Academics/Enrichment
"As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." 1 Peter 4:10
First Grade
Students are excited with new weekly projects that help develop their fine hand motor skills.
They learn basic elements of art: line, color and shape that are also reinforced: creating alphabet animals, geometric shape pictures, personal paper puppets, paper bag houses as well original Halloween masks and funny Mardi Gras masks.
Projects may be coordinate with some or our library books:
- use of patterns and color Chameleon Colors (Tashir Etas)
- making a collage picture Penguin Moon (Annie Mitra)
- develop drawing skills The Lonely Scarecrow (Tim Preston)
Students learn to create texture with colorful tissue paper fall leaves, lovely spring blossoms and added beans to vegetable garden drawings. At Thanksgiving the students create their own food sculpture. St. Anne Art Students also lovingly create a sweet Mother's Day watercolor garden painting.
Second Grade
Second grade begins the year with fireworks (made with oil pastels and blue watercolor paint that is!). Their skills improve while weaving orange and black Halloween placemats. They appreciate the culture of the Native American Hopi Indians by making imitation Kachina Dolls and necklaces. Students are introduced to perspective by drawing and coloring pictures at a distance ("Big and Little"). They love creating corked printed green Christmas trees decorated in shiny glitter. They learn to work of famous artists, Impressionist Edgar Degas and imitate his beautiful ballerinas. They learn about artist Mary Cassett and her pictures of children and families. They try their hand at drawing a picture of their own family. Students learn to make mobile and mosaics in the shape of February Valentines and March shamrocks. Some lessons incorporate stories from library books to provide stimulating colorful topics such as "Last Night I Dreamed a Circus" with memorable clowns. Students imitate Pablo Picasso's "Hands with Bouquet" in a challenging watercolor Mother's Day painting.
Third Grade
Our third graders always love their imitation Guatemalan Worry Dolls made of yarn and pipe cleaners and promise to keep them forever. They make shiny ceramic pinch pots. They blend colors with chalk pastels in a scary Halloween drawing based on the poem "The Night the Pumpkins Glowed." At Christmas their colorful and glittery Christmas tree collages decorate the halls. In January the library book, I Can Draw Polar Animals, provide a challenging drawing lesson followed by a favorite lesson on movement and texture called "Penguins on Parade." They learn to mix and create paint colors on the color wheel and are introduced to many artists. They imitate Mexican artist, Frieda Kahlo and try their hand at a self-portrait. They create a modern Mona Lisa while learning about Leonardo da Vinci. They paint a beautiful still life in the style of French artist Henri Matisse. Third graders also improve their drawing skills with their representation of the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor.
Fourth Grade
Fourth graders begin their year by using oil pastels in drawings to illustrate the beauty of our country found in the favorite patriotic song "America the Beautiful." They appreciate Native American culture with two projects: designing bean masks and creating Ojos De Dios (eyes of god) by weaving yarn on crossed sticks. They learn to use perspective by making beautiful snowy mountain collages, snowy winter towns, and "A Room with the View" (which focuses on an outdoor magazine picture). They learn human anatomy though the eyes of Leonardo da Vinci and create decorate wire sculptures of the human form. They improve their pottery skills by making coil pots and goblets. They learn the style of French artist Georges Seurat and create a season drawing in Pointillism. They make paper mosaic Easter eggs and tissue paper butterflies and draw abstract trees in bright chalk pastels in the spring.
Fifth Grade
Fifth graders begin their year with an introduction to Dutch artist, Piet Mondrian and his emphasis on color and line. Students then create Mondrian style animals drawn with colors and lines. They learn of the humorous approach of Italian Renaissance artist, Giuseppe Arcimbaldo's imaginative portrait heads. When these drawings decorate the hall, there is always students' interest and comments. Students study the dome shape in architecture and create their own version of a gold painted mosque or silver Super Dome. They study color and shape in making repeating tissue paper animals and create red and white Valentines made from paper quilling. Students make pottery bells before Christmas and blowfish in the spring. They study and draw samples of symmetry in cars. They create lovely watercolor flowers in the style of American artist Georgia O'Keeffe and at the end the year with the study and imitation of Pablo Picasso's Cubism.
Middle School Art
Sixth Grade
The Sixth Grade nine weeks course begins with a review of the Elements of Art followed by an appreciation and experience of ancient pre-historic cave art. Students also get to practice and develop skills in portrait drawing, contour drawings of bicycles and optical illusions, as well as opportunities to improve their drawing and painting skills with watercolor kaleidoscopes or wild forests. Additional projects may include imaginative and whimsical clay birds and animals as well as colorful paper mache bugs.
Seventh and Eighth Grades
Students in seventh and eighth grades sign up for a rotation of art activities that may include the study of artists M.C. Esher, Claude Monet, Vincent van Goth, Georgia O'Keefe, or Andy Warhol. They study advanced watercolor and tempera painting techniques: creating tints, shades and values, monochromatic or impasto painting. Multicultural art may include samples of art from Australia, China or Mexico. Advanced pottery projects may include an introduction to South Carolina face jugs. Advanced tissue paper collages focus on the issue of endangered animals while wire sculpture projects focus on the study of human anatomy or designing automobiles.