Great Artists Process: Update 2-28-13

This week marked the launch of TCS Great Artist 2013. The sixth grade began their work with a brainstorming session. The images below was the product of their collaboration. The class spent time perusing books and websites to collect biographical information on Ansel Adams. They began watching a PBS American Experience documentary on Ansel Adams to fill in the blanks of their research. There is a lot of enthusiasm and desire to jump right into photography, but we are being thoughtful in our approach. Stay tuned for updates on our progress.

The TCS Garden Committee Needs Your Help!

Did you know there is a TCS Garden Committee? Kim Lohnas, Lisa Attinasi and Jen Brinsky formed the Garden Committee because our current garden provides limited gardening experiences for our student gardeners. This is mainly due to the current garden's size, layout, location and age.  For the past few years, we have been working in collaboration with administration, teachers and parents to improve our students' gardening experiences at TCS.

Our vision is to expand our garden in order to enrich our students' hands-on experiences, support the school's mission of supporting environmental curriculum and involve more of the TCS community in gardening.  We are very excited to make this a reality in the near future.

Our hopes and dreams include a student-driven curriculum that involves learning about plant growth processes and a CSA program that allows students to learn where food comes from and how it eventually reaches the table.

Wouldn't it be wonderful for the garden to be a TCS community focused endeavor?

Here is a short survey http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YNGHJSK which will help us to get to know who in our parent community is interested in gardening and also help us plan for future garden related experiences. Thank you for any contributions you may have!

Wacky Word of the Week: Superfluous

su·per·flu·ous

adjective

1.   being more than is sufficient or required; excessive

2.   unnecessary or needless

 

Synonyms
1. extra; redundant.

 

Great Artist: Selection Process

We began the process of trying to select the sixth grade Great Artist in December. A Google Doc was created and everyone had an opportunity to add artists they thought might be interesting to study. The diversity of artists was impressive. The initial list included:

• Walt Disney
• Steven Spielberg
• Ansel Adams
• Kumi Yamashita
• Rob Gonsalves
• Tina Christiansen
• Mary Blair
• Robin Banksey
• Frank Lloyd Wright
• Harry Houdini
• George Seurat
• Gloria Muriel
• Kate Bingham Burt
• Andy Warhol 
• Anish Kapoor
• Ellen Grossman
• Leslie Wilkes
• George Lucas

 We reviewed the artists together and anyone who knew information about the artists shared their knowledge. Before we began narrowing down the list, students were given an opportunity to "pitch" an artist they thought would be a good choice of the class. They had time to do research and speak to the artists work and the potential as a Great Artist. Each member of the class cast three votes and we narrowed the list down to the top eight artists.

Students were given time to do further research and share resources before we made a final choice. As a class, we placed each of the eight artists on the board and brainstormed how we would approach studying the artist and potential projects (see images below) that we could achieve in the six-week time frame and a strict budget. We used Google Forms to make a ballot and the class voted. We narrowed it down to a final three artists and they voted again via Google Forms.


The class is excited to begin their study of ........Ansel Adams.

Stay tuned for updates on their work and exploration of Ansel Adams and his work.

Skype con Guatemala

This semester sixth graders have the opportunity to Skype with a school in Guatemala. Colegio Americano del Sur (CAS) is located in Santa Lucía in Guatemala. We are fortunate for our relationship with this school as it allows students to experience another culture, collaborate on projects, and practice their Spanish-speaking skills.

Today, students from both schools introduced themselves by saying their names, their ages and their favorite things. NMY students spoke in Spanish, while CAS students spoke in English. We will be meeting every other week. Our plan is to collaborate on a gardening project.

Wacky Word of the Week: Gothic

goth·ic

adjective

1.

( usually initial capital letter  ) noting or pertaining to a style of architecture, originating in France in the middle of the 12th century and existing in the western half of Europe through the middle of the 16th century, characterized by the use of the pointed arch and the ribbed vault, by the use of fine woodwork and stonework, by a progressive lightening of structure, and by the use of such features as flying buttresses, ornamental gables, crockets, and foils.

2.

( usually initial capital letter  ) pertaining to or designating the style of painting, sculpture, etc., produced between the 13th and 15th centuries, especially in northern Europe, characterized by a tendency toward realism and interest in detail.

3.

( initial capital letter  ) of or pertaining to Goths or their language.

4.

( usually initial capital letter  ) of or pertaining to the music, especially of northern Europe, of the period roughly from 1200 to 1450, including that of the Ars Antiqua, Ars Nova, and the Burgundian school.

5.

( usually initial capital letter  ) pertaining to the Middle Ages; medieval. 

From Dictionary.com

Presente Progresivo

Sixth graders learned about the present progressive (presente progresivo) tense in Spanish this week. In Spanish, it is used to express what someone is doing at the current moment. It is paired with the verb, estar (to be), which students recently learned. In order to comprehend the tense and its uses we did several activities. One of their tasks was to find an article, song or TV commercial where the presente progresivo is used. Several sources students used were: Univision, Telemundo, El Clarín and Moral. In addition, to finding real world examples of the presente progresivo, students played several rounds of charades while others guessed what they were doing at the current moment. Some examples of the charades were: empacado una maleta, haciendo la cama, comiendo sopa, actuando en un teatro. Next, students will explore reflexive verbs.