixth grade artists were inspired by one of Vincent Van Gogh’s most famous subjects- sunflowers! In the first flower study, after drawing the flowers from observation, students used graphite and charcoal pencils to create Van Gogh’s signature marks of dashes, hatched lines, dots, etc. The second study was completed in oil pastel and incorporated line, color, distortion, exaggeration and direction in the mark making.