All About Art

All About Art with Mrs. MacPhee

The Curriculum:
The curriculum is a discipline based spiraling program that develops a student’s understanding of the four major disciplines of art; production, history, aesthetics, and art criticism. These disciplines are taught through ever changing art activities. All activities are based on age appropriate practices and build in complexity as the students grow. There is a strong commitment to recognizing the developmental capabilities of different students at different ages and designing lessons that are appropriate for each level.

The Activities:
The activities that are used to teach the curriculum are dynamic and ever changing. While some favorite lessons are repeated each year, the nature of art should dictate that new lessons and new experiences are as necessary as paper and paint to a good art program. While concepts are repeated, individual tasks are varied. Common tasks and standardization should not be the driving force behind the art for the very young.

The Materials:
Students at West are exposed to a variety of materials through two and three-dimensional mediums. Lessons cover all the major areas of Art. These areas include drawing, painting, design, ceramics, sculpture, and jewelry. Students explore two-dimensional art through drawing, painting, and collage, while using graphite, markers, watercolor, acrylic, and tempera paints. The most common three dimensional sculpture materials at this age level are clay, papier mache’, plaster of paris, wood, as well as many found or recycled materials.

Connections to the Classroom:
Art activities at West are designed to form connections. These connections may be made with a prior art lesson, the greater school curriculum, or the outside world. In the real world, Art does not exist in isolation. It is an integral part of our society and should be in our public schools as well. Helping students to make connections between classroom studies and the world around them in the Art room provides them with the opportunity to apply knowledge in a real life setting. Students often explore aspects of History, Math, Science, Literature, Writing, Social Studies, and vocabulary as they create Art.

The Schedule:
All grades at West receive art instruction on a regular basis. Kindergarten and pre-k students receive art on a bi-weekly basis. Grades one to five receive art weekly. Classes are forty–five minutes long.

Student Exploratory:
Students from each grade are given the opportunity to engage in a mini course format involving four special areas and lasting six weeks. Groups of students are selected to attend one of these special areas, including Art. Students participate in additional activities separate from their regular instruction. Each grade attends exploratory for one session per year.

Common Planning Time:
All classes receive an additional art class on a six-week rotating basis. This extra class time is used to provide children with an opportunity for free expression. As education becomes more and more scripted there are few areas that can allow children freedom of choice. This class allows students to come into the art room and explore the material of their choice in the manner they choose.

Project Block:
Project Block offers classroom teachers an opportunity to collaborate with Mrs. MacPhee on integrated activities that relate to ongoing classroom curriculum. Classes may come to the art room for any type of project or activity that is either too big, too messy, or just in need of some artistic support and input.

The Art Show:
A school wide student art exhibition is held each year in the spring. Formerly known as Celebrate Education and more recently Starry Night, student artwork is the focus of the evening. The goal is for each child to have a minimum of one piece on exhibit that evening. Two and three-dimensional work is on display in the gymnasium and classrooms are open to the public. The art show is the highest attended school function of the year.

The Web Gallery:

For the first time, student Art is being placed this year upon the web for general viewing. At one time, student Artwork was displayed throughout schools everywhere. In an era of restrictive fire codes it has become more and more difficult to display work in public buildings. The web offers us the ability to once again enjoy our student work. It is my goal to add images on a quarterly basis as time allows.

Mrs. MacPhee’s Philosophy:
In an era when education has become standardized and children are being pushed to the limits of their developmental capabilities the Arts are more important than ever. The Arts are very quickly becoming one of the last strong holds of free choice within public schools and they provide everything educational reform can only hope to accomplish. The Arts develop higher-level thinking, they nurture problem-solving skills, and they teach risk taking. A standardized education, in contrast, will in the end serve only to promote the exact opposite - standardized minds. As the push for good test scores drives what is taught in classrooms children need more opportunities to express themselves creatively. The Arts allow children to have a voice and ownership over what they create and to love what they do. The Arts help children to feel good about themselves. The Arts engage children. When we participate in the Arts time stands still and the motivation to do work of the highest comes from within.