Traveling Around the World

This year, 2nd grade artists will be traveling around the world in their art and music classes! This summer I met up with our fantastic music teacher, Ms. Patashnick, to plan ideas and work on curricula together. We designed an 'Around the World' theme for 2nd grade this year, complete with passports!

In art class, we will be learning about the culture, art forms, techniques and artists from a variety of different countries, including Australia, Brazil, France, Ghana, India, Japan and Morocco. In music class, students will be learning songs, culture, musical traditions and about musicians from those same countries, as well.

During our first week of art and music, students filled out their passports and got their photos taken so that we are ready for travel this year! We talked about what passports are for and students are excited to have them stamped after each 'trip'! In addition to identification, our passports will help us keep track of our journey and our learning. Students began by writing down what they like about art and music, their favorite musical instruments and art materials, and the country they are most interested in 'visiting' and learning about.

Our first stop is India, so stay tuned. Feel free to ask your students about their artistic and musical travels throughout the year!

Doodle Mural

4th and 5th grade artists started off the year by doodling! After discussing art class expectations and a quick art room scavenger hunt, we got right down to art making on the first day. 

Doodles are usually simple drawings. They can be abstract, with repeated lines, shapes and patterns, or they can be representational, with recognizable objects and characters. Everyone can doodle! Although doodles are often seen as a sign of being bored, many people find that doodling can help them focus.

Students selected a Post-It and a ballpoint pen, skinny marker and/or Sharpie marker to doodle with. Doodling is often done spontaneously, without advance planning, so students were encouraged to just begin and see where it took them. Some students started in the middle of their Post-It paper and worked their way outwards, while others started in the corners. 

Some students thought about a specific theme, such as outer space, animals or cartoon characters. Others experimented with a variety of lines and shapes, or repeating a pattern. Some students included their name or initials within their doodle.

After finishing their doodle, students brought their Post-It over to a larger grid and chose a spot for their doodle. Some students selected a spot based on the doodles around it, to connect with someone else's doodle. After a week of art classes, it was transformed into a collaborative mural! 

The doodle mural is now on display in the connector hallway, on a bulletin board, so look for our doodles!

Welcome Back!

Welcome back Hosmer artists and families! I hope everyone had a fun and relaxing summer! I look forward to seeing returning artists and meeting our new ones this September. 

For those of you new to Hosmer, my name is Ms. Kim and I am the art teacher. I am excited to be going into my second year teaching and making art with Hosmer students. I moved to the Boston area last year, from New York. I had most recently been living and teaching in Brooklyn, and before that, I worked for several years in an arts non-profit organization in Manhattan. 

In art this year, we will be exploring a variety of materials and techniques, learning about artists and art forms from around the world, and creating art works that express who we are as artists and human beings. I strive to create student-centered lessons and emphasize process over product. We will also focus on engaging in direct inquiry and problem solving in creative ways!  

In addition, this summer I met up with our fantastic music teacher, Ms. Patashnick, to plan ideas and work on curricula together. We designed an 'Around the World' theme for 2nd grade this year, complete with passports! We will be learning about art from around the globe, including India, Morocco, France, Japan and Australia.

This year, we have a Word Wall on the back wall of the art room. The Word Wall is to help us remember the art vocabulary words that we learn throughout the year. Words are color coded, so you can tell which vocabulary words connect to art materials, techniques, artist's names, etc. 

Every student has one 40-minute art class each week. Student artwork is displayed throughout the school and in the spring, we have the district-wide art show, as well as our annual Art & Music Extravaganza.

Check back here often to stay updated on what each grade level is learning about and making in art. You can also follow or subscribe to our blog by adding your email in the 'Follow by Email' box on the upper right hand side of the site.  

We also have an 'Amazing Arts' newsletter that comes out every term for more information on what students are learning in music and art, as well as upcoming dates for concerts and exhibitions. We will be sending home a newsletter in the beginning of September. If you would like to contact me directly, please send me an email: haein.kim@watertown.k12.ma.us

Thank You & Have a Great Summer!

Thank you to all the students, staff & families that helped make my first year here at Hosmer fantastic! Good luck to all the graduating 5th graders! 

I enjoyed making art with all my students and look forward to next year. Keep making art this summer and feel free to email me with updates! Email: haein.kim@watertown.k12.ma.us

Have a great summer and see you in September!

Hosmer Learning Garden Sign

As a final end of year project, Miss Domermuth's 5th grade class designed a sign for the Hosmer Learning Garden. Each student took a letter and created a design for it, incorporating elements of nature and the garden. Once students sketched out a few different ideas for their letter, they selected their favorite and drew it out on the wooden sign. (The sign was primed first and then we added some yellow paint as a base).

The following class, students used acrylic paint to paint their letter and add details. We also added some details using permanent marker.

Students also painted smaller signs for the different vegetables and herbs growing in the garden, using paint stirring sticks donated by Coolidge Hardware in Watertown. A big thanks for their donation!

Below is the finished garden sign for the Hosmer Learning Garden, which should be hanging there soon! 

Papier Mache Bowls

For our last art project of the school year, 1st grade artists created papier mache bowls. Mrs. Massa's class helped mix the art paste the week before, taking turns stirring the powder and water together until it got thick.

Starting with a plastic bowl, students rubbed a little Vaseline on top to keep the paper mache bowl from sticking to it permanently. Students used art paste and newspaper to layer strips of newspaper on top. Students used a technique where they took some of the paste in between their hands, then took a piece of newspaper and rubbed it in between their hands until it became translucent or saturated. Then they layered this strip on the bowl.

After they dried, the bowls were slipped off their plastic molds and trimmed. Then students layered tissue paper on the inside of their bowls, using Mod Podge, and painted the outside of their bowls using acrylic paint.

Below are some examples of our colorful papier mache bowls:

Ben, 1st Grade

Ixchel, 1st Grade

CJ, 1st Grade

Sawyer, 1st Grade

Miriam, 1st Grade

Papier Mache Ice Cream Cones

In anticipation of the summer, 4th grade finished up the year with papier mache ice cream cones! After our tints and shades painting exploration, we began the papier mache project by creating the armature or structure of our papier mache cones.

Students filled paper cups with newspaper so that they would not fall over. Then they balled up more newspaper, wrapping masking tape around the "scoops" to secure them to the paper cup "cone." 

The next class, students learned how to papier mache, using art paste that is clear and thick consistency. We took a little of the art paste in our hands, then took strips of newspaper and rubbed them in between our hands. This kept the art paste from dripping everywhere and allowed them to get fully coated. Each piece was applied to the armature and layered on top of each other to fully cover the cone and scoops. 

For the final layers, we used white newsprint paper for the ice cream and brown paper towel for the cone, so they would be easier to paint without the newspaper showing through.

The papier mache had time to dry over the course of a week and the following class, students used their knowledge of tints and shades to paint their ice cream cone scoops. 

We looked at Wayne Thiebaud's ice cream cones painting for inspiration. Some students mixed colors to make mint chocolate chip, strawberry, coffee, chocolate and caramel flavors.

The last step was to cover the entire cone with a clear varnish called Mod Podge. Here are some examples of our delicious, drippy ice cream cones!

Some of our finished ice cream cones!

Mrs. Stone's class

Mr. Dubuque's class

Mrs. Mattson's class

Mrs. Doherty's class