Aug. 14th The First Few Days
     Well, we're off an running..... The first few days are always a blur, but I wanted to make them count so this week with the K- 3rd graders we are diving right in and starting out by  reading the the children's book, "The Dot", by Peter Reynolds.  It is about a girl named Vashti and her struggle to draw for the teacher.  See the link below for a quick clip

      
     Because Vashti found that her non-objective "dot" art was fun and helped her express her emotions, it was a great time for us to study the master artist, George Seurat, who was famous for his pointillism.  One of his most famous works is "Sunday Afternoon on the Isle of La Grande Jette".

Georges Seurat spent over two years painting A Sunday Afternoon, focusing meticulously on the landscape of the park. He reworked the original as well as completed numerous preliminary drawings and oil sketches. He sat in the park, creating numerous sketches of the various figures in order to perfect their form. He concentrated on the issues of colour, light, and form. The painting is approximately 2 by 3 meters (7 by 10 feet) in size.
Motivated by study in optical and colour theory, Seurat contrasted miniature dots of colors that, through optical unification, form a single hue in the viewer's eye. He believed that this form of painting, called divisionism at the time but now known as pointillism, would make the colors more brilliant and powerful than standard brush strokes. The use of dots of almost uniform size came in the second year of his work on the painting, 1885-86. To make the experience of the painting even more vivid, he surrounded it with a frame of painted dots, which in turn he enclosed with a pure white, wooden frame, which is how the painting is exhibited today at the Art Institute of Chicago

     The 4th and 5th graders will create a original t-shirt design for the upcoming Children's Day Celebration.  This is a real world experience and they will be entered into a contest where the winner's design will be chosen for next year's t-shirt design.  This  effort is an extension of our  Family Resource center here at Highland and our family resource person, Mrs. Becky Honeycutt.  The specifics for the contest are listed below:

Children’s Day Celebration

Poster Contest

On Wednesday, November 20, 2013 our community will be celebrating Children’s Day.  Children’s Day is a day dedicated to honoring and celebrating our children and looking for ways to improve our children’s welfare. A Children’s Day poster contest will be one of the many activities leading up to this day.

The Children’s Day Celebration poster contest is open to all school students in Barren County. Our theme for the poster contest is “Children’s Day Celebration”. The posters should measure 12”X18”.

Four winners will be chosen from all schools (1 winner from High School students, 1 winner from Middle School students, and 2 winners from Elementary school students). Winners will receive a $50 Chamber Gift Certificate. Poster winners will be displayed at the Plaza Theatre and will be used to promote Children’s Day next year.

The poster contest entries will be accepted through September 24th. Students are asked to write their name, grade, and school on the back of each poster. Each school will choose their top three entries and these three entries will be dropped off at Community Medical Care which is located at 200 South Race Street, Glasgow. The top poster will then be chosen to use as the logo for our Children’s Day Celebration t-shirt, and to promote our event. Pre-orders for t-shirts will begin October 7^th and end on November 6^th. The costs of the t-shirts will be $10.

For more information contact your Family Resource and/or Youth Services Center at your school or Tina Combs at Community Medical Care at 659-0229.