artspeak
Art, Music, & Spanish - Fort Thomas Independent Schools
4th EDITION - February 2015
Happy (Chilly) New Year!
This edition of Artspeak is filled with information about our classroom programming and how our students are receiving an incredible variety of rich arts and cultural experiences in our elementary schools. Enjoy this collection of creative moments! Visit our new website for even more!
SPANISH / Español
We live in a colorful world!
In Kindergarten, we are practicing colors so that we can soon describe objects in a sentence. In this video using Educreations, we used iPads to take pictures of items that were certain colors and recorded us saying that particular color. They have done a great job of using color words in Spanish!
Julie Dashley
K-2 Spanish Educator FTIS
Days of the Week
In the 3rd Grade, we continue to work on saying the date and time. We have added saying the Days of the Week. Ariana and Carson tell us the day of the week in the video below. Then, if you want to practice, you can repeat after me! By the end of the year we will be able to answer 5 daily questions: What is the date? What is the time? What is the day of the week? What is the weather? How do you feel? In the 4th and 5th grade, students continue to use these questions at the beginning of class, so they should know the answers to these as well. Keep up the good work, 3rd Grade!
Silvia McClamrock
3-5 Spanish Educator FTIS
ART / Arte
Why is my child bringing THIS home from art class?
By now you should see different student creations coming home from the art class. As a parent, you may be wondering…What is this??
The students have been busy in art planning, creating, reflecting (writing), and sharing (presenting). Part of the creative process is to PLAY and EXPLORE different materials and ideas. The students have been exploring drawing materials, paint, paper and collage supplies, building with recycled objects and now printing with ink.
There are 4 different types of Studio work happening in the art room: Skill Building, Exploration and Practice, WOW pieces, and take home projects. Check out my webpage to find out more!
The projects that are part of exploration, practice and play go home at the end of the day. Projects that the students invest their own ideas, time and talents stay in the art room in our WOW gallery or in our WOW art collection and will come home at the end of the year. You can see many of the WOW pieces on our school online Artsonia galleries.
Johnson's Gallery Moyer's Gallery Woodfill's Gallery
So if you've been wondering…what is this??? Hopefully this will help you understand that there is a scribble stage for every process whether it's in the art classroom or learning how to dribble a basketball down the court. You have to start somewhere. The kids are engaged, and excited to play and explore in the art room. When you see something "interesting" coming home from the art room, take the time to ask what they were thinking when they created it. The artwork they create this year is going to be unlike any year in my art room…for the art created in my classroom are student ideas, not teacher copies, and they surprise, inspire and amaze me every day!
Nikki Everett
K-2 Visual Art Educator FTIS
These 1st graders are creating at various stages in the artistic process. Part of this experience involves collaborating, sharing and helping your friends. Two of 1st graders are shown working together to write their artist statement to complete their artwork.
Kids' Art Museum
Don't forget to visit our ever-expanding online exhibits!
Art Exchange with Dunya School in Baku, Azerbaijan
Looking at our big idea of communication, we recognize something amazing - no matter a country's language, art can still be enjoyed and appreciated. Art communicates interests and ideas without a word being spoken!
We have the privilege of exhibiting a collection of 3rd - 6th grade artworks from the Dunya School of Khazar University, in Baku, Azerbaijan. These artworks will be on display for a limited time at Woodfill Elementary, as a part of an art exchange. Pictured above you see 5th grade WES students holding these images. Visit our website for more pictures of our students investigating and enjoying these artworks.
In addition to temporarily housing Dunya School artwork, nearly 40 digital prints of our own Fort Thomas student artworks are currently on exhibition in Azerbaijan! We were excited to receive pictures - see below!
Congratulations to the following students-
your artwork has travelled across the globe!
Madeline Buecker, Nora Ellsworth, Madeline Hornsby, Anne Exterkamp, Roland Long, Bryce Seither, KJ Toole, Evia Combs, Jack Schneider, Aiden Nevels, Olivia Hahn, James Beasey, Griffin Queen, Rachel Fessler, Lacy Mask, Reece Dunbar, Jillian Kendall, Callum McAtee, Hailey Barton, Samuel Jones, Brady Giberson, Thaddeus Sieverding, Madison Opitz, Chloe Bramble, Lela Grillot, Evan Jones, Brynn Draper, Jasper Daniels, Peyton Walker, Austin Hall, Sophia Veshapidze, Julia Hodory, Tanner Reed, Cole Johnson, Macy Hedenberg, Dakota Anderson, Carly Dickman, and Parker Cleveland
Jennifer Flynn
3-5 Visual Art Educator FTIS
MUSIC / Música
Rhythm and Rhyme
From January until spring break the students in second grade music will be exploring music elements using various children’s rhythms and folk songs. We will be analyzing the rhymes to discover what time period they were written, what is the meaning of the words and what the musical notation would look like before we see the music in written form. Then we will play the layered accompaniments on xylophones and glockenspiels. Some of the rhythms/songs we are exploring are “Bye, Baby Bunting” and “Wee Willie Winkie.”
Mary Scaggs
K-2 Music Educator FTIS
All State Chorus 2015
Congratulations to these amazing singers!
West African Music
This month, in fourth grade, students are learning about West African Music and the influences it had on American music. We are also learning about characteristics of West African Music found in spirituals sung during the time of slavery. Our focus is on syncopation, call and response, and communication through song. Here are some fourth graders passing around the Djembe (drum), Double bell, and Thumb Piano.
David Rockel
3-5 Music Educator FTIS
Parent Volunteers
Art room donations!
Thank you for your help in keeping our art studio stocked!
- Sharpened pencils with erasers
- Gluesticks
- Paper towel rolls
- Hand sanitizer