For our first collaborative project of the year, my 3rd and 6th grade students made pieces to contribute to a larger collaborative Peace Day Mosaic mural. The sixth graders had a busy morning, and made the frame/ outline of our mural, and also learned how to make paper cranes, a symbol of peace. Some sixth grade leaders swooped in to help their peers make cranes, showing the PAS core values of leadership, learning and collaboration! The third graders were prompted think of what peace looks like, sounds like and feels like, and wrote their thoughts on colored papers before continuing their art projects. The result is now brightening up our hallway, for students to read as they line up for class :)
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Book Updates! Check out my new children's book: "A is for Atom: Scientific Concepts for Young Minds" at our new website aisforatombook.com “A is for Atom” is an introductory book of scientific terms for young learners. We intend for this book to be a catalyst (pun intended) for readers and listeners alike, to engage in learning about scientific concepts together. We designed this book to allow children to grow with the content as both their age and curiosity about the world increases. Each term has a simplified definition in the glossary. I have the pleasure of teaching our fifth graders for a few weeks now that they're done PSSAs and we have been focusing on printmaking techniques. I talked to students about Andy Warhol and Pop Art, and had them think of and design a printing plate that represents popular culture today. Before printing, we discussed the many types of families on the color wheel and I instructed students to choose four color papers that are analogous and to use ink that is complimentary to their paper. I pre mixed two tones of ink, so students could loosely interpret which complimentary pair to focus on. Almost every student completed four prints in one class!
Hello! I am thrilled to announce that I have just completed my second edition of my book "Jaro and Frog" and have released a new book with my boyfriend Adam, "A is for Atom: Scientific Concepts for Young Minds."
Click below to purchase a paper back edition of "A is for Atom" and follow us on facebook to learn more at www.facebook.com/aisforatombook/
Click below to purchase a second edition of "Jaro and Frog" or visit www.jaroandfrog.com
Late September, my school was named a National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education. Last week, the whole school took the day to celebrate their accomplishments and give back (and there was thankfully time to squeeze in some art). The entire student body came together to create a small monochromatic blue tile, for three large paper quilts. Depending on their grade, students wrote/illustrated things they love about their school, including some of their favorite memories, school traditions, and proudest accomplishments. My tile said how much I appreciate the teachers, who helped me assemble the quilt at the final hour, just in time to hang them that night before students returned to school the next day. I feel honored to be a part of this community!
Yesterday was my first day back at school and it was so comforting to see familiar faces in the classroom. I've heard that the third year in teaching is when everything comes together, and I am confident that this will be a great year! This past August, I graduated from Moore College of Art and Design with my Masters in Art Education with an Emphasis in Special Populations, and I've connected with an amazing community of art educators in the process. While I do not have a class room, I've grown to love my art cart, and will continually find adaptations to make my art cart a one stop shop.
Projects from last year are archived under the tab "2015-2016 Art Cart Projects." If your'e interested at what's happening in my classes, you will be able to search the projects by grade in the drop down menu. I look forward to posting every week! I am overjoyed and grateful that I will now teach grade K-8 and that every student will have the opportunity to experience visual art. None of this would be possible without the great support of the PAS parents and staff, the HSA and ArtWell, a non profit organization whose main goal is to help students awaken their dreams. More information on ArtWell can be found at www.theartwell.org I hope your Fall is off to a great start! All the best, Kara Rutledge A few weeks ago, I was invited into my niece, Mia's 3rd grade class at Germantown Friends School. My brother and I attended GFS grades K-12 and my mom is still there teaching kindergarten. Now, my niece is learning in my old classrooms. She shared my children's book "Jaro and Frog" with her class and her teacher Andrea invited me in to help her students create a mural around their unit of study. Their big question is why do people move? Through this question, they have studied immigration and the Great Migration and all of the social issues that come with it. After discussing and brainstorming their research findings, they voted to decided which of their concepts are essential themes. They landed on: WHY people move, HOW people move and their HOPES for moving.
Being in Philadelphia, we are lucky to belong to a city with the nation's most murals. We spent time looking at some Philadelphia murals and breaking down the designs. Students noticed that there are multiple ideas in one mural, scenes can overlap each other, there can be abstract elements, the positioning of a person can show their emotion, and so on. With all of this in mind, they broke into groups to think of the best imagery and symbolism to include in their mural. I showed the student original artwork from my book which is a collage made from painted paper. In our first session, students dove in to prepare the paper for the collages. This was a complex project and they did an amazing job taking it step by step to build each piece by hand, communicate their ideas with their group, and adapting and problem solving to create these beautiful and powerful collages. I'm so happy I was able to collaborate with this class! Last year, I always gave my students the option to "free draw" if they finished their work early and were all cleaned up. I loved the idea but learned that it would be better to have my rules set from day one. In order to prevent the ever common tugging at my shirt saying "I'm done, Ms. Rutledge", I realized I need all of my supplies out so the students can help themselves.
Today was my first day! I am happy to introduce some new additions to my art cart. I was inspired to make my cart become my actual classroom this year and not just something that holds supplies. Not having a classroom of my own, I don't have the space to display typical classroom signs and visual aides. But where there's a will, there's a way. Since today was the first day I do not have everything shown, however the bottom shelf will contain an art library along with free draw paper. Students will be able to help themselves to either option once their work is complete and space is cleaned up.
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AuthorKara Rutledge is an elementary art teacher in Philadelphia and recently earned her Masters in Art Education with an Emphasis on Special Populations from Moore College of Art and Design. Archives
September 2017
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