Timberlake Arts in Schools Grant

Congratulations Bolivia Elementary School for winning the Timberlake Arts in Schools Grant! Bolivia was chosen by the NC Watercolor Society and the Timberlake Foundation to receive a grant which included a $500 purchase award for the NCWS show, an annual gift of a limited edition Bob Timberlake print, and a variety of original artwork by local NC artists for the school's art collection. A small group of students attended the NCWS show and voted to select a painting entitled "Key West Beggars" by Oak Island artist, JoAnn Staat for the school's collection. Thanks so much to students, parent volunteers and Mr. Cupolo for taking time to come to the show. Check out the article in the Star News here!

"Key West Beggars" was selected  with grant money from the NCWS show by Bolivia students.

Shadow Puppets

For this lesson, first graders learned about shadow puppetry, an ancient form of storytelling in various cultures. Students  seemed to really enjoy practicing figure drawing, especially when it was their turn to strike a pose! I really wanted to avoid the very common stick figure approach, so we focused on using shapes to draw our bodies. After looking at Chinese, Indian and Indonesian shadow puppets, students made texture rubbings to create different pattern designs for their puppet. At the end of the lesson,  it was time for our performance. First graders announced the title of their performance and then acted out a story about themselves set to traditional Indonesian music.

Deep Sea Creatures

Second graders learned about deep sea creatures with bioluminescent lights as they created a watercolor painting of their own 'newly discovered' creature. Students created diagrams to sketch out a design and label important features of their new creature. In their watercolor paintings, students learned about warm and cool colors and created contrast by selecting which to use for their foreground and background. They also used highlighters for their creature's bioluminescent light. At the end of the lesson, students became deep sea explorer. I turned off the lights as explorers took turns using  a black light to search for the bioluminescent lights - they were amazed to see the highlighters glowing  under the black light. I think maybe ocean sounds to enhance the effect next year.