As we wrap up the year...

It's been a wonderful school year teaching your children!   Some of your kindergarteners might have come home claiming to have eaten their last art projects and they DID!  We made color wheels with cookies, but were only given the three primary colors- red, yellow and blue.  The children mixed those colors to make secondary colors- orange, green and violet.  Then we are them!  Yum!

Students in grades 1-4 enjoyed the "Inventors Studio" and creating with recyclable materials.

Our 4th graders brought home their glass fusing pieces!  So beautiful!  It's like Christmas morning when I open the glass kiln!

Some of our third graders finished their "Ugly Dolls" in time and some are taking them home to finish.  They are adorable!

A brand new unit I introduced this year to our 4th graders is needle felting.  I think they liked it!  They made donuts out of a sock!

I hope everyone has a wonderful summer and I look forward to seeing everyone and meeting our newest kindergarten friends again in August!

Artome Art Show was a huge success!

On April 27, 2017, Pecatonica families came out in full force to support the elementary school Book Fair and Art Show (in addition to the 5th Grade Wax Museum down at the middle school).  This was the first year we hired the company Artome for our art show and WOW!  I am impressed!

For the past few months, students have been planning for their art show masterpieces, which were created and attached to Artome's provided special paper.  We labeled each piece and shipped them off in early April.  On the afternoon of April 27, Artome representatives arrived with each individual student's artwork framed and ready to hang!  They set up and organized display racks in the cafeteria while I pretty much stayed out of their way!  It was fabulous!

Families started rolling in about 20 minutes to 5 and we were steady throughout the evening until 7pm.  We sold over 100 frames!  Each frame sold gave a kickback of $6 to the Dragonfly Studio to purchase more art supplies!  Families also enjoyed Mrs. Bell's delicious sugar cookies, which she gave from the goodness of her heart and our rainbow-backdrop photo booth was very popular!

Overall, it was a fabulous evening and I look forward to working with Artome again for our next show!
Link to Photos from the Art Show

Masks, pranks and 3D Studio!

We thought it would be funny to prank the school nurses after getting messy with some red paint.  We got them, Mrs. K and Mrs. Folk!

They built a garage with our new blocks from a PEF grant!

Lots of building and problem solving to make the structure sturdy!

76th Young Artist Show at Rockford Art Museum

Congratulations to our elementary artists, Mark Frank, Cameron Osterholz, Alexis Sanders and Chloe Green for having artwork selected for the Rockford Art Museum's 76th Annual Young Artist Show!  The show opens on April 9 (opening ceremony from 1-3pm) and runs through May 7, 2017.

The Dragonfly Studio is a busy place!

Students have been working hard and creating lots of artwork in the Dragonfly Studio!  Many classes have been making fingerprint platters for the silent auction at The Fun Fair on March 10th at the high school from 11-3pm.  Here is a sneak peek at a few! Two of the 4th grade sections finished their plaster masks.  They looked amazing! Over the next few weeks, we will be focusing on creating artwork for the Elementary School Art Show on April 27 from 5-7pm (Mrs. Hickman will also have her book fair open that evening).  I am excited to announce that Artome will be framing each student's 2D art pieces this year for parents to have the option to purchase their child's artwork already framed for $25 (cash or check only) at the art show!  A percentage of this will kickback to the Dragonfly Studio to purchase more art supplies.  (Artworks not purchased at the show will be removed from frames and sent home in portfolios at the end of the school year.). Be sure to mark your calendars!

Happy Faces First Thing on a Monday Morning!

Mrs. Rawhoof's class was excited to open the fiber studio on Monday!  My demo was finger-weaving.  All you need is your hand and yarn!  Many students had been eagerly waiting to begin weaving on cardboard looms and sewing from learning in previous grades.

We also had our check presentation from Mr. Cook for our 3rd place People's Choice award from FHN on Tuesday during Mrs. Hoover's class.  The kids are excited to see what we can get with the $100!