Hello Families, I’m Ms. Brady the Art Teacher at Paul J. Bellew and Manetuck Elementary schools. We are joyfully gearing up for a fantastic year full of artist opportunities at each building. Students will have art instruction once a week, for forty minutes, where they will wield a variety of tools and materials to create art work. Currently, I do not have the space to store smocks. If you wish, you can have your child bring a smock on the designated day that they attend art class. Please do not send your children to art in their best clothes, as art is messy and I can not guarantee stain free clothes.
As we progress through the school year students will have multiple opportunities to celebrate their artwork. Each building has display areas that will be decorated with each student’s achievements on a monthly basis. Towards the end of the year the Art Department hosts a District Wide art show featuring students from Kindergarten through 12th grade. Given this wide range of participants we have limited spots available for all the art work that is produced. This is a yearly event, with a fluctuating roster, to make the event accessible for the entire student body.
There are other artistic opportunities outside of the school arena, such as public, county, and state competitions where students can submit their art work at different points in the academic year. I will inform the community on the timing of these events through Parent Square. Students will have time in my class to work on their submissions for said contests. Last school year we had a winner from our district for the “Bicycle Safety” competition, which was hosted by the Suffolk County Legislator. Previous winning contestants from our art program can be seen on the left hand side of this page.