Welcome to 6th Grade Art 2012-2013
Dear Students and Parents,
This year in 6th
grade, every student takes art class. I
am very excited and honored to have the opportunity to lead students though the
6th grade art curriculum. I
have a few things I would like to share with you about what our year in art
will look like.
1.
Goals: (A
few of my goals for the year).
a.
Create a fun and
positive learning environment for each student.
b.
Challenge each
student to think, problem-solve, be creative, and grow.
c.
Share my love and
passion for art (hopefully it becomes contagious).
d.
Enhance each
student’s artistic vocabulary/understanding of the art elements and principles.
e.
Clearly
communicate weekly through family access and share pictures on the 6th
grade art blog.
2.
Expectations: (A few things I appreciate from students in the art room).
a. Come to art class prepared with a pencil each session.
b. Come with a positive attitude and willingness to work.
c. Come ready to give your best and use art time to its
fullest!
3.
Pacing:
a.
Each class comes to
art once a week, which is 35 times this year.
Once you factor in snow days, days off, assemblies, band/choir concerts
etc… we may have less than that original 35.
b.
Please be patient
(everyone). Many of our projects take
four or more sessions to complete, so as we only meet once a week, that
translates to a month or longer for most of our projects.
c.
There may be long
stretches of time where student artwork will be at school. All artwork will be sent home by the end of
the year.
d.
Overall, we move
slowly but produce high quality work!
4.
Classroom Behavior: (With time at such a premium, I have high
expectations for student behavior).
a.
Positive
attitude, positive participation, and positive comments.
b.
Use work time in
a productive manner, try your best, and do not give up!
c.
Respect each
other and the classroom.
5.
Grades:
(I use the traditional 4.0 letter grade system).
a.
I grade based on
two things: The artwork and participation/effort.
b.
Each time a student
is in class, they earn or lose up to five points. At the end of the marking period, these
points are tallied and count as a project grade. This is the participation/effort grade.
c.
I grade the
artwork based on several factors:
i.
The main learning
objectives of the project.
ii.
Craftsmanship,
this is how neat and orderly the artwork is.
iii.
Use of class
time, I analyze if students are “on task” and how well they use work time.
iv.
Effort/attitude
(listening, following directions, helping during clean up, etc…)
6.
Homework:
(There is usually no homework).
a.
There may be a
writing assignment or two sent home as homework, an information sheet will
accompany any such assignments.
7.
Make-up Work: (If you are a slow artist or miss an art session, there are many ways
to catch up).
a.
All assignments
in each marking period must be completed before grades are due, that is usually
one week before the end of the marking period.
i.
Connect time. Just get a pass from Mr. VandenBerg and come
work.
1.
East = Tuesdays
2.
North = Thursdays
ii.
Before or after
school. I make myself available before
or after school on Monday thru Thursday.
Please officially schedule ahead of time to ensure I do not have a time conflict
of some kind.
1.
East = Mondays
and Tuesdays
2.
North =
Wednesdays and Thursdays
iii.
Lunch time. Again, please schedule ahead of time so I
know you are coming.
1.
East = Mondays
and Tuesdays
2.
North =
Wednesdays and Thursdays
8. Project
Outlook: (A quick look at our units).
·
1 point
perspective drawing
·
Color: abstract
color wheel and color scheme painting
·
Pottery: Native
American Indian pinch pots
·
Printmaking:
Designing a cover for an autobiography
·
Cubism: Art
history and an abstract self-portrait
·
Realistic
observational drawing
Thanks for reading! I look forward to a great year!
Sincerely,
Mr. VandenBerg
6th Grade Art Teacher
I have purposely left many of last year's posts up so you can see a few previews of what we will be doing this year.
