Students in grades 7 and 8 use the same teaching period for Art, Music and IT and each course is taken for three months of the academic year. After completing the first rotation of 2017-2017 Ms. Emily Barker (Art), Ms. Coleen Mann (Music) and Mr. Samuel Landete (IT) describe here what students were doing during the first term. Read their comments below:
Art – Ms. Emily Barker
7th graders developed realistic drawing skills by applying value and texture techniques to their drawings of endangered animals. Activism is an important part of the 21st-century art world, and these students worked very hard to help raise awareness about the effects of environmental issues. Students also worked collaboratively to transform plain paper into expressive 3D sculptures!
8th graders were challenged to develop their observational drawing skills by composing several still life drawings. They followed the steps of the artistic process and applied their understanding of color theory in order to produce visually appealing artwork. Along the way, they also had the opportunity to study and analyze the way artists throughout history have worked through similar challenges.
Music – Ms. Coleen Mann
Grade 7 and 8 students have just completed a five-week project in which they took a popular song and created their own arrangement for performance. Inspiration was taken from the group Postmodern Jukebox who are well known for rearranging popular modern music into different vintage genres, especially early 20th century forms like swing and jazz. With our guest artist, Brazilian guitarist Sergio Pereira, students rearranged popular modern songs into various different styles including reggae and bossa nova. Through this project, students used teamwork skills to overcome struggles, learned to play new instruments, developed singing skills and shared creative ideas in order to create their arrangements.
Technology (IT) – Mr. Samuel Landete
