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: Thomas Burnham
The young artist of the month is being presented to Thomas Burnham in
Mrs. Ciccarelli’s first grade class. Thomas has done a wonderful job
exemplifying the studio habit: engage and persist. To engage and persist
means that even when Thomas faces challenges in art, he continues to try
his best and keeps a positive attitude in the art room. Thomas is always
going above and beyond to help out in the classroom, participating when
he can and continues to make good choices everyday. I am so proud of
how much you have grown in the last year of art and am excited to see the amazing work he makes this year. Way to go, Thomas!
Guilderland Elementary: Henrik Muscatiello
The December featured artist is Henrik Muscatiello. Henrik is in Mrs.
Berry’s kindergarten class this year. Henrik has demonstrated the
artist habit of mind: reflect in art. That means that he has been able
to think about his art and make changes to his work. In the art room
there is always time to look at your work and think about what you
need to do next or how you can improve your work. Often that is how
we start in art class. We listen to directions and then go back to our
seats to look at our work and see what we need to do next. Henrik
realized while working on a tentacle for his line monster that using a
different color paper for his circles would help them stand out better.
He made the change to his work and was much happier with the
result. Being able to make changes after REFLECTION is a big part of
being an artist. Great job Henrik! Keep up the good work.
Lynnwood Elementary: Julienne Smith
The December featured artist is Julienne Smith. She is in Mrs. Cioffi’s
fourth grade class. Julienne has demonstrated the artist
habit of mind: develop craft in art. That means that she has been
working hard on her art projects to improve her art skills. Julienne
puts 100 percent effort into her art. She uses her art time wisely and
works hard to get better each class. While weaving her basket she
showed focus and determination to create her best work. Improving
your art skills takes practice and determination. It takes time and
patience to get better at any skill and Julienne’s artwork shows her
perseverance and love of making art. She consistently does a great job
with all the materials we use in art because she maintains her focus
and desire to improve with each new skill she learns. Great work Julienne!
Westmere Elementary: Jayden Lin
This month’s featured young artist is Jayden Lin! Jayden is in Mrs. Randall’s fifth grade class. He has demonstrated the studio habit of mind: envision. For this project, fifth grade students learned about printmaking and radial symmetry. Jayden carved a design into his foam plate, and used it like a stamp to create this project. He envisioned what his print would look like before he pressed it down, so that it would be symmetrical, the way a snowflake or a mandala is. Check out all those details and patterns. Great job, Jayden!