December 2025

SC Kindergarten, 1st Grade

Fir Tree Snow Globe

Mixed Media Painting

Students brushed cool-colored blue tempera paints onto paper plates to create a snow globe background. They cut, folded and collaged a green paper triangle to suggest a fir tree. Pieces of packaging foam were torn and collaged to indicate falling winter snow. Sparkling silver glitter was added to show icy leaves. A black construction paper trunk grounds the piece. Because the snow globes were created during the Christmas Holiday Season, some students topped their fir trees with shiny silver stars.

1st Grade

Stamped Mexican Poinsettias

One first grade class discovered poinsettia plants and traced the plant's history from being indigenous to Mexico to their arrival and current popularity in North America.

Duly inspired, students composed paintings of poinsettia plants using drawn circles and leaf-shaped sponges dipped in red and green tempera paints which were stamped repeatedly. Stamping is a form of printmaking. Q-tips dipped in yellow tempera paint were also stamped for poinsettia centers sealing student understanding that unexpected tools and processes can be used to make art.

1st Grade

Here, Near, Far

Fir Tree Forest

First graders learned about distance and suggesting space in a work of art through the creation of a winter forest landscape. Students figured out that trees and mountains that are close tend to be darker, larger and more detailed than those in the distance.

To make mountains, students layered torn colored papers and collaged them accordingly. They experimented with a variety of “fancy” scissors to produce Jagged triangles in different sizes and colors to represent trees. The triangles were collaged onto the mountains based on color and size. A sprinkle of glitter on white dots suggest an icy, snowy, cold scene.

2nd Grade

Art Deco Design

Second graders learned about Art Deco - a style of art and design that used strong geometric shapes, fancy borders, and shiny metals. It was popular between 1910 and 1940 during a period of excitement for the industrial revolution. It can be seen in some NYC buildings such as the Chrysler Building and Rockefeller Center as well as in art - sculpture, paintings, posters, jewelry, and many decorations made during that time.

Students learned to use rulers to divide sections on black construction paper. To produce Art Deco-inspired geometric shapes, they stamped each part with found objects such as bottle tops, wooden blocks, and cardboard pieces which were stamped to form triangles or lines in a variety of metallic paints. When dry, some of the areas in the the compositions were richly-colored with oil pastels to produce gorgeous Art Deco-inspired abstract works of art.

3rd Grade

Carousel Horses

Third graders put the final touches on 3-dimensional carousel horses they created exploring line, shape, color, pattern, and form while integrating their creativity to personalize their works. The horses were drawn from silhouettes and embellished by each student as desired using art materials of their choice. Supporting bases were created with air dry clay painted in glittering metallic paints. In January, five or six of the horses will be selected to be further designed into a movable carousel which will be programed with lights and sound via a STEAM collaboration with Ms. Venuella's Girls Who Code Club. The final Artwork will be entered into the prominent PS Art Show competition.

3rd Grade

Moveable Carousel Horses

Because Ms. Matta's third grade class receives Art instruction four times a week, while others receive Art only twice a week, their carousel horses are more complex containing moveable parts through the use of brass fasteners. Head, front and back legs as well as tails can move up and down. We are considering making a stop motion film to demonstrate this aspect. More on this later.

4th Grade Art Clubs

Mosholu Christmas Tree Ornaments

For the past five years, PS 008 has been invited to create ornaments for the Christmas Tree Lighting Celebration at the Mosholu Park. This year, my 4th grade Art Clubs produced beautiful dried orange ornaments enhanced with a variety of beads and colored threads. To the surprise of all, my students were rewarded with tickets to the Holiday Model Train Exhibit at the Botanical Garden. Thank you park organizers for this lovely gift of appreciation!

American Kennel Club Meet the Breeds Art Contest

Fourth Grade Art Club students created colored pencil illustrations of specific dog breeds posed in clever ways to identify the dogs as true New Yorkers. The illustrations were uploaded into the American Kennel Club's Meet the Breeds Student Art Contest. If selected, the artworks will be exhibited in an art gallery at the annual American Kennel Club's "Meet the Breeds" NYC event scheduled to take place in the Jacob Javits Center this coming February. Whether selected or not, we think these artworks and our all our young artists are already winners!