January 2026

This year's winter cold continues to Inspire Art at PS 8!

SC Kindergarten, 1st Grade

Students in our SC Kindergarten and 1st Grade class learned about the snow covered land south of the Arctic Circle where igloos made of ice are built to house people. Students also heard about the polar bears that live further north closer to the Arctic Circle. Then students explored painting techniques to suggest an igloo and polar bear portrait. To produce the Igoo, students dipped large Lego bricks into white tempera paint and stamped rectangles across a light blue half circle shape which was collaged onto darker blue paper. Snow was added with Q-tips students dipped into the white tempera paint and dotted small circles around the igloo. Students also smeared some of the paint on the bottom of their pages with the Q-tips to suggest accumlated snow.. A little clear glitter was sprinkled on top to add sparkle.

To create Polar Bear Portraits, students dipped plastic forks into white tempera paint and pressed them inside circles drawn on dark blue paper to imitate fuzzy haired polar bear faces. Students drew two small black circles for eyes with an oil pastel and added a white paper circle for a snout onto which students drew a single large black oval for a nose and two smile lines for a mouth. Two ears were cut from a white paper oval and glued on top of the polar bear faces for ears.

Igloo

Polar Bear Portrait

1st Grade

Winter Cardinal

First graders learned a few key facts about cardinals which do not migrate soutn for the winter. The males are bright red, but the femals are light tan with only a little red color on their wing tips. First graders drew a cardinal and added details with a black water-proof marker. The bird was painted with a red tempera paint block. Tree branches were added with brown markers. The birds and branches were cut out and collaged onto bright blue paper. Lastly, students learned to splatter liquid white paint on top for a snow storm effect.

2nd Grade

Penguin Sculpture

Second graders learned how to sculpt with air dry clay. They created a pinch pot body then squeezed and smoothed it to look like a penguin's body. They practiced making coils then shaped two into wings and one into a tail which were attached to the body with the score, slip and smooth technique. Glue was used for slip. Eyes were dabbed with a pointed wooden tool. Next month, students will paint the penguis and add a habitat. Stay tuned.

3rd Grade

Invented Emojis

Third graders were challenged to invent a new emoji about a feeling they felt or something they cared about. The emojis could be in any shape or color and created with markers, crayons and colored papers. So many great ideas were illustrated from "Love Art, Pizza, Doughuts and Football" to varied feelings about life. Below are a few examples.

Love Art

Everytime I Wake Up

for School

Human Feelings

4th Grade

Complementary Colored Lemurs

One fourth grade class enjoyed drawing and painting lemurs in complementary colored pairs - green and red, orange and blue, or purple and yellow. As the students worked, they could be heard singing,"I like to move it, move it!," a joyful song led by King Julien (voiced by Sacha Baron Cohen), in the 2005 DreamWorks animated movie Madagascar, released over a decade before our 4th graders were born. Nevertheless, the students who knew the tune, sang it. The result - a number of adorably painted creatures and a memorable art color theory lesson.

1st - 5th GRADES

Stop Motion Animation

Filmmaking Update

What does a Cheese-loving Mouse, an Outer Space Alien and a Hawaiian Hula Dancer have in common? They are all three-dimensional characters sculpted by students in grades one through five for films they are creating in our stop motion animation classes led by Magic Box Productions sponsored filmmaker Danilo Randjic-Coleman who is our Artist in Residence (see right). Made of plasticine clay, a type of clay that does not dry out or harden, these characters can bend and move while being photographed multiple times by our student filmmakers. This month, student groups shot over 100 photographs of their clay characters as team members moved them on their designed sets to create short animated stories. Next month students will add character voice-overs and sound effects. To be continued...