Mr. VandenBerg's Art Classes

6^th Grade Art

Dear Students and Parents,

This year in 6^th grade, every student takes art class. I am very excited and honored to have the opportunity to lead students though the 6^th 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 often through family access and share pictures/give lesson summaries on the 6^th grade art blog = http://vandenbergartclasses.blogspot.com

2. Expectations for behavior: (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. Keep comments positive!

c. Come ready to give your best and use work time to its fullest! Stay on task! Don’t give up!

d. Respect each other and the classroom/materials. BE A GOOD LISTENER!

e. Do you own work, never draw on someone else’s art work.

3. Pacing:

a. Each class comes to art once a week, which is 35 times this year at best. Once you factor in snow days, days off, assemblies, band/choir concerts etc… we will have less than that.

b. Please be patient. 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. Discipline:

a. The art room should be a safe, quiet environment where students feel free to focus, be creative, and explore/experiment with the learning objectives.

b. We will build a social contract early in the year which we will need to abide by.

c. I want the best for each student, I want each student to have fun and enjoy art time, but there are circumstances that require a discipline framework.

d. I like to use the old baseball “Three Strikes & You’re Out” for regular minor offenses (talking too much, wasting work time, distractions, etc…)

i. Strike 1 = “four questions” and a verbal reminder.

ii. Strike 2 = “four questions”, verbal warning, and possible demerit or lunch detention.

iii. Strike 3 = Behavior discussion, “four questions”, lunch or after school detention, parent phone call, possible trip to the office.

e. Three demerits in a semester will equal a detention.

f. Three times being tardy to class in a semester will equal a detention.

5. Homework: There is usually no homework unless a student is absent for an art class.

6. Make-up Work: (If you are a slow artist or miss an art class, 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 is a great way to get caught up if you are behind.

Just get a pass from Mr. VandenBerg to come in during connect on:

1. Wednesdays

2. Fridays

7. Grades: (I use the traditional 4.0 letter grade system).

a. I grade based on two things: The artwork and participation/effort.

b. Participation/Attitude/Effort: Each time a student is in class, they earn or lose up to five points. At the end of each recording period, points are tallied and count as a participation/effort grade.

c. Artwork: I grade the artwork based on several factors:

i. The main learning objectives of the project (50%)

ii. Craftsmanship, this is how neat and orderly the artwork is (25%)

iii. Creativity and originality (25%)

8. Project Unit Outlook: (A quick look at our units).

· Drawing: One point perspective drawing

· Painting: Radial design color wheel

· Painting: Emotional analogous color scheme painting

· Pottery: Native American Indian inspired pinch pots

· Printmaking: Designing a cover for an autobiography

· Cubism: Art history and an abstract self-portrait

· Drawing: Realistic observational drawing

· Drawing: scratchboard

Thank you for taking the time to get to know the 6^th grade art program a little better. I look forward to having a great year with the 6^th grade students. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at nvandenberg@rockfordschools.org or 616-863-6140 ex. 1234.

Sincerely,

Mr. VandenBerg

6^th Grade Art Teacher

East Rockford Middle School

This year for a bit of Art History we studied Pablo Picasso and the art style he created, Cubism. The main characteristics of Cubism are geometric lines and shapes with lots of overlapping. There were two main phases of Cubism: Analytical and Synthetic.

We made these Cubist self-portraits mixed media to help the abstraction. In each of these we used pencil, colored pencil, crayon, visual texture, markers, oil pastel, and collage. There were several drawing techniques taught along the way such as a value fade with pencil, gradient color blend with colored pencil, texture rubbings with crayon, and gradient color blend with oil pastel. I also gave students the option to use a color scheme to enhance their projects.

In the earlier Analytical style of Cubism the person is broken up, analyzed, and reassembled abstractly; often past recognition. This style has less color and more value. The person and the background are treated the same, creating a very flat sense of space.

This is one of my Analytical Cubist examples with a traditional color scheme for this style; plus orange for fun!

In the later Synthetic style of Cubism the person is broken up and reassembled with simplified geometric shapes, generally in order of where they should be making the person easier to see. This style is usually more colorful. The background is usually treated differently than the person.