arts a la cartepage 3 april 2015 - may 2015 arts a la carte america, at roxbury high school mrs....

Arts a la Carte Department of Visual & Performing Arts April 2015—May 2015

Westfield Public Schools Westfield New Jersey

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4/14/15 Washington 4th & 5th grade Band

4/20/15 Franklin Advanced Band

4/21/15 Wilson Band

4/22/15 Jefferson Band & Chorus

4/23/15 Franklin Intermediate Band

4/23/15 Tamaques 4th grade Band – 6:45 pm

5/1/15 WHS / EIS / RIS Jazz Night @ WHS – 6:00 pm

5/6/15 WHS Orchestra – 7:30 pm

5/7/15 Tamaques 5th grade Band & Chorus

5/14/15 WHS Band – 7:30 pm

5/16/15 WHS May-Hem

5/19/15 WHS Chorus – 7:30 pm

5/20/15 Wilson Chorus

5/26/15 Franklin Chorus

5/26/15 McKinley Band & Chorus

5/26/15 Washington Chorus

5/27/15 All Elementary Intermediate Strings @ EIS

5/28/15 All Elementary Beginner Strings @ EIS

6/1/15 EIS Concert - 6th Gr. Strings & 7th Gr. Chorus – 7:30 pm

6/1/15 RIS Concert – Concert Bands & Jazz Ensembles

6/2/15 EIS Concert – 6th Gr. Band & Chorus – 7:30 pm

6/2/15 RIS Concert – Instrumental Chamber Music Night

6/3/15 All City Festival – 7:30 pm @ WHS Auditorium

6/5/15 WHS Jazz / Percussion – 7:30 pm

6/8/15 EIS Concert – 7th Gr. Band & Strings, 8th Gr. Strings & Chamber Strings – 7:30 pm

6/8/15 RIS Concert – 6th & 8th Gr. Chorus

6/8/15 RIS Concert – 6th & 8th Gr. Orchestra @ 8:00 pm

6/9/15 EIS Concert – 8th Gr. Band & Chorus, Broadway Singers & Jazz Ensemble – 7:30 pm

6/9/15 RIS Concert – 7th Gr. Chorus & Sharps and Flats

6/9/15 RIS Concert – 7th Gr. Orchestra & Early Morning Orchestra @ 8:00 pm

District Art Show Opens May 12! When school budgets get tight, arts programs are typically among the first areas to feel the pinch. It has been proven many times in many different ways that the arts are an essential educational component. The arts help

children better comprehend the basic studies of language, math and science. Annually, district art educators convert the Westfield High School gymnasium into an art gallery of work created by K-12 students. Visitors are always

amazed by the quality of work our art teachers encourage the students to create. You will find graphic art pieces,

sculptures (both large and small) ceramics, charcoal and pencil drawings, watercolors, fabric arts, painted furniture and so much more.

Beginning May 12 we invite you to come see how our programs potentially make a big difference in so many

students‟ lives. These beautiful student creations are worthy of your time. The show is open to the public on May 12 and 13 from 9:00AM - 4:00PM and 7:30PM – 9:00PM; and on May 14 from 9:00AM – 2:00PM.

In coordination with Youth Art Month,

RMC Studios in Garwood is hosting an Open House for the general public to view student artwork in unique

gallery settings. The evening of Art and Music at RMC, 207 Center Street in Garwood will be held on

Friday, April 17 From 7PM to 9PM

ALL CONCERTS BEGIN AT 7:00 PM unless

otherwise noted

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Arts a la Carte April 2015 - May 2015

Westfield

High School Art

The Computer Graphic Design II classes are working on graphic

novel “teaser pages”. They are

creating original illustrations and stories for a single page of a

graphic novel that leaves the reader wanting to know more.

The students had freedom to

approach the illustrations using traditional media, computer

graphics or enhanced original photographs. They had to arrange

the space with an emphasis on

composition skills using a minimum of four panels. Text could be

added as dialogue, narration, onomatopoeia or just incidentally

in the background. Look for some of them at the District-Wide End of

Year Art Show.

Ceramics 1 students are all pinch potted out! We spent most of the

second semester so far creating

various pinch pot forms. Students were introduced to white talc clay,

white no talc clay, red clay, white stoneware clay and raku clay. We

discussed the different clay bodies and compared the texture, color

and hardness of each clay while

creating pinch pots and then decorated them. Students also

learned how to correctly join pieces of clay together by adding

faces to their pinch pots and

joining two pinch pots together.

Students in Crafts Exploration are finishing up on the sculpture

unit. The final sculpture project is stone carving. Students had to

pick their stone based on what

object they thought they saw in the raw stone. Just like

Michelangelo, students had to bring that object out of the stone

using various carving tools, rasps

and sandpaper. Once the sculpture is complete, we start

buffing and polishing it using pumice powder and tin oxide. The

final product will be super smooth and shiny. Be sure to check out

the final sculptures at the District Art Show in May!

Foundations of Art students

have finished up a color unit by

completing their acrylic landscape paintings. Students learned about

color value, color harmony, atmospheric perspective and other

ways to use color to create the illusion of depth in a painting. A

few images of students at work

are shown below.

April 2015 - May 2015 Arts a la Carte

Mrs. Jarivis‟, Mr. Stumbers‟ and Dr. Ruggieri‟s Foundations of Art

classes have combined efforts to

create one large installation work in Cafeteria A at Westfield High

School. Each student learned about Pattern, one of the

principles of art. They combined

patterns with their knowledge of creating gradations and after each

student created their own unique piece, the works were combined to

create one large installation work. Installation art is a style of art that

is designed for a specific space

and is generally displayed for a short period of time, with the goal

of transforming the space so that the viewer‟s senses are awakened.

Currently, students are working on

printmaking. Foundations of Art students are learning about a

variety of styles and techniques, including Intaglio printing, which is

a style of printmaking where a

design is created (in this case, scratched) in the surface of a plate

made of plastic. After the design is scratched into the plate and inked,

the plate is moved through a press, pushing the paper into the

grooves of the plate. Students are

creating a wide range of Surrealist works.

Music

Concert Bands On Tuesday March 24th, the WHS

Concert Bands traveled to the

annual CJMEA State Concert Band

Festival held at Ridge High School. The Concert Band and Symphonic

Band both received a Silver Rating in Division II. The Wind Ensemble

received a Gold Rating in Division I for the 4th consecutive year. The

Wind Ensemble will perform at the

Metropolitan Wind Band Invitational, held in partnership

with Music For All and Bands of America, at Roxbury High School

on Saturday April 18th. This festival

will feature the finest high school ensembles in the Metropolitan

area.

On Thursday March 26th the WHS Wind Ensemble was paid a visit by

the world-renowned conductor

Colonel Arnald D. Gabriel. Colonel Gabriel retired from the United

States Air Force Band, Symphony Orchestra and Singing Sergeants

as Commander/Conductor after a

distinguished 37-year military career. Following his retirement,

he was named Conductor Emeritus of the USAF Band with the

Rehearsal Hall/recording studio

named in his honor. He was awarded his third LEGION OF

MERIT for his service to the United States and to music education

upon his retirement.

As a conductor, Colonel Gabriel

has appeared with bands, major orchestras in all 50 states and in

more than 50 countries abroad. He also has conducted the Mormon

Tabernacle Choir. His 37-year military career began with his

service in World War II when he served as a combat machine

gunner with the United States

Army's famed 29th Infantry Division in Europe where he

received two Bronze Star medals, the Combat Infantry Badge and

the French Croix de Guerre.

Following his separation from the Army in 1946, Colonel Gabriel

enrolled in Ithaca College, New York, where he earned the BS

(1950), MS (1953), Honorary Doctor of Music (1989) and the

Lifetime Achievement Award

(1997).

Following his retirement from the military, Colonel Gabriel served on

the faculty of George Mason

University in Fairfax, Virginia (1985-1995) where he served as

Chairman of the Department of Music, conductor of the university

orchestra and was named

Professor Emeritus.

Colonel Gabriel is the youngest person to have been inducted into

the National Band Association Hall of Fame for Distinguished Band

Conductors.

Wind Ensemble and Conductor Colonel Gabriel


The WHS Concert Bands will present their Spring Concert on

Thursday May 14th at 7:30 pm in the WHS Auditorium.

Jazz Bands

WHS Jazz once again performed at

the Westfield Rotary Club Annual Pancake Day on Saturday March

7th.

WHS Jazz is pleased to announce

that Sean Nelson, trombonist with the United States Coast Guard

Band, will be joining the WHS Jazz Bands at their 2015 Spring Jazz

Concert on Friday June 5th at 7:30 pm in the WHS Auditorium.

Musician 1st Class Sean Nelson

plays trombone in the U.S. Coast Guard Band and the U.S. Coast

Guard Dixieland Jazz Band. In

addition, he is staff arranger for the concert band and music

director and lead trombonist for the Guardians Big Band.

As an arranger and composer,

Sean won the National Band

Association Young Composers Jazz Composition Contest and is a two-

time winner of Downbeat Magazine‟s Student Jazz Arranging

Contest. He attended the BMI Jazz

Composers Workshop, where he studied with Jim McNeely and Mike

Holober. He currently works as the arranger for Sam Houston State

University's Bearkat Marching

Band, writing new shows each season.

A native of Dallas, Texas, Sean

received a Bachelor of Music degree from Sam Houston State

University, studying trombone with

Henry Howey and a Master of Music degree from the University

of North Texas, studying trombone with Tony Baker and jazz

arranging with Paris Rutherford

and Rich DeRosa. While at North Texas, he was trombonist and

composer for the world renowned One O‟Clock Lab Band and sang

with the Jazz Singers I. Sean's trombone quartet won the

International Trombone

Association Quartet Contest and he was honorable mention in the

ITA's Frank Smith Solo Competition. He spent his

summers and winter breaks

playing in house bands on cruise ships for Princess Cruises and

Cunard Cruises. On Friday May 1st WHS Jazz will

host their Annual Westfield Jazz

Night, beginning at 6 pm in the WHS Courtyard. The night will

feature district jazz ensembles from Roosevelt Intermediate

School, Edison Intermediate School and Westfield High School.

Jazz Ensemble

Stage Band

The WHS Jazz Ensemble and Stage Band are scheduled for the

following performances throughout

the spring months:

April 25th – Stage Band at Livingston High School Jazz

Festival, Time TBA

May 1st – Both Bands at Annual

WHS JAZZ NIGHT, 6 pm, WHS Courtyard

June 5th – Both Bands at Spring

Band Concert, 7:30 pm, WHS

Auditorium

Region Ensembles Congratulations to those students

accepted to a 2015 CJMEA Region Ensemble!

Region II Orchestra

Dale Beyert, Trumpet

Region II Symphonic Band

Albert Chen, Bari Sax Michael Hauge, Clarinet Alistair Kapadia, Bassoon

All-State Band Congratulations to Albert Chen,

a Junior Bari Sax player, who was selected as a member of

the 2015 New Jersey All-State

Symphonic Band. Albert performed with the ensemble at

the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, NJ on Feb. 21st.


Indoor Color Guard Under the direction of Ashley

Pierce and Cheryl Gillick, the WHS Winter Guard has

traveled to competitions at West Milford High School,

South Brunswick High School

and Somerville High School. On April 18th the Winter

Guard will compete at Bridgewater-Raritan High

School and the group will

close out their competitive season at the Mid-Atlantic Indoor

Network Championships held at South Brunswick High School on

Saturday April 25th.

Europe Tour Forty eight WHS Band students will

travel on a performance tour of

Austria and the Czech Republic from April 7th through April 15th.

The tour will feature the WHS Ensemble in concert at Na

Marjance in Prague, at an outdoor

performance in the Schonbrunn Palace Gardens in Vienna and in a

joint concert with the Tractenmusikkapelle Alpine Brass

Band held in the Austrian Alps. The group will give a “send-off” concert

on Sunday March 29th at 3 pm at

the Temple Emanu-El in Westfield. Admission is free.

Marching Band

There will be an interest meeting for any prospective 2015 marching

band members (including current 8th graders) on Monday April 27th

at 7:30 pm in the WHS Choir

Room. Those attending should park in the side parking lot of WHS

off of Rahway Avenue and enter the school through entrance B3

and go up the stairs to the choir

room. Hope to see you there!

For more information regarding the Westfield High School Bands or affiliated groups, please see our website at www.westfieldhsbands.org

Winter Guard

WHS Choral Department

The Spring Choral Concert will take

place on May 19th. The concert will feature classical, traditional and

popular favorites sung by the WHS Mixed Chorus, Concert Choir,

Chorale and Bella Cora. There will

also be feature men's and women's pieces throughout the

concert as well including the five part a cappella women‟s spiritual,

My Soul's Been Anchored in the Lord (Hogan/Dilworth) as well as a

stunning men's chorus arrangement

of Simon and Garfunkel's, The Sound of Silence.

The students in the choirs have

been busy taking their

musicianship to the next level, learning how to sight-read in

various time signatures using solfege, a system of sight-singing.

The students are finding success singing in various keys without the

aid of the piano. The students in

mixed chorus have also been doing a significant amount of ear training

recognizing by ear the major scale intervals played for them on the

piano.

From April 7-15th many 10-12th

grade students in the choral department will be embarking on a

nine-day journey to Scotland and

England for a performance tour.

Some of the highlights of the tour will include touring the cities of

Edinburgh, Scotland and London, England. Students will give 2

formal and 4 informal concerts along the tour and in some

performances, sing alongside local

Scottish and English choirs.

On April 25th, WHS will have 16 students audition for the NJ All

State Chorus. The a cappella

audition consists of three scales (two diatonic, one chromatic), a

prepared solo, singing their part along with a quintet of voices and

a tonal memory test.

The WHS Orchestra program has

been very busy over the last few weeks. On February 27th, 2015

the Chamber Orchestra completed the first of its two scheduled

Westfield Elementary school tours.

The Chamber students, along with members of the Wind Ensemble,

were able to perform and demonstrate their instruments for

students at Wilson, Washington,

and Franklin Elementary Schools. They completed a second tour at

Jefferson, McKinley and Tamaques Elementary schools on March 27th.

On March 26th, 2015 we were

excited to have 3 musicians from

the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, assist and lead the

students in master classes catered for their specific instrument. This

was an exciting opportunity for our

students.

As we fast approach Spring Break, our students are busily preparing

for our Spring Concert season. The Symphony and Chamber

Orchestras will be performing on

May 6th, 2015 at 7:30PM in the Westfield High School Auditorium.

The Symphony is preparing works by Buxtehuede, Mahler and Yorke,

while the Chamber Orchestra is

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preparing pieces by J.S. Bach, Foote and Tchaikovsky.

In the Writing and Arranging

classes, students are continuing work on their own pieces and

collaborations. They have also begun expanding into longer and

more advanced musical forms.

Drama

The Westfield High School drama students are once again engaged

in furthering their studies of the

world of theatre. In Drama 1, the students have just completed an

investigation of Roman Theatre and its contributions to world

theatre. In addition to the

historical aspects of the period, the students also examined the

specific elements from the time period still seen in contemporary

theatre via the performance of scenes from the play California Suite, a comedy by Neil Simon.

The Drama 2 students are also exploring the world of comedy,

focusing on comedy and the Commedia dell‟Arte. This study will

also include scene work from the

contemporary comedy The Art of Dining, by Tina Howe. In Drama

3, the students are preparing for the annual Bucks County Student

One Act Play Festival, where they will perform on Friday, April 17,

2015. This year those

performances will be cutting from The Miss Firecracker Contest, by

Beth Henley and Five Women Wearing the Same Dress, by Alan

Ball. The Stagecraft students are

also continuing their exploration of the world of theatre, but their

focus is behind the scenes. Currently, the students are

learning the fundamentals of

lighting design and its various applications within the theatrical

production process. This unit will conclude with student pairs

reading a play and then designing a lighting plan for the show.

Urinetown, the Musical This March, the Westfield High

School Theatre Department produced the satirical musical

comedy Urinetown, the Musical, music and lyrics by Mark

Hollmann, and book and lyrics by Greg Kotis. Winner of three 2002

Tony Awards, including “Best

Director”, “Best Book of a Musical” and “Best Original Score”,

Urinetown imagines a neo-Brechtian, dystopian society where

private toilets have been banned,

and citizens must pay to use public facilities run by a greedy

corporation called UGC, or else face severe punishment. That is,

until a hero named Bobby Strong unwittingly becomes the leader of

a rebellion for the freedom to pee.

The show, a send-up of the big Broadway

musical, provided laughs, romance,

murder, show-stopping

songs, big dance numbers, and a variety

of musical styles that range from gospel to

jazz.

Urinetown, the Musical was yet another extremely successful

production which played to packed houses for all performances and

ended each with robust approval and standing ovations. Featuring

over 120 student actors,

technicians and musicians, the production clearly demonstrated

the myriad talents of the WHS fine arts students and their various

disciplines. The Friday before

opening night, the cast and crew had the opportunity to meet and

discuss the show with Lawrence Street, a member of the original

Broadway cast. Urinetown, the Musical continued the outstanding

theatre that Westfield High School

has become known for and rivaled recent Paper Mill Playhouse “Rising

Star” Award winning productions such as Sweeney Todd, Pippin and

Bat Boy.


Roosevelt

Intermediate

Art

The 6th graders in Mrs. Cohen‟s class just completed their

bookmark weavings. They learned 4 different stitches and also how to

weave in letters. They came out

AMAZING and will be displayed at the District Wide Art Show in May!

They are now working on pottery; incorporating the slab, coil

and/or pinch method!

The 7th graders just finished up

their pottery creations. They were required to make utilitarian vessels

and they too learned the coil, slab and pinch pot method.

My 8th graders are still working on their painted furniture projects

using acrylic paint. They are all turning out fantastic!!!

The 6th graders in Mr. Greenwood‟s classes at Roosevelt recently

completed artworks based on the artist Joan Miro. Students learned

about Miro‟s particular style of abstract work, his motivation and

the historical context in which he

worked. Based on Miro‟s WWII Constellation Series the student

project was to design and create a 3-D Miro like figure to be sculpted

in plaster and painted. Following

the Miro project the 6th grade students learned about

tessellations, a graphic design project, of multiple interlocking

repeating patterns and created their own tessellation designs.

Currently the 6th graders are

creating works based on the work of Carl Faberge. The students

learned the history of the famed Russian jeweler and the history

and development of the famous

Faberge Eggs. Students are now creating sculpting their own

ceramic egg designs.

Eighth grade students in Mr.

Greenwood‟s class recently completed a project where they

discussed the artwork of contemporary artist Romaro Britto

and the impact of color in art. Students were to design an art

piece in a Britto style. This was a

mixed media artwork of drawing and painting. Following the Britto

design the 8th grade students created 3-D mini billboards. The

concept was to put together

images that reflected opposites, a before and after or a rivalry. Then

the billboard gives the illusion of a transformation. Currently they are

working on a 3-D art history piece. The students were to research a

famous work of art and re-create it

using drawing or painting and mount the work on cardboard

dividing each work into multiple layers.

Music

RIS Bands

It is hard to believe, but the spring

is almost here! The RIS concert bands are entering the final stretch

and are preparing for the Spring Concert on Monday, June 1st.

Each band will be performing challenging and enjoyable

literature, featuring the works of

Hugh Stuart, Leroy Anderson, Gustav Holst and many more. The

8th grade band will be performing an extra concert, at the CJMEA

Concert Band Festival at Monroe

Township Middle School. They will have the opportunity to perform,

be adjudicated by leading music educators, and see other area

middle school bands. Mr. Doyle

and the 8th graders are excited for this opportunity. We would like to

thank the fine arts department and the Roosevelt PTSO for providing

the necessary funds to allow the band to travel to this festival. It

should be a very rewarding

experience for the students and teacher.

Two of the Roosevelt jazz

ensembles participated in the

annual Terrill in Tempo festival at Terrill Middle School. On March

25th, Morning Jazz and the Accidentals performed for an

audience of parents and other area middle school jazz bands. Al Chez,

former trumpet player for David

Letterman, did a short clinic with each group following their

performance. Working with a top professional in the music industry

is a rare occurrence. Mr. Doyle,

Mr. Stier and the students are extremely grateful for the


opportunity. All of the RIS jazz ensembles will be performing on

May 1st for the annual Westfield Jazz Night at WHS. This night

features all jazz bands from Roosevelt, Edison and WHS. It is a

great opportunity for all the

schools to come together and share a wonderful night of music

and food.

The Afternoon Ramble will also

perform on May 1st at Jazz Night. Mr. Doyle, Mr. Losco and Ms.

Lasky are excited to perform some new tunes, including music from

Chicago and Imagine Dragons. The kids are pretty excited too! Their

first performance will be on FAD

Day on April 1st, where they will rock out for an audience of their

peers and teachers!

The Roosevelt Chamber Ensembles

will also have their first performance of the year on FAD

Day on April 1st. Woodwind quintets, brass ensembles, a

percussion ensemble and a sax trio

will take the stage to perform for their peers. In addition to FAD,

these ensembles will perform at other school functions in the

spring, and on our Chamber Music Night, which is June 2nd.

Mr. Doyle would like to congratulate two students on their

acceptance to the CJMEA Intermediate Symphonic Band!

Alex Cha, 6th grade clarinet Michael Charlton, 8th grade

percussion

Both were accepted after

auditioning on January 31st. They went to several rehearsals that

culminated in a performance on March 22nd. Mr. Doyle would also

like to recognize 7th graders Clea

Demuynck (alto sax) and Max Tennant (trumpet) for auditioning

as well. These students spent countless hours preparing and the

dedication and discipline it took to do this is no small feat.

Congratulations to all who auditioned!

Drama

Students from RIS 8th grade

Drama Class pictured above Top row: Brianna Hatch, Rachel

Hamelburg, Alison Brown, Emma Hamilton, Megan Cassiba

Bottom row: Mary Joy Sidhom, Sofi

Toglia, Sarah Laide, Julia Sackett, Emma Downer and Sofia Lemberg.

New Jersey Drama and Forensics

League Theatrefest at Chatham

Middle School; 11 Students from the 8th grade Drama classes

participated in the 2015 Theatrefest on Saturday, March

21st. Students competed in four different events. There were 5

schools represented and 60

students competing.

Roosevelt Intermediate School

Results Comedic Monologue

1st Place Sofia Toglia 2nd Place Alison Brown

Comedic Pair

1st Place Sarah Laide and Sofia Lemberg

Dramatic Monologue

2nd Place- Brianna Hatch 3rd Place- Emma Hamilton

Dramatic Pair

1st Place Rachel Hamelburg and Julia Sackett

2nd Place Emma Downer and Mary Joy Sidom

Edison

Intermediate

Art The 6th and 7th grade students in

Mrs. Frees, Mrs. Hooper and Mr. Black‟s classes worked on a

Charles DeMuth project. The teachers worked together to create

a unified project for all the

students to be engaged during the weeks of testing. The students

were asked to incorporate line, shape, value, color and perspective

(elements of art review) into a

work on paper with colored pencil and watercolor. The results have

been great and the students enjoyed working on the lesson.


Students in Mrs. Frees Fine Arts class have been working on

drawing skills with various projects using line techniques. They

worked on a lesson on positive negative space to draw a tree

using texture. They were to use

hatching, crosshatching, stippling and some shading when

watercolor was applied. They used the negative space to fit in an

object in the negative space. The

students in Mrs. Hooper‟s class will be starting this same project. The

next lesson was about the work of Picasso and his use of unusual

shapes in his Cubist paintings. The students were to use shading and

blending with colored pencil to

create a creature that was a blend of shapes. We did an exercise

passing around a piece of paper in a group, each person contributing

one feature to a creature. The

students had a lot of fun working together. After this project they

were to find a still life object of meaning to them to create a line

drawing of that object. They were

encouraged to use pencil and oil pastel to create a realistic

representation of the object. Students learned next about the

surrealists and are choosing from the Abstract Surrealism of Miro to

the figurative work of Dali and

DeChirico to create they own work. They can choose the medium they

feel they work in best; paint, pencil, oil pastel or even a mixed

media work.

Students in Mr. Black‟s Fine arts class are finishing up a project on

three point perspective. They are working with markers that can be

used to show value. The students in both Mrs. Hooper and Mr. Black

were working on Mandala‟s to

show symmetry, explore Tibetan Art. The students worked hard to

create deep blended colors with colored pencil. The students in Mr.

Black‟s class are now working on

water based oil paint landscapes. They are doing a beautiful job with

this exciting medium.

Mr. Blacks and Mrs. Hooper‟s classes are working on coiled

baskets in both fiber and in clay.

They are going to start working with fusing glass and also puppetry

inspired by Jim Henson‟s Muppets. Mrs. Hooper‟s class explored the

Victorian art of pin art. This project

taught them about contour line, space and the use of light in art.

The students also worked on tin tiles working on creating relief and

texture. The students learned that

tin tiles were used in North American as an alternative to

expensive plaster ceiling tiles in European style homes.

Mrs. Hooper‟s classes worked with

drawing techniques to draw three versions of a still life object using

hatching, stippling and shading.


Music

EIS BANDS

Edison‟s band students are gearing

up for a very challenging Spring Concert series. The 6th and 7th

grade programs are full of exciting repertoire. Highlights include a

percussion feature called “Mallet

Maniacs,” Anne McGinty‟s “All the Pretty Little Horses,” and a staple

of band literature- “Elsa‟s Procession to the Cathederal” by

Richard Wagner. In addition to their repertoire, the students are

studying their scales, with a

chance to be named a Major Scale All-Star!

The 8th grade band is preparing for

their annual High Note Festival this spring. Their program includes

three iconic works: “Canto” by Francis McBeth, “Down a Country

Lane” by Aaron Copland and

“Valdres” by Johannes Hanssen. After studying such serious music

each week, they enjoy taking a break on Fridays with music from

“Pirates of the Caribbean.”

EIS‟ newest musical group, the

Percussion Ensemble, is making some noise on Friday mornings…

literally! They are working on an original composition for buckets,

pails and barrels. It‟s been a great opportunity to review rhythmic

vocabulary and it‟s a lot of fun too!

Spring is a busy time for the

Emerald Jazz Band as they prepare for their concert, the WHS Jazz

Night, AND the High Note Festival. Highlights include “Samba Para

Agua Azules” by Ray Ortiz, “Don‟t

Know Why” by Norah Jones and “Basic Basie” by John Edmondson.

Three students are representing

EIS at the CJMEA Band this year.

We‟re proud of them, and wish them luck!

Austin Chen, 8th grade trumpet Brooke Walden, 7th grade flute Aprina Wang, 6th grade horn

EIS Orchestra

The 6th grade Orchestra students are working exceptionally hard on

their Spring Concert repertoire. They have an exciting program

planned for June which includes

works by Franz Joseph Haydn, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Merle J.

Isaac, and Soon Hee Newbold. Having written many "musical

jokes" in his works, Haydn's Surprise Symphony is no exception! With

its playful dynamics and melody

line, Surprise Symphony is a crowd-pleaser. Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, written to commemorate Russia's defense of its motherland

against Napoleon's Army, is often

accompanied by cannon fire. But not to worry! The 6th Grade

Orchestra will not be using them in their June performance. We are

fortunate enough to have three bass players in our 6th Grade

Orchestra who will be featured in

Merle J. Isaac's Walking Basses. It's an upbeat, jazzy tune that the

students love and gives our basses a chance at the spotlight. Our

final selection, Mythos, by Soon

Hee Newbold, tells a musical story in three parts: Once Upon a Time, Fantasy and Final Victory. It's an aural delight for all ages!

The 7th grade Orchestra students

have some exciting music planned for their June concert as well!

Emperor Waltz, written by Johann Strauss II in 1889, is a lovely

arrangement that begins as a quiet

march before a sweeping crescendo heralds the statelier and

triumphant waltz section. Ask any middle schooler and they'll tell you

that one of the most up-and-

coming artists is Christina Perri. An American singer-songwriter from

Philadelphia, she has several hits on the radio including "Jar of

Hearts" and "Arms". However one of her most famous tunes is A Thousand Years, a selection from

the album "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Parts 1-2". The

students enjoy listening to this piece in its original state as well as

performing it in a beautiful

arrangement for string orchestra. Doug Spata's, Avatar is a class favorite in 7th grade. Reminiscent of video game

themes, the students really enjoy

this modern piece. "Clap along if you feel like a room without a

roof" to our last piece, Happy! Written by Pharrell Williams and

arranged by Larry Moore, this jazzy pop song will get any

audience moving!

For their final few months at EIS,

the 8th grade Orchestra is doing a LOT! With an exciting program

scheduled for their last concert,

with pieces ranging in genre from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to

a selection from the Broadway hit Wicked. In addition to a

fabulous program, the 8th grade Orchestra will also be visiting

Westlake School in Westfield, NJ to

perform for and play alongside, students with special needs. Some

of the students at Westlake School have been participating in a string

program and are extremely excited


to play along with our 8th graders. We would like to thank the

Westfield Coalition for the arts for providing the necessary funds to

allow this group to travel to Westlake School. It should be a

very rewarding experience for all

the students.

In June, the 8th Grade Orchestra is also looking forward to

performing in the High Note Festival, where they will be

adjudicated by judges at EIS and then head to Six Flags Great

Adventure for an afternoon of fun

and thrills! While these last three years have gone by quickly for

these students, they still have a lot to look forward to in their

last months at EIS.

We would like to congratulate two

students on their acceptance to the CJMEA Intermediate String

Orchestra!

Morgan Eng, 8th grade violin Dylan McCann, 6th grade viola

Drama

Another success at EIS with High School Musical!

EIS presented another rousing smash to their audiences this past

March 6th and 7th, when they

performed their rendition of High School Musical. The cast and

crew were in top form as they brought the twice sold out house

to standing ovations. Based on the Disney movie, the show included

over one hundred talented

students. The cast and crew worked together tirelessly to put

up a rousing rendition of this classic film. Take a bow cast and

crew of High School Musical. You

got your "Head in the Game", broke the "Status Quo", "Broke

Free" and proved you were "All in This Together" making Westfield

proud!

Franklin

Elementary

Art

The Franklin Art Students are certainly enjoying painting,

drawing and the use of markers

and crayon. Patterns and shapes are being explored and

experienced in a wide variety of projects. The idea of creating 3-D

sculptures, collages and positive

and negative shapes are a part of our next adventures.

The 2nd grade students are

completing their unit on “cropping”. They drew close up

animal faces and incorporated

them into a stylized background. The students viewed and

discussed the “cropped” flowers that Georgia O‟Keefe painted. They

became aware of how effective her

approach was in utilizing space. Model magic will be used next to

create an Owl. The art students will be made aware of their shapes

and how they can be joined together to model this sculpture.

The 3rd grade students will be learning how to create a Bird using

model magic. They will make observations on how they can

create a 3-D sculpture using this

medium. They are aware of proportion and this will assist them

in the construction of each shape and its size. They will join and

connect these forms together to

make the end result successful.

The 4th grade students have completed their unit on Value. A

smooth controlled shading technique was used to make their

9-step value scale. Stippling,

cross-hatching and Pointillism were


introduced while they experienced this technique. George Seurat and

his “Dot” were discussed and giggles could be heard throughout.

They will now move forward to positive and negative paintings.

Robert Indiana successfully used

letters in his artwork. We will be creating our letters using

fluorescent paint... should be fun and very colorful!

The 5th grade students are learning about Michael Albert and his art

movement called “Cerealism”. The artistry of advertising with its

colors and shapes stimulated the artist and his construction of

collages. The students will recycle

boxes of their favorite snacks and will create collages using many

colors, shapes and textures. The influence of this artist will certainly

play a role in the construction of

this project.

Under the direction of Mrs. Coveney, a positive and enjoyable

experience can be seen in her art

room. A variety of media is used and certainly artists and their work

play an important role in the Franklin Art Student‟s learning.

Music

Left foot, A space. Right hand, E

line. If you thought that sounded

a lot like Twister, then you‟re right. Students at Franklin have been

working on their note reading skills for the past month with games

such as treble staff Twister,

Noteworks, music staff bean bag toss, composition station and

many more. The third and fourth graders enjoyed these activities as

they rotated around the music

room to different music centers to reinforce their note reading skills

and dynamic concepts.

Some of the Franklin students also

had the opportunity to showcase their musical skills and knowledge

in front of an entire class of music

education students from Kean University. These Kean students

along with their professor got to observe the music teaching

process, various activities, and the

communication and social skills

developed in an actual music classroom as opposed to a college

classroom with their peers. The KU visitors were amazed by the

Franklin students‟ musical abilities as they demonstrated complex

four part rhythm canons, college

level aural skills and musical expression through creative

movement.

This April, 2nd graders will be

reinforcing their rhythm concepts learned throughout the year and

will be applying their knowledge through rhythm compositions,

poems and various ostinato chants to be accompanied on instruments.

In May, they will revisit the

instruments of the orchestra through the New York

Philharmonic website and go further in depth with each

instrument family.

Third graders will continue their

note and rhythm reading skills through our music station

exercises in which they are reading

and playing various pitched percussion instruments such as

boomwhackers and xylophones. When these students revisit the

instruments of the orchestra, they‟ll be keeping an instrument

log in which they get to rate the

instruments to help them narrow down which ones they prefer.

Hopefully this will help them with their instrument choice when Mr.

Furrer and Ms. Naylor demonstrate

the instruments later this year.

The 4th graders are really taking off these days and will continue to

develop their ensemble playing and listening skills as they

manipulate the rhythmic and tonal

building blocks this spring. In addition to our lessons on rhythm

and instruments of the orchestra, the 4th graders will continue

working on developing their


responsive movement skills to help develop their spatial and emotional

responses to music.

Arrrr me mateys! This year‟s 5th grade chorus concert will be taking

on the high seas as they learn how

to be a pirate through several songs like “Shiver Me Timbers” and

“Raise the Jolly Roger”. The Glee Club will also be singing some

pirate inspired songs such as

Bruno Mars‟ “Treasure” and Gilbert and Sullivan‟s “Pirate King” from

The Pirates of Penzance. This vocal concert will take place on

Tuesday, May 26th at 7:00 p.m. Following that concert, the 5th

graders will also be singing the

National Anthem at a Somerset Patriots game on Friday, May 29th

at 7:00 p.m.

Jefferson

Elementary Art

Winter is over- YAY! In Jefferson

we are welcoming all the vibrant colors of Spring!

Twenty Jefferson student artworks

were chosen to be displayed for Youth Art Month in downtown

businesses and more than 300

students from Pre-K-12th grade had their artworks displayed. We

hope you had a chance to check them out.

Since March is also “Music in our

Schools Month” we have just started to celebrate in the first

grades by learning about lines and

how a line is just a dot that goes for a walk. We listened to

different types of music and those dots had a great time dancing

across our pages! To celebrate

Spring we will be learning about

printmaking and using oil pastels and color tissue paper.

Second grade art students are

jumping into Spring by learning about several artists that were

famous for some of their flower paintings. Georgia O‟Keefe and

Vincent Van Gogh will be discussed

as the children learn to use a new media, the watercolor crayon.

Make sure that you child has brought a smock to school, we will

be jumping into our messy Native American paper mache projects

“Sun Dance Skulls”, very soon.

The 3rd graders are working hard

on their big group project of the year, Aboriginal X-Ray Paintings.

We compare the artworks of Australian Aboriginals with our

Native Americans and study color

theory and analogous color schemes. After their paintings are

finished we will be jumping into 3-dimensional sculptural projects

that use wood, metal and clay to make beautiful bugs.

Fourth graders have just finished

their one-point perspective cities

and they are FANTASTIC. This was a very difficult concept and we

are going to wind down a little with the next two projects focusing

on fine motor skills and repetitive

movement in art. This is a nice way to relax after a challenging

project.

The 5th grades are working on their big group project, the

sculptural sea creatures. They have paper mached the bodies and

heads, made glass eyes, sculpted

clay teeth and assembled many fins, using wire hangers. We are

just beginning the FABRIC mache process by attaching fabric mache

lips. Fins and scales will be next and we will use several new

techniques to paint these

creatures. I‟m very excited about

displaying these in the art show in May!

Music

The 1st grade has been busy

comparing styles with “This Old Man”, “Counting Up the

Dinosaurs”, doing “The Dinosaur Dance”, dancing “The Groundhog

Jig” and learning about Dynamics and Texture. Heading into April,

we will be reading rhythms, going

“Out in the Garden”, singing “The Itsy Bitsy Spider”, “Take Me Out to

the Ballgame” and “The Seventh Inning Stretch”.

Second graders heard the old tale

about the giant named “Abiyoyo”,

learned the song “P-U-N-X-S-U-T-A-W-N-E-Y” (Phil), studied the

musical tale of “Peer Gynt”, sang the “Circus Parade” and Aaron

Copland‟s “Circus Music” from The Red Pony. Coming up in April will

be “I Had an Old Coat”, “Wiggle

Worm/Statue”, “Won‟t You Wiggle With Me” and other songs to

welcome in the Spring.

Studying the Instruments of the Orchestra, the 3rd graders sang

“The Color of Music”. For St.

Patrick‟s Day, we learned a jazzy tune called “Top „O The Music To

You”. In April, we will review our facts about rhythm, singing

partner songs “Sandy Land, Skip to My Lou and Bow Belinda” as well

as ostinatos, “The Wheel of the

Water” and with the warmer weather approaching “Take Me

Out to the Ballgame”.

Fourth Graders had fun learning a variety of songs: “The Wreck of

the Edmund Fitzgerald”, “Paddy Works on the Railroad”, “Sweet

Betsy from Pike” and the partner

song “Pick-A-Little/Talk-A-Little” from The Music Man. The best

part of our lessons has been composing our own melodies and


in some cases performing them on our instruments for the class. On

St. Patrick‟s Day we played “Jolly Jack” and sang “Top „O The Music

To You” for some extra fun. April will be a month of rhythm, with

songs “Side By Side”,

“Clementine”, “Oklahoma Land Rush” and “Inchworm”.

Jefferson‟s 5th grade classes are

working hard on their Spring Musical, “Dig It!” by John Jacobson

and Roger Emerson. We invite you to come see the show on

Wednesday, April 22nd as Taki,

Tut, Lucy and Jefferson School‟s 5th Grade Chorus takes you back in

time to explore the wonders of ancient civilization. Songs will

include: “So Long Ago”, “The Land

Between Two Rivers”, “In My Tomb”, “Empires of the East”,

“Greece Is The Word”, “Toga Party Tonight”, “Here‟s To the Future”

and “Reprise: So Long Ago”.

Performance time is 7:00pm.

We would also like to thank our

student teacher from Kean

University, Mr. Kyle Hill, for his enthusiasm and leadership over

the past two months. As he moves on to another assignment in

secondary instrumental music at

Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School, we wish him all of life‟s

best!!

McKinley

Elementary Art

First grade artists are finishing

their overlapping unit by completing their Mondrian inspired

cut paper collage made of primary colors. The students will then

create their own super hero by

understanding the relationship between overlapping and erasing.

Moving onto a new printmaking unit, the students will construct

their own stamps by folding paper in various ways and then inking

the ends of their paper stamp to better understand shape,

repetition, pattern and balance in a

work of art. The students have grown so much this year and these

messy projects are much more manageable now, as they have a

better handle on the materials.

The 2nd grade students are going to experiment with lines as it

relates to paper weaving. The students will be studying Ghana‟s

rich culture and their use of the

Kente cloth. The students will learn that each color used to create their

Kente cloth represents a core value for that individual. The

students describe their own values

through selecting colors for their weaving and associating them with

these values. Once completed with their weaving, the students will be

given a chance to design and decorate their paper weaving. It

will be interesting to see what

colors the students choose and why they chose them.

Third Grade students will construct their own foam stamp and then

print from this stamp. The students will then be introduced to

various graphic paper patterns and

materials to collage their prints together. Overlapping, cropping

and composition will be discussed and utilized to complete their

collage. Once the students are

finished, we will be framing all of their small collages using old

frames that were just found in McKinley‟s storage. What a great

find! The students are really excited to see their work presented

so professionally.

Fourth Grade students are

studying the works of Salvador

Dali and Rene Magritte to better understand the very whimsical and

unique art movement of surrealism. The students will

create their own surrealist work by

transforming a traced silhouette of themselves into a dreamy image


where the lines of reality and fantasy are blurred.

After studying realism, modeling a portrait through clay and

constructing a 3-D cubist piece, the 5th grade students will move

onto the final movement of study

for their portrait unit, Pop Art. Transferring photographs of

themselves onto canvas via modge podge will allow them to utilize a

new technique of image making.

From here, the students will abstract their works with saturated

color through painting on top of these pictures, collage logos from

items they use and turn their canvas into a picture plane filled

with popular culture.

Music

McKinley 1st grade celebrated

Music in Our Schools Month by

reading a great story called, “Giraffe's Can't Dance”. We

learned about a giraffe named Gerald who discovered what kind

of music he loved. We talked

about what music makes us dance and created pictures of us dancing

to our favorite songs with Gerald the giraffe!

McKinley 2nd graders celebrated Music in our Schools Month after

hearing a story about a young boy who works to find his musical

passion. We created music notes

that talk about our favorite things about music.

Third grade students at McKinley

learned about how people make music around the world. In

particular, we saw how steel

drums are made and what music of the steel drums sounds like. We

created musical hands that talk about how we make music.

The 4th graders at McKinley have been busy working on raps and

songs accompanied by beat boxing. We learned how to beat

box last month and are now using

a program called incredibox to come up with awesome beats of

our own. The 4th graders also just recently composed music that they

played on the instrument of their

choice. The music they created followed character traits of the

characters in Green Eggs and Ham. They had to show how the

characters mood and emotions changed through their music.


The 5th graders at McKinley have

been hard at work on their Spring Chorus music. Our concert is on

May 26th which features the

theme of Hope. In class we have been focusing on the importance

of music through watching short TED talks. Students have been

utilizing the iPads in class as well to play games such as Rhythm cat

and to do research. For Music in

our Schools Month, they created a bulletin board based on the Disney

Movie “Up” called, Music Lifts Me Up. Below is a picture of their

work!

Tamaques

Elementary Art

Students in 1-R and 1-M were busy

creating bucolic landscapes, which

featured whimsical little sheep. The children learned about

foreground, middle ground, and background. Objects that are in

the foreground are larger than

those in the background. Did you

know that 2015 is the Year of the Sheep according to Chinese

zodiac?

The 2nd graders in Mrs. Massenzio‟s classes are ready for

Spring! Students enjoyed painting beautiful seascapes and added

majestic sailboats to complete

their pictures. Classes learned that a horizon line is where the land

and sky meet. The lesson integrated art and creative writing,

by having the children write a story or poem about their pictures

in their classrooms.

What is sakura? That‟s the

Japanese word for cherry blossom! The 3rd grade 3-F2 students in Mrs.

Massenzio‟s class learned all about the National Cherry Blossom

Festival which commemorates the

1912 gift of 3,000 cherry trees from the Mayor of Tokyo to the

city of Washington, DC. The gift and annual celebration honor the

lasting friendship between the United States and Japan and the

continued close relationship

between the two countries. The children created impressive cherry

blossoms, painted in a Japanese style. If you get a chance, you can

visit Washington, DC from March

20-April 12 and experience the Festival for yourself!

Fourth grade students will be

studying New Jersey and Mrs. Massenzio wanted the children to

learn all about our state bird. Each class created beautiful mixed

media pictures of the Eastern

Goldfinch. Texture, shape and space were stressed in this lesson.

This striking songbird is common throughout the area. It is easily

recognizable, with its bright yellow

colored body and black and white wings and tail. John James

Audubon was a naturalist and a very famous painter of American

birds. Students were introduced to

this artist and it helped develop an understanding and appreciation for

his unique contribution to the study of birds in their natural

surroundings.

Fifth grade students were fascinated to learn that there is an

animal that can change color, look

in two different directions at the same time and has a tongue that

is 1 ½ to 2 times the length of its body! Mrs. Massenzio read the

story; Chameleons are Cool by Martin Jenkins. They used Model

Magic to create their own 3-D

chameleons. The children learned that sculpture is 3-

dimensional, having height, width and volume. They created texture

by experimenting with various

tools. They learned that form describes something 3-dimensional. It

was interesting to learn that there are approximately 160 species of

chameleons. Almost half of the

world‟s chameleon species live on the island of Madagascar and most

of the rest live on the mainland of Africa.

Music

Through the past few months,

students have fine-tuned their knowledge of pitch, rhythm, tempo

and style through various activities and games. Our 1st graders have

developed their ear training to identify melodic direction and basic

interval recognition in the “Steps &

Skips” game. The knowledge of how Treble Clef notation with

accidentals applies to the piano layout has allowed the 3rd graders

to create “Keyboard Bingo” to

practice their skills. The 4th and 5th grades have enjoyed playing

“Tempo Traffic” and have memorized many tempo terms in

the process. In addition to these activities, the structure and routine

of their classes has allowed them


to progress with Solfege sight-reading, rhythm dictation and

music history.

Due to a scheduling conflict, the 5th Grade Band & Chorus Spring

Concert at Tamaques School has been RESCHEDULED. The concert

has now been moved to

THURSDAY, MAY 7th, 7:00pm... and what a concert it will be! The

theme of the concert reviews the classic elements developed by

philosophers Empedocles and Aristotle – Earth, Fire, Wind and

Water. The choir will review each

element in songs such as Song of the Wind, My Maple Tree and Me, Tres canciones de los Elementos and Burn.

Tamaques & Washington 4th & 5th Grade Band

The Tamaques and Washington 4th grade bands are busy preparing

for their Spring Concerts. In addition to their weekly lessons,

the students are participating in

the weekly before school band rehearsals. Selections for the

spring concerts include favorites: “Old MacDonald had a Band”, “Hard Rock Blues”, “When the Saints Go Marching In” and many others!

The Washington and Tamaques 5th

grade bands are also preparing for their Spring Concert. The 5th

grade band will perform “Reason To Rock”, a piece inspired by the

music of “Chicago, Blood, Sweat &

Tears, Tower of Power and Earth Wind and Fire”. The band is also

working on “Turbo Rock”, “Midnight Mission”, “BandRoom Boogie” and “Warp Speed!” The concerts are free and open to

the public. Come hear our exciting

progress!

Congratulations to all of the Washington and Tamaques Band

students who were accepted into the 2015 All City Band!

Washington

Elementary Art

With spring approaching, busy art

bees have been hard at work over in Washington School. First

graders have been studying

African art. Adire Eleko cloths from Nigeria inspired a painting

where the 1st graders were able to explore rhythm and repetition

through a variety of points, lines

and shapes. From here, the African studies have moved to a

landscape painting with a sunset in the background and silhouettes of

giraffes, elephants and a tree in the foreground.

The 2nd graders wrapped up their

Chinese New Year studies and

have focused on dinosaurs. Foil reliefs are currently being made of

either a stegosaurus or a parasaurolophus. They have

broken down the dinosaurs into basic shapes and composed

accurate deigns of these creatures.

The 3rd graders learned a bit about

the Northwest Coast Native Americans and created a

landscape mimicking the terrain of the North West coastal region in

the U.S and Canada. They also

included a raven and moon drawn in the style of these Native

Americans.

In the 4th grade classes they have continued their 20th century art

studies and have moved onto Expressionism. Studying artists

like Edvard Munch and Wassily

Kanindsky, the 4th graders have learned to create abstract

compositions utilizing emphasis, unity and balance.

Fifth graders have been diligently working on their portraits. They

are a true example of how practice really does create improvement.

Staring hard into their mirrors, these students have learned the

proper proportions of the face and

how to apply color and shading.

Music

The year is moving along at lightning speed here at

Washington School! We‟ve already

had our last sing-a-long assembly of the year and we are closing in

on our Spring Concert. All of the students have been busy learning

a variety of musical concepts, most recently the concept of tone color

and timbre.

Tone color and timbre or, the

sound of an instrument, is an exciting unit for the students.

Being a band director at RIS, I was

able to bring in and demonstrate a number of instruments from each

family including the saxophone, flute, tuba, double bass, bassoon

and a variety of percussion instruments, to name a few! We

talked about what characteristics

an instrument has to have to


belong to a certain family, how we can describe the sound of each

instrument and how a composer uses those instruments when

writing music.

We‟ve also been spending time

learning a number of songs including Waltzing Matilda, which

is an Australian song that I learned while in Australia this past

summer. The students are having

fun learning songs without the pressure of a performance and I‟m

happy to be able to teach songs that I believe have value for them!

The 5th Grade Chorus has been working very hard to put together

a great concert in the spring. They

will be performing pieces around the theme of “rivers”. We have a

number of student soloists performing for the concert and I‟m

sure it will be a big hit! The spring

concert is on Tuesday, May 26th at 7:00PM, and we hope to see you

there!

All in all, the school year has been

a blast, and we‟re not done yet! The students still have a lot to

learn over the next few months so that they‟ll be prepared for what‟s

in store next year! Happy Spring to everyone from Washington School!

Wilson

Elementary Art

The 1st grade students of Wilson

School are currently working on

their sculpture unit. They are learning about 3-dimensional form

as they create fantastic fish sculptures. These super sea

creatures are formed with

newspaper and plaster and will be

painted with neon colors when they are complete.

The 2nd grade is also focusing on

sculptural form. They are researching different birds online

and in library books. After

choosing a favorite, they will create their armature and then

plaster their work. They will finish up with paint, feathers and

assorted trims. Look for an exciting

display of fine feathered friends at the District Art Show!

“Sweet Treats” plaster sculpture!

Grade Three Wilson School

The 3rd grade is focusing on

Cubism and Pablo Picasso. They have learned that the artist could

paint realistic portraits perfectly when he was a young child and

that he became bored with realism and set out to express himself in

new innovative ways. To better understand Cubism, they had fun

creating cut paper collage portraits complete with multiple perspective

viewpoints!

The students in 4th grade finished

up their unit on one point perspective and have begun

creating landscape paintings.

These expressive landscapes provide a stark contrast to their

linear geometric room drawings. They are learning about fore,

middle and background in composition and will also

experiment with textural surfaces

by mixing paint, pencil shavings and chalk pastel.

The 5th graders are beginning their

unit on Pop Art. They will study

Andy Warhol and Claus Oldenberg and create prints as well as

sculpture.

Please see page 20 for ways you can help or donate to the Westfield Coalition for the Arts. The Westfield Coalition for the Arts

donations benefiting so many students throughout the district

this year include: Master Classes for WHS Chorale, Orff Instruments

for Franklin School, Supplies for

student Sculpture Program at RIS, 3 Gretsch Drum Sets & Cases for

EIS, RIS & WHS, 3 Amplifiers for RIS Music Dept, 25 Choir Robes for

WHS, Partial funding for Teacher

Workshops & Conferences, Clinician Fees to provide

masterclasses for WHS Band Program, Apple TV for RIS, Bus for

EIS 8th grade Orchestra field trip to Westlake School.


Lincoln

School

Our preschoolers have been exploring with different methods of

painting and sculpting. Shaving cream prints were a favorite

among the students. Spring is FINALLY upon us, so our littlest

students will be learning all about

nature‟s colors. Rainbows and flowers will be our focus as we

enjoy the warmer weather.

Preschoolers love shaving cream art!

Our kindergarteners worked

meticulously to create cubist Sesame Street portraits. They

were excited to share them with family, friends and the Lincoln

School Community at the annual

sing-a-long. We have a very busy two months ahead of us at Lincoln

School now that our sing-a-long is completed; it‟s time to start

preparing for graduation to 1st

grade. Some special projects are planned as we “Reach for the

Stars” and “Soar towards Success”.

Cubism Portraits

The kindergarteners at Lincoln School have been working very

hard to prepare for their Sing-a-

Long on March 26th. The Sesame Street themed Sing-a-Long had

many exciting surprises including a visit from Elmo! They sang classic

Sesame Street songs and even did

some sign language. Four different shows were held throughout the

day to accommodate all the students and their families. It was

a terrific day!

To be placed on our email distribution list for Arts a la Carte, please email your name to: [email protected] Subject: Arts a la Carte and look for our June issue in your inbox.

Lincoln School Sesame Street Sing-a-long

mailto:[email protected]


Westfield Coalition for the Arts

FALL 2014

Dear Westfield Parents: The mission of the Westfield Coalition for the Arts is to act as an advocate for the arts, including music, drama, visual arts, and dance in the Westfield Public Schools, by speaking out on behalf of the arts, maintaining public awareness and utilizing source of community, financial and philosophical support. Each year we award grants to different arts programs in the schools based upon applications submitted to us from the Westfield Schools’ faculty. Last year, we were happy to award over $20,000 in grant money for the following: Special Guest Conductor of the Rutgers Children’s Choir, Dr. Rhonda Hackworth works with McKinley’s 5

th Grade Choir; new

String Instruments for Edison School; helped to fund cost for WHS Wind Ensemble to attend the Avery Fischer Festival in NYC; aided in the development and expansion of the WHS Winter Guard; purchased a new choral riser for the WHS choirs; bought materials needed for an interactive art project at Jefferson School where the 5

th graders

collaborated with professional, contemporary artist, Dan Reeder; Maureen Francis, opera-singer and voice teacher works with the WHS Concert Choir on elements of vocal technique and expression. We are so fortunate to live in a community that reveres the arts and believes strongly in nourishing the diverse talents of our youth. Demonstrate YOUR commitment to the arts by making a donation today. With your donations we are able to assist the vocal music, fine art, and theatre programs at the elementary, intermediate and high school levels. We are an independent, not-for-profit organization, and we depend solely on the generosity of parents and supporters. In addition, the Coalition is interested in your ideas, suggestions, and comments and hope that you will take the time to email us at [email protected]. PLEASE “LIKE” US ON FACEBOOK AND VISIT OUR NEW WEBSITE: www.WestfieldCoalitionForTheArts.weebly.com. We look forward to hearing from you! Thank you for your support.

~ Margaret Smith, W.C.A. President

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Yes, I/we would like to GIVE. I/we will donate

Benefactor $500 Sponsor $75

Angel $200 Sustaining Member $50

Patron $100 Donation $_______

In appreciation of your gift of $75.00 or more, your name will print in the Winter & Spring concerts programs. Name: __________________________________________________________________________ (If donating $75 or more, please print the name as you would like it to appear in the programs.) Email: _________________________________________________Phone: _________________________ Westfield Public School (where youngest child attends): _____________________________________

Yes, I am interested in volunteering with the Coalition. Check here:

Please make checks payable to Westfield Coalition for the Arts, and mail to:

WCA Treasurer, 562 Pierson St., Westfield NJ 07090

arts a la cartepage 3 april 2015 - may 2015 arts a la carte america, at roxbury high school mrs....

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