Month: February 2012

The “Value” of Art

For our Art programme this year we have been studying the elements of art.  We are currently exploring ‘value’.  Students have learned that value refers to the varying degrees of ‘lightness’ and/or ‘darkness’ an object possesses.  We began by choosing coloured construction paper and using a piece of white chalk and a black wax crayon to experiment with differing pressures to show the different values on the paper.

Students then used a piece of white paper and a black wax crayon to create a picture of their choice.  The criteria was that they needed to show different levels of value – some parts of their pictures were lighter or darker than other parts.  This resulted in a quite dramatic effect in their work.

Hopefully you will get a change to come by and check out the two bulletin boards outside of our classroom.  They create quite a contrast between the colourful Monets and the monochromatic ‘black and white’ pictures.

Claude Monet – The Japanese Footbridge

Last week we took a close look at some of the paintings by a wonderful French Impressionist painter – Claude Monet.  We saw photos of his actual garden in France (which has been maintained as a heritage site) and then we looked at a number of paintings that he did of that garden.  Monet painted many pictures of the same scene at different times of the day to show how the light altered the look of the different paintings.  Monet had a fondness for his pond with its water lillies – and, of course, his footbridge.

Students began with a simple pencil sketch of the bridge which they then went over with a thick layer of blue oil pastel.  Using various colours of green oil pastels they then added a collection of trees, bushes, and shrubs on the sides of the ‘pond’ area and behind the bridge.  They needed to colour the ones behind the bridge in between the bridge supports and not colour on top of the blue bridge.  The last part that students used the oil pastels for was the addition of green lily pads with coloured lillies attached.  Students were encouraged to add one white lily even though this was hard to see on the white paper.

The next day students did a paint ‘wash’ over the entire picture using either a light or dark blue paint disc.  Students noticed that the paint coloured in between the oil pastels and did not stick well to the pastels.  The overall effect is quite stunning – don’t you agree?

Pink Shirt Day

PinkShirtDay.ca

This Wednesday (February 29th) Rosser is participating in this national anti-bullying day.  This campaign began in response to a situation in Nova Scotia a few years ago (2007) when a boy was bullied by some students who targeted him because he was wearing pink.  Two other boys got several other students involved and they all wore pink shirts to school to stand up to the bullies.

The pink shirts that were ordered through the school were sent home with students today.  Don’t forget to wear them (or another pink shirt) on Wednesday to show that bullying is not acceptable.

Science World Field Trip

A letter will be coming home on Monday, February 27th about a field trip that we will be taking on Tuesday, March 6th to Science World.  This trip will be via school bus and will include Divisions 5 and 7.

Divisions 6 and 7 will be focussing on the dinosaur theme that we have been studying.  We will be doing a dinosaur workshop, viewing the dinosaur Omnimax movie, and spending our time in the dinosaur exhibit currently on display at Science World.  Division 5 will be doing their own study focus during this field trip.

There will be the opportunity for one parent only per class to come with us on this trip due to limited space on the bus and the costs of admittance to Science World.  Please complete and return the letter by the due date noted on the letter.

We are all looking forward to a fun and interesting trip!

iPad Raffle

The PAC is raffling off a brand new iPad!!  There will be only 2000 tickets available at $2.00 each.  There is a letter coming home tomorrow that explains this in full.  You may fill out the form and return it to school to have the office complete your tickets for you, OR you may buy your tickets at the office from Mrs. Lopez.

The money raised from this raffle will be used to support our Fine Arts programmes.  We will be purchasing items needed for our Dance and Drama Clubs, as well as some Visual Arts, Choir, and Band items.

Thank you for your support!

 

Brick by Brick Fundraiser

On Monday, February 27th the Me to We club will be setting up an obstacle course in the gym.  Students are invited to come and have fun trying out this course.  As this is a fundraiser for the Brick by Brick Foundation, students are asked to bring a monetary donation – a minimum of $1.00 is needed for admittance.

The Brick by Brick Foundation uses donated monies for the building of schools overseas in countries that don’t have the funds to provide adequate buildings for use as schools for children.

Our class will have this opportunity on Monday at a time between 9:00 and 10:30.

Jump Rope is on Friday!!

We are looking forward to a fun event this Friday afternoon!  We will be doing our jump event with our buddies in Division 3.

Please send in your completed donation forms for the Heart and Stroke Foundation.  The deadline is next Wednesday, February 22nd.  If you have chosen the on-line option please indicate this by writing this on the donation form and returning it to school.

The red hearts that were sent home need to be completed and returned by this Friday.

Thank you.

100’s Day Activities

Wow – what a day today!  We loved changing our calendar straws to 100!  We then began a full and eventful day of hundreds of things!  We made:

– Fruit Loop necklaces with ten colour groups of ten pieces of cereal each

– headbands with 20 stickers in colour and shape patterns, counting by 5’s to 100.  We also did tally marks on the ‘crown’ with 20 groups of 5 tally sets.

We also:

– divided our 100 little snacks into bowls to share with our friends.  We enjoyed these while watching 101 Dalmatians with the kindergardeners this afternoon.

We worked on several activities in our 100’s Day booklet and some students worked on completing their 100’s Day poster.

We took a group photo wearing our vests.  These vests are now on the bulletin board in the hallway.  The collections look great – hopefully you can come by and see them.

Valentine’s Day Fun!

We had a really fun day today!  When students arrived they delivered their valentines to their friends.  Some were a little large for our heart holders!

For Math today we did some addition questions with missing addends as a reminder of how to solve problems with different unknown numbers.  Students then got to work on some Valentine puzzles and word searches.

This afternoon (after our library visit) we wrote a poem following the format of a story that we read yesterday – How Much Do You Love Me?  We worked through a process of brainstorming things that our family members love a lot.  The students then put these together in the framework of our poem.  For example,

I love you as much as DAD loves TO WATCH FOOTBALL ON SUNDAYS ON THE COUCH.

They wrote about 3 different family members and then for the finale they had to decide HOW LONG they would love them – i.e.

I’ll love you until DINOSAURS RULE THE EARTH AGAIN.  That’s how much I love you.

Once they completed their frames they wrote these poems out on heart-shaped papers, cut them out, and glued them to pink construction paper.  These are now posted on a bulletin board outside of our classroom.  Come by and check them out – they are quite well done!

Students had a choice between a Valentine’s activitiy (card making) or Centres for the end-of-day period.  At this time students got to enjoy the snacks sent in – and the treats from their Valentine’s holders.  A huge thank you to all those who sent in goodies for us to eat today!  We have some leftovers which will be enjoyed tomorrow.

REMINDER to send in the 100’s Day vests and small treats for our 100’s celebration tomorrow.