Apple Fest Makery

Thank you to all the volunteers and participants who made Apple Fest a huge success.  It was, yet again, a wonderful celebration of our collective creativity with a vertiginous array of opportunities to explore fall themed materials, get adorned and get messy BNS artsy-style.

Hairweaving

Whoa. Bill fell under the spell of children with paintbrushes!

This looks like Makey Makey to me. I'll bet those bananas sang songs! 

So, we were encouraged to pull (I mean really pull, cuz its not easy) the sheep's wool out! Then we had a mini yarn rolling contest. Wool is AMAZING! And so cozy. Thank you, sheep!

The mandala. And some dance steps.

Speaking of dancing. The zombies had a blast.

Bubbles and face paint!

Thanks for painting faces MaryAnn! You're the best.

Thanks everyone.  

Photos courtesy of Justin Weiner and Mollie McQuarrie

   

Fourth Graders Reflect on the Algonquian Museum

In second, third, fourth grade and fifth grade we have "museums." In second grade we studied islands and had a museum that showed islands we made. Then we studied bridges and made bridges. In third grade we had the China and Africa museum and in fourth grade we study Native Americans. 

We learned about the Native Americans' daily activities, objects they used and how they survived by using only what they needed. We made wampum belts, clothing, weapons, baskets and games and lots of dioramas. Some dioramas have corn husk dolls.
-by Tallulah, Thalya and Gigi

Our museum was about the Algonquins, a group of native americans that roamed most of New York and beyond. Our museum

was about these peoples. Families and other classes visited.

We made dioramas, clothing and wampum belts. In order to make these things, it required months of study and weeks of coming up with ideas.

Our museum was fun and exciting. Many children and grown ups enjoyed our projects, which required a lot of creativity, learning and skill.
-by Anna



In the 4th grade we learned about the Algonquins. We learned about how  they made fishing nets, baskets, and how to throw a spear using a special tool called an "atl atl."

For our Algonquin Museum an event we hold every year we made many of these things during "project time." We have various materials available to us and parents and teachers help us make things. When we finish the projects we share them with the school and curious parents. Smaller children were led around with fourth grade "tour guides" who guided them through the museum. We shared colorful dioramas, interesting research essays and unique projects. 

We, the 4th graders, really enjoyed the museum. We had lots of fun seeing other peoples projects and collaborating with friends.
-by Talya, Vera, and Rose

This year's museum covered a range of topics: shelter, defense, daily life, seasons, and beliefs. Some of the projects we made for the Algonquin Museum were games, dioramas, weapons and clothing. It took 1 week and 2 days to build our projects. A few thoughts from our classmates after the museum:

"I felt like I accomplished something."
"I felt sad it was over."
"I felt proud."
-by Isaac and Supreme



The Algonquins are people who lived in New York a long time ago. They lived in homes called "wigwams" which they built themselves.

The Native American museum is when we teach people about Native Americans and share what we learned. Kids made dioramas of wigwams, games, toys and weapons. It was so fun and all the kids did a really good job. To me, it was the best museum yet.
-by Jordan

Before the museum happened, some people felt nervous and some were excited. We had project time for three weeks. On the last day everybody was working very hard to finish the last details of their projects. All the projects were beautiful. I think people were relieved when it was over. Some people were sad. 

This school is awesome because we do a lot of activities.
-by Tymani, Joscelyn, Kali and La-Nise

We studied the Native American of the Eastern Woodlands and then had a museum sharing our study. We researched parts of their culture and then converted what we learned into projects about farming, homes, and hunting.

To make our projects we had "project times" on certain days of the week. To make dioramas we used a board and various items to build our structures. We made spears, bows and arrows. 

All of this was really fun. In the beginning of the museum everyone was really nervous. Lots of people came. During the museum we were unhappy because we said the same thing over and over again and we were sad because making the projects was so fun. Otherwise it was awesome!
-by Marlen, Dexter, and Kaya

For our museum, some of us built a diorama showing how the Lenape people used to fish, hunt, make traps, farm and built homes called wigwams. Wigwams were made out of sticks and birch bark.

Some kids worked on storytelling explaining what Lenape beliefs were. Clothing was a big part of their culture. It was designed with beautiful beads and animal skins such as beaver, otter and deer skin.

During seasons they grew and ate different kinds of food. During winter and fall they would eat stew, corn and meat. Spring and summer they would grow and eat corn and strawberries.
-by Orion, Andrew, Will and Christian

What did you like about the Native American museum this year? Post a comment!

Photos courtesy of JustinWeiner (Dad to Tyler and Olivia)

To view Justin's full slideshow go here: http://tinyurl.com/bns-2013-ic
Feel free to download from gallery, share and/or re-host the images.  A simple photo credit is appreciated, where applicable (on blogs, in print, etc.)

First Grade ALL DAY ART DAY! by Jenny

Inspired by the BNS 3rd grade Art Mix-Up Day, I planned a day of art for our class. We suspended our regular schedule and had four hour-long art sessions all day. Students rotated through the four activities taught by guest teachers, Rose (Cy’s mom) Stan (Jenny’s neighbor and local musician) and Annette (Jenny’s BF from college).

Stan’s clay workshop was the messiest, but also the most hands on and the most written about afterwards.

Annette’s leaf rubbings were also multi-step, turned out beautifully and are so seasonal! These are hanging in Arbo’s hallway now.

Rose’s printing activity was the most kid-friendly and her red, white and black prints are outside of our classroom.

My mosaic activity was the most colorful, but was also the most challenging.

Some children were frustrated by the difficulty in controlling the tiny paper squares, but the results are striking. These are also hanging outside of the classroom.

The most intriguing aspect of the day, was how engaged all of the students were, even at the end of the day. Students rose to each challenge and worked with focus and enthusiasm.

What did I learn? I learned that it is crucial that we have art in our school day, often, if not daily. I learned that my students are very talented artistically. I learned that they can focus and attend to tasks when motivated, when the challenge is just right-not overwhelming. And, I am reminded that working in small groups is something teachers ought to be able to do more often. Thanks to all of the parent volunteers who helped out and many, many thanks to our guest teachers Rose, Stan and Annette, for coming up, coming in, bringing supplies and teaching all day long, to and make this great day possible!

-Jenny

Third Grade: Art Mix-Up Day

This year, third grade started something new: Art Mix-Up Day. The purpose of art mix-up day is to teach children some of the art techniques and tools that they will be using in 3rd grade. We wanted to give students a foundation that we can build on later in the year and that will enable them to become more independent.

During the first art mix-up day, Steve and Nancy taught techniques for using colored pencils; Diane and Ilana taught six different watercolor techniques;

 and Malika and Katherine introduced torn-paper collage.

This week, Steve and Nancy introduced clay - specifically, how to make a slab and a coil, and how to use scoring to join the pieces together. 

Malika and Katherine led a second session on collage, this time introducing colored tissue paper (on a white background) and scissors.  With new materials to expand their repertoire, students continued experimenting with composition, layering, 2D and 3D, and color contrast, while also discovering ways to take advantage of the tissue paper "bleeding."  

Diane, supported by Rachel and BNS/BCS alum Elsa, taught brush painting.  

Students learned the word "precision" as they learned techniques for making thick and thin lines and how to vary the hue (or "value") of the black ink.  This should prepare them well for their apprenticeship next month with Mr. Choey, the Chinese brush painting teacher from the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens who will be coming to work with the 3rd grade.

Thank you, Anna and Katherine for providing this text. Thank you, Third Grade team for providing this awesome experience and for documenting it so we can share it!