Jan. 2nd - 4th.
       To set the mood for this week's artwork we began class by discussing how and why the different seasons occur.  We discussed local weather patterns and about the location of the earth in relation to the sun and the other planets.  We used a globe to show how the earth rotates on it's axis once a day.  I demonstrated to the students how it takes 365 days for the earth to travel around the sun and how the tilt of the earth on it's axis either makes us closer to the sun or further away at different point along it's journey, thus making it either summer or winter depending on its location.  We also talked about the equator and the northern and southern hemispheres.
       Since the winter season is in full force we  painted a seasonal portrait of a snowman using the medium of tempera paint.  The art elements and principles discussed include emphasis, or focal point, with the snowman being the most important subject in the painting due to it's size and placement.  We also discussed how using the contrasting color of white on the black background brings attention to the snowman.  Since we are using a neutral color scheme of black, white and gray, the black tree is less important because of the lack of contrast with the background color. We talked about the repetition of the shape of a circle as seen in the the body of the snowman and the decorative elements and the snow falling in the sky.  This painting has a asymmetrical balance since there is only a tree on one side.  Below are examples of the snowmen that the children painted.