Inside Studio 101

Ms. Babusci shared a story with 2nd graders with the help of her puppet Anansi the Spider.  THe next day Nate made an "Anansi" finger puppet during recess.  A puppeteer in the making!

In preparation for the architecture focus I have planned for the new year, I have ordered new building blocks and manipulatives for Studio 101.  They are available to students if they are finished with their artwork.  I encourage them to experiment and explore - you're never too old to play a little.

Joe, Sara and Emily built this tower with the Keva planks.

4th grade friends built this furniture out of the Keva planks.

Patrick builds a "museum" with the new architecture blocks.

These are the new Connectagons.

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I am creating this section of the blog to give folks at home a view of the various areas in Studio 101, and the different ways our materials and resources are organized.  Below you see the SMART board on the left and the white board on the right, and the color-circles rug.  Three important resources we use daily.

In this picture you can see our classroom library.  Lucky for me, my parents own Mystery Lovers Bookshop so I get a lot of great books for free!  Propel also supplies us with many art and literacy resources, so we have quite a collection.  To help keep our books organized I have color-coded them with black, orange, blue and purple masking tape.  The categories are: Elements of Art Books, Artist Books, Picture Books and Non-Fiction and How-To Books, respectively.  Posted on the bulletin board above the library is the Art Vocabulary word.  Every single class begins with us reviewing weekly vocabulary as I project the blog on the SMART board, however it is also posted here.  There are also puppets in a basket here, the students know they can ask permission to use them if they have some free time after they have finished their art project.

In the far corner of the studio we have a glass fusing kiln.  It is on top of an astro-turf rug and a sign warns "Keep Off The Grass".  (When it is on it also has large orange signs reminding everyone that is it HOT!)  Middle school artists learn how to cut glass safely and create jewelry and sculptures.  The red object on the right is a grinder, used to grind off sharp edges.  Some of the stuident's work is displayed on the window and the window sill.