Kindergarten Castle Prints (Welsh)

Children in Kindergarten are creating castles. We began by creating castles using paper and combining simple shapes to create castles. We spoke about what are some castle characteristics and listed each item visually. Children then drew their castle on scratch foam to create their stamp or 'printing plate'. From their stamps they created various 'prints'. One sample of the prints from each child is below.....

Cherry Blossom Festival's Youth Art Constest (Prek-5th)

These are the entries for this year's Cherry Blossom Festival’s Youth Poster Art Contest. Olivia R., Emily Y., Knoll A., Cal W., Sam W., Luke C., Daphne A., Aya S., Anna W., Marlow V-M.

I would have loved to send more but was capped off at 10 entries.

From Wikipedia:

Japan gave 3,020 cherry blossom trees as a gift to the United States in 1912 to celebrate the nations' then-growing friendship, replacing an earlier gift of 2000 trees which had to be destroyed due to disease in 1910. These trees were planted in Sakura Park in Manhattan and famously line the shore of the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C. (see West Potomac Park). The gift was renewed with another 3,800 trees in 1965.^[26][27] The cherry blossom trees continue to be a popular tourist attraction (and the subject of the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival) when they reach full bloom in early spring. Also, Balboa Park of San Diego has 2,000 cherry blossom trees that blossom in mid to late March. InLos Angeles, over 2,000 trees are located at Lake Balboa in Van Nuys. These trees were donated by an anonymous Japanese benefactor and were planted in 1992. They originated from a single parent tree and were developed to grow in warm climates.^[28] Philadelphia is also home to over 2000 flowering Japanese cherry trees, half of which were a gift from the Japanese government in 1926 in honor of the 150th anniversary of American independence, with the other half planted by the Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia between 1998 and 2007. Philadelphia's cherry blossoms are located within Fairmount Park, and the annual Subaru Cherry Blossom Festival of Greater Philadelphiacelebrates the blooming trees. The University of Washington in Seattle also has cherry blossoms in its Quad.

Cherry blossoms in Newark, New Jersey

Other US cities have an annual Cherry Blossom Festival (or Sakura Matsuri), including the International Cherry Blossom Festival in Macon, Georgia, which features over 300,000 cherry trees. Belleville, Bloomfield, and Newark, New Jersey celebrate the annual Branch Brook Park Cherry Blossom Festival in April, which attracts thousands of visitors from the local area, Japan, and India. As of April 2009, Branch Brook Park has a cherry tree collection with over 4,000 cherry blossoms in more than fourteen different varieties.^[29] Branch Brook Park will soon have more flowering cherry trees than Washington, D.C., thanks to an ongoing replanting program. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden in New York City also has a large, well-attended festival.^[30] Portsmouth, New Hampshire, is the site of the peace conference that produced the Treaty of Portsmouth, for which the original Washington, DC cherry trees were given in thanks. Several cherry trees planted on the bank of the tidal pond next to Portsmouth City Hall were the gift of Portsmouth's Japanese sister city of Nichinan—the hometown of Marquis Komura Jutarō, Japan's representative at the conference.^[31]

First Day of Storytelling Class

The first day of storytelling class was wonderful. Kids got a chance to get to know each other's names after snack with a quick movement activity. Ms. Cutelis told a lively story of the 3 little pigs. For the activity, children got to paint the giant box masks and red bricks we will be using in the next few weeks as props and to play out the parts.

If you have questions about the fee for the class, or pickup please click here. A reminder to all parents, if class fee is not paid in full by March 4th the space goes to a child on the waiting list by week 3, so please do not forget to send in the 30$ snack and supplies fee for the 10-week class.

Storytelling class-Details

I have had several parents email me with questions about the after school storytelling class, here is some more detail.

* I will be picking up all kids from their classes at 3:15-3:25pm

* Children will be offered healthy snacks to eat before the class begins. Kids are welcome to bring their own snacks, as long as no peanuts are brought to the art room.
* Children will be expected to pay a fee of $30/per child for the whole class in the form of cash or check (Miriam Cutelis). You may also have the option of dropping off the check at pick up time or placing it in my box in the office. If the class has not been paid in full by March 4th your space will be given to a child on our waiting list for the following week.
* Xday kids will be picked up by xday as they were in the last session, at 4:30 from the main building steps by Ms. Kelly.
* Ms. Cutelis will wait for parents until 4:40pm and whoever is leftover will be taken back to the art room as I clean up the room and get ready to go home. If late, you must text me at 516-225-3403 and come up to the art room to pick up your child.
* If someone else beside you is picking up your child please email me/text me with this information before pickup.
* The dates for the class are:

n1. Feb 25

n2. march 4th

n3. march 11th

n4. april 1st

n5. april 8

n6. april 29

n7. may 6

n8. may 13

n9 may 20

n10 may 27

Painting our Louise Nevelson TALL, TALL Sculptures

These sculptures above were our inspiration.

Here is Louise Nevelson. The kids learned that she used to collect trash wood pieces and discussed the concept of "trash to treasure".

5" Bodies in Movement Figurines (4th Grade)

Children in 4th Grade have been studying depicting the body in movement, first through drawing and here in 3D. I love the way each one of this has their own personality.

a split...
boxing...
Dancing...
A zombie walking after you.....yikes...
Check out that kick.....


Yoga anyone?




Can you do this?
Ms. Cutelis can do this one at home......not!

This little guy looks very sad.
"I'll race yah!"

Ta, da!!

Thank you HSA

Thanks to HSA funds I have now outfitted the classroom with a whole new artist series on 36 artists. These are soft-cover books about artists that are geared to children. Thank you Murch HSA!!