This is the culmination of a multi-part project where students have scripted, recorded, edited, and mastered a 30 second radio ad.

"Carlo’s advertisement represents the best of all aspects of this project, from the creativity of the subject to the technical and artistic execution of the ad recording process. "                    

This was a lesson on the elements that make up matter.  Most students know that objects are made of matter but they do not realize how many elements are in common objects.  This project is used to expand student’s knowledge of elements and where specific elements can be found.  They had to select a picture and research where 25 different elements are located.
This assignment ties in with the student performance expectations of:
The LSM Graduate comprehends written, visual and auditory texts and communicates with clarity in a variety of modes and,
The LSM Graduate demonstrates effective use of information and technology to enhance learning.

Students needed to create an introduction to comparisons using art vocabulary.

"The work demonstrates an understanding of comparisons and creativity.  Katherine’s  ability to integrate art vocabulary culture and comparison is impressive."

Students are learning to communicate the shape and dimensions of a three dimensional object.  The way students communicate the information is a multi-view drawing.

:This student’s work was laid out correctly, dimensioned well and showed appropriate hidden lines.  The drawing showed an overall attention to detail that was exemplary."

The students designed a self-portrait made out of paper mache.

"Taylor’s work was selected because of the level of detail, creativity and skill that she used.  She is a very talented student!"

Students were reading A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck and created original drawings to illustrate one of a key character’s traits.  Along with the drawing, students were asked to write a two-paragraph response explaining whey they selected the images they did to help elaborate their illustrations with text.

"Rebecca’s work is exemplary because she provided exceptional details offering keen insight into the actions, thoughts and motives of her chosen character, Haven Peck.  She writes fluently, and selects significant details as support.  Rebecca always puts a great deal of effort into polishing every assignment to make it shine!"

Students were asked to create a booklet or poster showing what the six groups of people who lived in Ancient Mesopotamia left to future societies.  They were to explain at least three contributions and create or add pictures to their work.

"JD’s work on this activity was excellent!  His poster clearly stated the influence each group had on Ancient Mesopotamia.  The pictures he added portrayed his thoughts nicely."

This was a lesson inspired by the Indian word, Mandala.  This word means circle and represents earth, sun, moon, friends, family and community.  Mandalas are very personal and meaningful diagrams that represent our individual relationship we have with the world.
Seventh grade art students carefully planned and produced their own meaningful Mandalas  by precisely measuring their diagrams and including shapes, patterns and symbols that reflected their own personality.  They had an opportunity to experience using colored pencils and creating different shades and values with them.

"I chose Trevor’s Mandala to represent the 7th grade student artwork of the month because he truly has a passion and skill for art.  His enthusiasm is clearly reflected in the well planned out, organized and executed final project.  He carefully thought about his composition along with choosing colors that were meaningful to him.  In true artist fashion, I believe this work reflects Trevor’s personality like the Mandala should.  I appreciate the time and effort that he put into this lesson and I know that he took pride in his work and is proud of the outcome."

Students have been working on composing elaborative detail. In this assignment they focused on describing a story critical character, the snowman. They incorporated sensory detail as well as interesting word choice and sentence starters. Students shared the paragraphs with their classmates. The students listened to the description and identified the snowman artwork that best matched.

"Aislyn’s work was chosen because it is a good example of using strong word choice and vivid detail. She worked hard to revise the paragraph to include more interesting sentence starters such as “I stared at…” "

Students used a checklist to include all the key elements of a detailed organized story.  The topic was an adventure in a candy house.

"Ella’s story includes detailed, elaborated ideas as well as feelings and emotions.  She demonstrated strong sequencing of events and her story entertained all who were fortunate to read it."

We have been working on writing great stories with a strong beginning, action packed middle and problem solving endings.  This story was the result of week-long writing workshop.

"Sara is a very hard worker and always writes well.  She deserves recognition for her hard work."

Each week the students rotate through five literacy based centers.  The art center has a seasonal craft that incorporates math and language arts.  The gingerbread man was made in art center to co-relate with our Gingerbread themed unit.  We read Gingerbread Friends by Jan Brett and the traditional The Gingerbread Man story re-told by Jim Aylesworth.  The gingerbread artwork also features a poem that reinforces the practice of kindergarten high frequency words my, you, and, to, me & the.  The students were encouraged to be creative in their process, but also to use symmetry in their design.

"Joline’s work was selected because she neatly and carefully created a symmetric gingerbread man.  She used various math shapes (triangles, rectangles, circles) to complete her design.  Her high frequency word writing was neat and she correctly formed each of the lower case letters that we have been learning in class. Lastly, Joline used simple details that can be found on any gingerbread cookie seen in the books we read, or on a cookie plate."

The lesson focused on a realistic jungle/rainforest environment so we looked at the art of Henri Rousseau.  The students were to picture themselves being in the environment so distance was shown by using overlapping.  We were in a unit on line, so we discussed and drew the contour line of the plants and trees.  The students had been working on gluing skills and in this lesson they had to place glue over every line.  This was done on black paper so the glue would keep the contour line black.  When the glue dried, they used colored chalk to color blend and create the realistic colors of the jungle/rainforest landscape.

"Quin’s work clearly shows the contour line by his excellent drawing and gluing skills.  He carefully showed plants and distance using overlapping.  His exceptional color blending created a very realistic landscape."