Happy Friday!!!

We began the day signing our little French hearts out with Magic Systems, "Magic in the Air".  Here is the official video, followed by our short clip of happy singers.

Then we sang and danced to "Agadou".

In Dance, with Mrs. Lashley, students have been creating their own dances to "Uptown Funk".  The first video is a mash up of all their dances, followed by individual groups.

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

 Half of Group 4 was helping Mme Bosse's students teach the assembly dance to the whole school, so they will add their dance to this blog at a later date.

In the middle block, we had our Recognition Assembly and our Volunteer Appreciation Assembly - we are lucky to have so many caring community members that volunteer their time to our school.  I love these assemblies because it gives us one more opportunity to recognize deserving students for their efforts.

At each assembly, we try to have a flash mob or a school wide dance.  This month Mme Bosse's class, along with Kendall and Lia from our clas,s taught the whole school a dance from Glee Club.  They did a terrific job!

What a great way to end the month!

At the assembly, we learned that our school raised over $13 000 with their chocolate fundraiser.  The parent committee did a wonderful job with this - they all work so hard to make our school a better place.  Our class raised over $1800 dollars towards this initiative!  We won a 5 pound chocolate bar to thank the students for their outstanding effort!  If your child was a little hyper this Friday evening, it may have to do with the chocolate consumed in class, during our Tea Time Read Aloud.

ART INSPIRED BY NORVAL MORRISEAU

NORVAL MORRISSEAU

Norval Morrisseau was born in the early 1930s on the Sandy Point Lake Reserve north of Thunder Bay in Ontario Canada.

He was raised by his Grandparents and through them learned traditional Ojibwa customs, values and beliefs. It was in his youth that he received - from his Grandfather - his "mission" to share through art, all of those things he was taught to respect about Ojibwa culture.

During the 1950s, Morrisseau was hospitalized with Tuberculosis. While in hospital, he began painting and drawing his visions on birch bark and brown paper bags... he painted visions which were uniquely his own. Later, in the 1960s he traveled widely to bush communities in Canada and visited some northern Minnesota reservations where he met with many who today are considered knowledgeable elders, both to learn from them and to teach. He taught by painting, as well as writing. 

A medicine man or shaman, Morrisseau developed a style which has since evolved and been used by many Native artists. The style is called the Eastern Woodland Style and can be seen in the works of Daphne Odjig, Carl Ray and Blake Debassige. (http://www.kinderart.com/multic/norval.shtml)

We found the following lesson plan to help guide us:

1. Norval Morrisseau used what is referred to as an X-Ray technique when he painted a work of art. Not only do you see the person or animal that has been painted, but you also see the energy within the animal or person.
2. Have your students choose a subject for their painting - a fish, a bird, a turtle, etc.
3. Students can then sketch the outline of their subject on their paper.
4. Next, students should think about the interior of their subject - the energy and emotion inside.
5. Students can then draw lines (using ink, crayons, oil sticks, oil pastels etc), colors (using paint, oil pastels, cut up paper etc.) and shapes inside the subject ... the more the better.
6. Let imagination take over as the paper is filled with paint.

Materials:

• Heavy paper or cardboard (about 12" x 14" per student)
• Thick water based paint. (Acrylic is wonderful but you can also use tempera or poster paint)
• Paintbrushes & water
• Examples of Morrisseau's art
• Images of animals for reference