Happy Thanksgiving!

Today I am thankful for my supportive family, my incredibly enlightening career, and everything that comes with it. Every day I go to work feeling energized and supported due to the administrators, faculty, students and parents that so fully support PRE. And for that I say, thank you!

Some exciting things are happening in the art room as we approach the end of the semester. We are finishing up 1 last project in each class in the coming weeks that has a winter theme before we conclude the semester with the much anticipated Portfolio Day. 

This year, I plan to provide students and parents with a portfolio dialogue question checklist, and a winter break drawing challenge. 

I am excited about the new district website launch and am planning to post on this blog much more frequently. I hope that PRE families will tune in to check out what is happening in the art room!

I will be attending the Nelson Atkins 10th Annual Luminary Walk in the Sculpture Garden tomorrow evening and I invite anyone interested to do the same! Explore a winding path illumiated by candlelight in the beautiful Sculpture Park! Museum guides will be stationed at selected sculptures from 5-7pm.  There will also fireside cocoa and concoctions at the Creative Cafe Terrace during hte Luminary Walk. Other events happening this evening at the Nelson include St.George and the Dragon Puppet Show from 5-6pm and 7-8pm in the Atkins Auditorium and dinner and music at the Rozelle Court from 5-10:30pm. 

Kindergarten Mark-Making and Material Exploration

Kindergarteners were thrilled to learn that they were going to be working with paint this week, and became even more curious when they learned they would not be painting with paint brushes!

This self-directed project was a hit with students. Smiles, "ooh's" and "ahh's" resounded throughout this art-making experience!

Students were given a large sheet of slick paper before being introduced to 3 stations throughout the room.

Station 1: Stamping
Students selected shapes, coated them with a layer of paint, and practiced stamping on their paper to create images. 


Station 2: Paint Scratchers
Students experimented with line by applying paint to the paper and pulling the tool in various directions to create a variety of lines. 


Station 3: Texture Stamps and Funky Brushes
This station was a favorite. A variety of tools were used to manipulate the paint, including "funky brushes" and a variety of tactile texture stamps. 

I Can...

• Make smart choices with paint.
• Use various tools and techniques to create a piece of artwork.
• Engage in exploration and imaginative play with materials.
• Learn how to clean up my work space. 

Welcome Back, Prairie Ridge Cougars!

We are off to a great start in the Art Room. During the first week of classes, each student made a sketchbook to keep for the duration of the school year. We discussed the purposes of sketchbooks for artists, and how they are a great tool for keeping track of ideas, words and images that can help us formulate ideas for future artwork, or to simply render our observations of the world.

This week, students looked at sketchbooks Ms. Newman has created. Sketchbooks can not only contain pencil sketches, but words that describe artwork, reflections on art processes, found objects, and images from other sources.





Brand new National Art Standards were released this summer, and we are jumping right in to addressing them in the curriculum. The new standards were a great place to start in creating goals for the school year in art.  3rd through 5th grade classes created student created goals to track on a chart throughout the school year.  Each table created a goal for one of the categories addressed in the standards:

• Creating

• Presenting

• Responding

• Connecting

We also made goals that had to do with learning about art careers, contemporary art and craftsmanship (being thoughtful and careful when developing and creating a piece of art.)




Other goals include:

• Earn Artist of the Week

• Earn the Table Trophy

• Use my art skills and visual observation skills outside of school

Here is an example of one of our goal tracking charts:

I am looking forward to another spectacular year in the art room!