Fifth grade

• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Project

          Through this project the 5th grade kids considered the importance of the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.. The basis for the project was the theme, "Creating One Family, One House, One Community," from the current annual exhibit of student work at Siena College. Our students began the project with sketches to develop their own individual ideas to illustrate the theme. The students completed the project by creating a rendering using colored pencils and construction paper. Ten of our students artworks were proudly displayed at the annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. exhibit at Siena College in January 2006. Thank you to all students for your hard work and contribution to remembering Dr. King's dream!

• Digital Photography

To begin this project the fifth graders went outside to take digital photographs on the grounds of our school. The kids considered composition and context of the photograph to capture the spirit of the area we live and of our school. The kids also learned some of the artistic features of the Adobe Photoshop program on the laptop computers. The kids applied their understanding of Adobe Photoshop to their own photographs to artistically manipulate their work. The final art work consisted of one non-manipulated black and white print of their photograph, overlayed with a manipulated color print on transparency paper. The results were spectacular and the kids did an amazing job from beginning to end!

• Zen Gardens

The fifth grade students learned about contemporary artist, Maya Lin, and of her public sculptures such as, The Vietnam Memorial, The Civil Rights Memorial, Topo, and Elipsed Time, among others. The kids discovered a sense of belonging in the environment in which the public sculpture were placed. The kids took their understanding of the harmony within Lin's work into their own piece based on a zen garden. Created with clay, the kids worked on their pieces using the slab method. Given artistic license, the students constructed organic and geomteric shapes for their containers and were very impressively done. Nice work 5th graders!

• I am Pine Bush Self Portrait

The 5th grade students reviewed that a picture done by an artist of a person is called a portrait, and that when it is a picture of the artist himself, it is known as a self-portrait. Done as a school-wide project based on the book "I am America," by our visiting author, Charles R. Smith, Jr., the kids created these beautiful works by first carefully observing and drawing themselves.  Full of color and character- an awesome way to welcome Charles R. Smith, Jr. to our Pine Bush hallways!