Art Education

 It has been delightful to see everyone back in the art room once again along with some new faces! 

I am excited to begin our new art programming for this year. This year will look a little bit different than in previous years. Classroom teachers will be attending art period along with their class, allowing us to better achieve a cross curricular art experience. 

To aid with this, instead of focusing on a specific art element or principle like I have in past years, the first unit in art this year will focus “Cultural Art”. Each grade group will be exploring art from various cultures and traditions. This will in turn connect to the learning happening in science, social studies, math or ELA curriculums being taught in the classroom. 

The Gr. 1/2 class will be exploring their personal cultural identities starting with self-portraits. We will learn how to draw each of the different features of the face before applying those skills to a self-portrait. The Gr. 2/3’s are going to be taking a look at the Metis culture as they explore the impact of beading on art as it informed the Metis dot art movement. The Grade 3/4’s will be studying structures this year and to tie it into cultural art they will be examining and replicating bridges from around the world. The Grade 4/5’s are taking a “note” from Paraguayan culture as they make “junkyard” instruments out of predominantly recycled materials. Finally, the Grade 5/6 students. Room’s 16 and 18 are taking a closer look at the various indigenous cultures of Canada and will be making a habitat diorama in small groups. Room 13 is taking a slightly different start by tying in their math unit on angles into the European cubist movement with some stained glass mosaic art. 

I hope you are excited for the new art year, I sure am! I look forward to watching everyone learn and grow as we explore art from a wide variety of cultures together!