I originally started this blog over a year ago to showcase the excellent artwork created by the students here at Thomas Elementary and allow parents to have a closer look at exactly what is going on in the art room. I had been following other art room blogs and I know they are great resources for teachers. I hoped that other teachers might also check out the artwork on the blog and use it as inspiration for projects in their own classrooms.
The nerd in me has always been interested in knowing if people actually visit this blog. I have a hit counter on the main page, and I'm proud to say that in the past year, 8,495 people have visited. Just over a month ago, I came across something called Google Analytics. It is a free website tracking software that counts visits and much, much more. The artwork of Thomas students has been viewed in 48 states in the US and 49 countries overall. The map below shows where blog visitors have come from. The darker green the country is, the more visits have come from that country. I want to thank everyone who has visited and helped make the blog a successful part of my classroom. Continue to stop by to see the fantastic work done by the kids here at Thomas. They are excited to share their work with the world!
5th graders have been hard at work for what seems like months in preparation for their claymation project. Students break up into three groups that include writers, set designers, and character designers. Each class creates unique characters as well as two sets to be used in the animation. All four classes are currently filming, but I haven't posted any 5th grade work for a while, so I will put up some images of characters and sets that are being used. Look for a post later in the spring of the finished animation.
After recently finishing a bug project with an emphasis on habitat, 2nd graders dove into making clay bugs. This has become a favorite project for 2nd grade students. Ceramic vocabulary such as scoring and wedging were learned as 2nd graders are beginning to make increasingly complex sculptures. The legs and wings are made out of wire and were glued in after the bugs had been fired and painted. They are on display in the commons and will be there until the spring Art Show on May 13th!
