Taking Care of Business

Week one is in the books! We covered all the business of behavior expectations, procedures, and seating assignments, and even had a little time left over to get started on an art activity. Grades 3-5 practiced some origami and worked on problem solving, while K started their magic carpet line drawings and 1-2 drew a representation of their super power to go with our #dolvINcredible superhero theme.

Next week, we will introduce our paper portfolios, where we keep our work and take notes and vocab. Our digital portfolios in Artsonia will be coming in a few more weeks. We will also begin our paint bucket reward system - classes who show teamwork by entering and exiting the artroom appropriately and clean up their areas will get a splash in their paint bucket.Our art quote of the month is by the French master Henri Matisse: “There are always flowers for those who want to see them.” What does this quote mean to you? Write it on a post-it and add to our bulletin board!

Reminder- applications for Comic Creators and Needle & Thread Clubs are due this coming Friday, August 17. It’s going to be a great week! 

Welcome back Dolphins!

Hi Dolvin families - It's time for another school year and another fun, creative year of art class with my Smartest Artists! It was great seeing so many of you at sneak peek. During the school year I try to post blog updates weekly, giving you some behind the scenes pics and scoop about our latest art adventures. I post to Instagram almost daily, so if you are an IG'er, please follow me @smartestartists. 

I am still updating my blog with new information this week, but here are a few things to know about my art class at Dolvin:

Artsonia - students will be publishing their artworks to their digital portfolios using the Artsonia platform. Thanks for all the terrific feedback about Artsonia, btw! The kids and I LOVE reading all the comments. If you are new to Dolvin, you will be getting information about Artsonia in late August/early September.

Art Day - on your student's assigned art day, please wear clothes that are appropriate for art making/mess making. We try our best to stay neat and clean but sometimes... things happen! :) Students are welcome to bring an apron, smock, or old t-shirt to put over their clothes if they wish.

Portfolios - we keep all of our art made during the year in a student portfolio, so that we can look at our progress over the year and have lots of choices for sharing our art at various exhibits, including Fine Arts Night in the spring. The entire portfolio will be sent home at the end of the year.

#petpARTners - for the third year in a row, we will be featuring dogs and cats from our local animal shelter FurKids Atlanta in a few of our projects this year, and sharing them online and in our community to raise awareness of our homeless pet population. It is wonderful to see the kids excited about helping our community through art!

Please check back soon for more updates, and I hope everyone has a fantastic, #dolvINcredible first week back!