Each month, the art teachers from Altamont Elementary, Guilderland Elementary, Lynnwood Elementary and Westmere Elementary highlight students who have demonstrated they are practicing Studio Habits of Mind. These eight habits – develop craft, engage and persist, envision, express, observe, reflect, stretch and explore, and understand art worlds – encourage and enable students to be more mindful during the creative process. This is not a contest; the Young Artist of the Month accomplishment acknowledges specific learning and critical thinking that happens in the art room, in relation to Studio Habits of Mind. The students’ pictures and statements are framed and hung in the schools’ entryways.
Altamont Elementary: Evie Stalteri
Altamont Elementary is proud to announce Evie Stalteri in Mrs. Poelmas third grade class as the Young Artist for the month of April! Evie is a fantastic artist who always has a big smile on her face when she comes to the art room and always does her best work. She has learned to use different colors and patterns to create artwork that tells a story and shows her feelings and personality. We call this studio habit, expression in art. When you look at Evie’s art, you can tell she puts a lot of thought and emotions into it, and it makes you feel something special too. Great job, Evie!
Guilderland Elementary: Sophie Higgins
The Guilderland Elementary Young Artist for the month of April is Sophie Higgins. Sophie is in Mrs. Place’s fourth grade class. Sophie has demonstrated the Artist Habit of Mind: Express. That means she can create artwork that conveys an idea, feelings and/or stories. Sophie recently completed a challenging unit on abstraction. She embraced the challenge and found she was able to express her feelings using just color, line and shape. It was thrilling to watch her experiment with her ideas and make decisions about her work. She truly grasped the idea of expression through artwork and shared that she has even tried some more abstract art at home. Congratulations Sophie and keep up the great work!
Lynnwood Elementary: Griffin Foley
The Lynnwood Elementary Young Artist for the month of April is Griffin Foley. Griffin is a third grade student in Mrs. Abriel’s class! Griffin embodies the Studio Habits of Mind; Stretch and Explore. To stretch and explore means to experiment and find new ways of working. Griffin shone in our watercolor unit in practicing and applying all our new watercolor techniques and a few extra! Griffin was very thoughtful about where he chose to use each technique and painted very carefully so they are visible in his scene. He went the extra mile by learning how to blend colors in his painting to create a beautiful sunset. Congratulations Griffin; keep up the great work!
Westmere Elementary: Ruby McKenna
This month’s featured young artist is Ruby McKenna! Ruby is in Mrs. Brennan’s first grade class. She has demonstrated the Studio Habit of Mind: Observe.
First grade students got the chance to choose an animal to research and write about in their classrooms. After carefully observing what their chosen animal looks like, they got to sculpt it in art class. If you look closely, you’ll notice all the details Ruby included in her squirrel sculpture… a big tail, a nose and even all the little tiny toes! Super squirrel sculpture, Ruby!