ALL K, 1 & 2 students

Queens Paideia School

Press Release
May 12, 2011
Contact: Karyn Slutsky, tqps@earthlink.net

**Welcome to Queens! The Queensboro Bridge Art Contest**

The Queensboro Bridge Art Contest is the LIC Art Open's (licartsopen.org) invitation to the students of Queens, ages 5-18, to memorialize the Queensboro Bridge through art. Thanks to the efforts of curator Alyssa Ratkewitch and the Queens Paideia School, art teachers and parents throughout the borough have mobilized young artists to produce more than 1,500 breathtaking submissions. The result is an unprecedented exhibition of color, imagination, poetry, possibility, and joy.

An awards ceremony for winning submissions representing 4 age categories will be held on Saturday, May 21, at 2:30 p.m. at the Street Festival on 22nd St., between 43rd and 44th Avenues.

Council member Jimmy Van Bramer will be on hand to present awards and personally congratulate the winners (who will be notified in advance).
An exhibition of ALL of the works will be held at the LIC Art Center on May 21 & May 22, noon to 6 p.m.

Please stop by to view this marvelous display of youthful creativity as well as a documentary about the bridge produced by Queens Paideia’s students especially for this event.

LIC Art Center / 44-02 23rd St., Long Island City, NY 11101


Children's Art Exhibition: 5th-floor hallway gallery


Queens Paideia School Bridge Docu-Learning: Studio 214


44-02 23rd St., 214
Long Island City, NY 11101
queenspaideiaschool.org
tqps@earthlink.net

UPDATES 2/2011

Hello P.S.101 Family!

We have been BUSY BUSY BUSY!!!!

Here are some works of art from the past months...

Remember to check your child's ARTSONIA account for their personal artwork.

FIRST GRADE ABORIGINAL ART

SECOND GRADE VASARELY INSPIRED ARTWORK

 

Fifth graders are still in the midst of their architecture projects---which are coming out WONDERFUL! Since they are mid project, they asked that I didn't photograph the project until the end---

so I am complying with their wishes : )

 

Sixth graders finished their projects and have now moved on to their art cycle of music, preparing them for the play and their graduation. Their project images are upcoming in the next few weeks, so keep an eye out for those on their ARTSONIA accounts.

 

The pajama drive led by the Arts & Special Events Committee was extremely successful! Together with your generosity we were able to collect over 140 pairs of pajamas for the local family shelter!

It's truly comforting to know that our school is such a truly incredible and caring family itself!

 

UPCOMING UNITS OF STUDY

 

Pre K, K & 1 will continue focusing on aligning the arts with the classroom curriculum.

They will be focusing in on shapes and how they are utilized in the arts.

Topics addressed will consist of fine and gross motor skills, sculptural approaches, design, drawing and many other facets of the arts.

They will also be continuing the alignment with curriculum by focusing on Earth Day in upcoming months.

 

2nd grade & 5th grade will be continuing their focus on architecture.

I am currently involved in a federal grant partnership with the Guggenheim Museum in NYC.

I am one of ten art teachers in NYC, re-evaluating the way the arts are taught in NYC schools. As a group, we are re-designing their summer teacher institutes so that NYC art teachers can utilize what we discover as best practices in teaching methods. This incredible collaboration and time I have with the Guggenheim is being directly fed into the 2nd and 5th grade classrooms, as I am currently focusing on architecture with the grant.

Look out for some incredible work the students are accomplishing!

Two 3rd grade classes will be starting a visual arts cycle the week we get back from

vacation (Feb. 28).

In addition to beginning with some basic techniques, they will be starting their art cycle with design.

Building on their knowledge from previous years in the arts, they will be discussing what constitutes good design and creating their own logos for themselves.

 

MSawicki@schools.nyc.gov.

See you all at parent teacher conferences!

 

~~Melissa Sawicki-Mallien~~

UPDATES

Hi All!
Here's what going on in the arts at PS101:

Kindergarten is working closely with Science this month, combing our knowledge of art materials with what we are learning about texture. We will also be carrying the friendship character theme through into our artwork as well.

First grade is finishing up their small studies on Andy Warhol and are working on their Aboriginal artwork. Look out for their gorgeous work on Artsonia!

Second graders are flip flopping---some are finishing up their work inspired by artist Victor Vasarely and others are working on sculpture. Either way, all second graders will be completing both works. For the sculpture project, the children were asked to bring in recyclables to create a building from NYC. They are using their social studies knowledge and their knowledge of sculpture and design to do this.

Fifth graders are working on group project based learning. The theme is architecture and students have been learning about different styles of it. They will be responsible for becoming experts on the specific style they choose and then create a model of a structure in that style.

Sixth graders are also involved in group project based learning. Mr Westerlund's class is working on projects to enhance their social studies Template Island projects, while Mrs. Geier and Ms. Goldberg's class are working on Egyptian based projects. Projects across the grade span from clothing design, to models, to painting.

Make sure you register your child on Artsonia, so you get updates as soon as a piece of their artwork is published! Hope everyone is keeping warm and, as always, if you need anything or would like to stop by, email me at MSawicki@schools.nyc.gov.

LINK TO BERLIN FOR 5TH & 6TH GRADERS

Here is an amazing link to information about Berlin and the Wall...

Make sure to check it out---It will help when you are formulating your ideas about the piece of wall you are creating for our art project!

www.newseum.org/berlinwall

ART JOURNAL RUBRIC FOR 5th & 6th GRADERS....

This same rubric will be taped into your child's art journal.

If you click on this image you should see a larger sized version.

WHAT'S IN STORE FOR MY CHILD?

THIS IS THE PLACE TO FIND OUT WHAT IS GOING ON IN YOUR CHILD'S CLASSROOM!

Here is what is in store for your grade...

K will be focusing in on the elements of art, including lines, colors, and shapes. They will be utilizing crayons, colored pencils, and markers to start off with. Gradually they will be moving into watercolor paints when they begin their study of autumn leaves.

Grades 1 & 2 are beginning their school year off with a study in lines and color schemes. They will then be utilizing that knowledge to transition into self portraiture.

Grades 5 & 6 have kicked off the year with an in depth study of the Berlin Wall. Through discussion of artistic symbolism and the history of the wall, they will be able to formulate their own ideas and create an end project--- their own pieces of the Berlin Wall. Their theme will be freedom and what it means to them.  I am working closely with Mr. Moss our social studies teacher to work hand in hand with his curriculum.

I'm very excited for a new school year and look forward to seeing you all around the neighborhood.
Don't forget to check your child's ARTSONIA account regularly as there will be many updates as we complete art projects. If you need their account name and/or password, let me know and I will foward it to you as soon as possible.

Feel free to contact me if you need anything at MSawicki@schools.nyc.gov

WHAT DO THE ARTS TEACH OUR CHILDREN?

10 Lessons the Arts Teach

1. The arts teach children to make good judgments about qualitative relationships.
Unlike much of the curriculum in which correct answers and rules prevail, in the arts, it is judgment rather than rules that prevail.

2. The arts teach children that problems can have more than one solution and that questions can have more than one answer.

3. The arts celebrate multiple perspectives.
One of their large lessons is that there are many ways to see and interpret the world.

4. The arts teach children that in complex forms of problem solving purposes are seldom fixed, but change with circumstance and opportunity. Learning in the arts requires the ability and a willingness to surrender to the unanticipated possibilities of the work as it unfolds.


5. The arts make vivid the fact that neither words in their literal form nor numbers, exhaust what we can know. The limits of our language do not define the limits of our cognition.

6. The arts teach students that small differences can have large effects. The arts traffic in subtleties.

7. The arts teach students to think through and within a material. All art forms employ some means through which images become real.

8. The arts help children learn to say what cannot be said. When children are invited to disclose what a work of art helps them feel, they must reach into their poetic capacities to find the words that will do the job.

9. The arts enable us to have experiences we can have from no other source
and through such experience, discover the range and variety of what we are capable of feeling.

10. The arts' position in the school curriculum symbolizes to the young what adults believe is important.