Ms. Caramel's Class

Highlights:

1. Easter Parade - a wonderful display of creativity by our children. Each child made his/her own hat out of recycled materials for the easter parade this year. This resulted in some beautiful, original even way out creations and a lot of diversity in the competition. Congratulations to ALL the children..you worked hard and you were ALL winners!

2.  End of Term Exhibitions - Our Christmas, Easter and July exhibitions were lovely as always. I was glad to see more of a parental turn out at the July exhibition and I hope that more parents will take the time to visit us and see the beautiful work the children are doing. We are having this year's exhibition over 2 days at the end of term Dec 8th and 9th. Please make the time to come in and visit us..you won't be disappointed.

3.  Ishaka Maharaj wins second place in Penal/Debe Regional Corporatin Colouring Contest. Congratulations Ishaka on placing second in the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation colouring competition with the theme "Dengue Prevention". Congratulations also to our our entrants.

4. Mrs. Sanowar &  Mr. & Mrs. Mouffet retire - the school has lost three wonderful teachers. We wish to thank Mrs. Sanowar and the Mouffets for their tireless dedication to our school and for their wisdom and encouragement.  We know that all they have imparted will live on in the teachers and students and are confident that the firm foundation they have laid will take the school on to greater things. We wish them all the best in their new adventures.

5. Eco News -Two new cedar trees donated by Bunty O'Connor are planted in our playround. The trees are thriving and we can proudly say that soon we will truly have a "Cedar Grove" as they keep our one original cedar tree company. These trees were dedicated to Mrs. Sanowar and the Moffets on their retirement. May they grow strong and continue to reach for the sky!

 We wish to thank Mrs. O'Connor for her generosity. Mrs. O'Connor is an artist and is involved in many worthy programs in Trinidad & Tobago. One of her missions in life is to encourage tree planting  and she works with school children in particular.  She has planted numerous trees in and around Trinidad and Tobago..most notibly her work with the Wild Fowl Trust.  Please visit her website here to see some of her beautiful work: http://web.me.com/oconnorailis/Ajoupa_Pottery/About_Ajoupa_Pottery.html

 Please continue to plant trees where ever you can..the environment needs them!

6. Cedar Grove enters World Gender Drawing Competition. We submitted many entries to this competition, and though we did not win the children learnt a lot about gender equality and were very active participants. Have a look at the 2009 winners here: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/what/gender/drawing-competition_en.htm

Ms. Arrindell

Hello everyone,

We are pleased to announce the launch of Ms. Caramel's Class on Facebook!

Many of our studens and parents already use this social networking site to share photos and keep in touch with family and friends. I though it would be a good idea to set up a group for our parents and students where they can submit photos of their art, take part in class discussions, get useful links and tips for class art projects and hear about upcoming school events.

The group is a 'closed' group which means that you have to be invited or requested to be added to it. I have restricted the privacy settings to ensure that this is a safe environment for our students. The group is open to all Cedar Grovers and their families.  If you wish to add other relatives please send me a facebook message or an email at caramelart@gmail.com confirming their identities so I can be sure of whom I am adding to the group. 

 The group link is: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=67513924320 or you can do a search for "ms. caramel's class" under the group link in Facebook.

I have posted up some photos of easy to make recycled Easter Bonnets and also a link to a site with even more ideas for hats.

Being a member of Facebook is a mater of personal choice and by no means is compulsory. If you are not comfortable with Facebook there is no need to join. All information will be posted to this site as well. 

 Children, PLEASE HAVE YOUR PARENTS' PERMISSION before joining this or any other online site.

All students please remember to bring in your hats/bonnets/caps and recycled materials to make and decorate them this week (Starting 9th March). It would also be helpful if you bring your own stapler and masking tape to help assemble your hat. Please remember we are only using recycled materials.

I have been posting up examples of how to use those bits of 'junk' to make your Easter craft  and hats on the notice board outside of the Art Room..please stop by for a visit.

Have a great weekend and get those imaginations working!

Sharon

And what a time it was! This was my first carnival at Cedar Grove and I have to say I was totally blown away by the splendor of the celebration. I was pleased to see a return to more traditional mas in the form of the Pierrot Grenade, Fancy Sailors, Indian Mas and Moko Jumbie. Congratulations to all the parents, teachers and students for a job well done. The students in particular were a great help in designing and helping me put up the 'decorations' around the school for the day. It was such a pity the the rain came down, but I don't think our spirits were dampened at all. The children of Upper KG made beautiful carnival 'banners' while the Grade 2 children made our smiling carnival mask and the Grade 1s made their own standards. The grade 4s made the carnival masks that adorned the 'calypso tent' and the grade 2's through 5's made the 'tube sculpture' Midnight Robber, Pierrot Grenade and Blue Devil.  I would have liked to have seen the children more involved in the making of their costumes, so hopefully next year this can be accomplished building on the example of the Grade 1 class who proved that they are more than capable. Good job Grade 1!

Up next is our Easter Bonnet competition. Again we are going green and using recycled materials to make our hats. Parents/ children are encouraged to start collecting materials that they think would make interesting additions to their 'hats'.  We would like to get away from all the store bought trappings, as there is so much that can be done with what we throw away.  Brian Mc Farlane put out a stunning band this year using 100% local and mostly recycled materials..this is what we want to encourage at our school.

This week we will be wrapping up our 'Bottle People of the World" project, so I'd like to remind all students to research their costumes and country flags and come prepared to finish up your bottle person.

I would also like to give a special mention to our new computer teacher Miss Rambaran who has been working in conjunction with the Art Room to help the students learn 'digital art' - I am sure you will be pleased to see their efforts at the end of term.

I am still hoping to encourage more parents,relatives and students to visit this site on a more regular basis. If any of you have suggestions on ways I can do this or on segments you'd like to see included please let me know. My email address is caramelart@gmail.com

Thanks and happy painting!

Happy New Year everyone!

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a happy and healthy 2009. I am looking forward to this term as I have heard many good things about the Cedar Grove carnival jump up and Easter Bonnet parade. Both of these events are wonderful outlets for creativity and imagination and I have lots of fun things planned for the children this term.  I am also looking forward to working with the classes and the class reps and parents to get their various carnival portrayals ready for the jump up. I would like to suggest that we try to reuse some of the christmas concert costumes (eg. painting on the angel dresses) and have the children work on at least one part of their costume in the art room, this way they become involved and even more excited about the competition.

I hear that the easter bonnet parade has become very competitive, and while parental involvement is a good thing, I would like to make a suggestion that this year we have the kids make their OWN bonnets using only recycled materials in Art class. I'd like to give this competition back to the children..they are all amazing artists and this is a perfect opportunity to let them shine. I would also like to get away from the store bought plastic eggs and flowers and trimmings. With the way the world economy is going we all have to learn to get back to basics and use our imagination, innovation and the resources we have going to waste. I would like all the kids to bring in a cap or bonnet to decorate (the Art and Craft store in the mall usually has simple bonnets for $10, or we can make them out of cardboard etc.) It will be interesting to see what they come up with on their own..they never fail to amaze me. 

I am hoping that the kids can start 'recycle boxes' at home and bring in  the materials they collect for use in art projects. You can check here for a list of items that would be useful: http://www.freewebs.com/mscaramelsclass/artclassgoesgreen.htm We would really like to go into recycling in a big way. The more supplies we have, the more we can do.

I have been doing a lot of research on the net and linking with various art teachers around the globe for ideas on ways to expand and enhance our art program. There is a wealth of information available to us though the wonder of the world wide web, and I feel these outward linkages are so necessary and can only serve to widen our vision.  Our class has already been highlighted on one website:

http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/artroom/elementary/elementary2.html#international

In keeping with our outward expansion, I am doing a project with the children of Grades 1-5 on National Costumes. They can check out this website for ideas on their project : http://costumes.lovetoknow.com/National_Costumes_of_the_World or do a Google search for thier particular country.

As always I look forward to your comments and suggestions. I was happy to be able to meet some of you at the class meetings this week and do hope you will feel free to drop in and see what we are up to.

Have a great week!

sharon

Hello everyone,

In case you were wondering why there haven't been any updates for a while, it was because my internet/ phone has been down for the last couple weeks...finally have it back up and running. Needless to say this had me very stressed out! Now I know why they call it "Blink"...it is always on the blink! 

Art Class has been busy..tis the season of Glue and Glitter, and I do hope you will take the time to stop by our exhibition on Friday November 28th in the Art Room to see what we have been up to. The kids have worked very hard this term and I think they have had a good time doing it. The Art Club's project will also be on display in the art room. The children are very excited about showing off their work. Please do make the effort to come.

As this is the time of year that many of us are going through the closets and making space for the 'new' stuff, I'd like to ask that you keep the Art Class in mind if you have anything you'd like to get rid of - old carnival costumes (we use the sequins and beads), yarn, paperbags, glitter,ribbons, google eyes, feathers, paperplates, art calendars - any and everything can be used as a craft project. So if you have a million and one little things that you have no use for, please bring it into us. Don't chuck it..we will take it! 

I will be putting a large bin outside of the Art Room for your craft 'presents'.  Only thing I would ask is that things be put in zip lock bags,sorted out and labelled so it will make storage/ retreival easier.  Thanks so much in advance for all your great craft supplies! We always need construction paper, old christmas cards, sequins and things like that. Also if you have any art/craft books you no longer want we will gladly accept them for our growing Art Library.

Looking forward to seeing you next Friday!

Happy Christmas Cleaning!

Sharon Arrindell

Hello everyone,

Well, I did not do much with the site last week for various reasons. I was having a bit of a problem with updating the site but I think I have things sorted out now..so it is on with the show.

For the week of October 3rd the little ones continued with their lessons on primary and secondary colours. Some classes were given the three primary colour paint blobs on a page and a straw to blow the paint around to create straw paintings. This was a lot of fun. The children learned how secondary colours are created when the primary colours mixed. I am sure many of you would remember this excercise from your own primary school days. It is a lot of fun once you remember to keep breathing and take a rest between blowing through the straws. I encourage you to try this at home with your kids...put a plastic shower curtain on the table if you are worried about messes!

The Grade 3 and 4's got to paint their fired sculptures. Please have a look at their brilliant efforts here: http://mscaramelsclass.i8.com/cgi-bin/photoalbum/view_album/137062

and here: http://mscaramelsclass.i8.com/photo.html The children whos sculptures crumbled in the kiln were given pieces from ajoupa pottery to finish. You will be able to see their work at our exhibition in November after which they will bring their pieces home.

The Grade 2's did a group project where they were all given a small square and asked to copy exactly what they saw onto a larger square. When the pieces were all put together at the end they made Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night. The children were excited with the 'surprise' element of this lesson and did a really good job of reproducing the work.

Our Art Club has dwindled in size a little (running around the yard a lunch time is far more attractive when you are under 8!) but the students who have remained are very dedicated and the class is a much more manageable size. They have been bringing in their papier mache'd baloons religiously.  For any parent who needs the recipie - Papier Mache.. 1 part flour to 2 parts water and add a little lime or salt to keep insects away. Please be sure that each layer is TOTALLY dry before adding another. We are hoping for about 4 layers of newspaper followed by 2 or 3 layers of white kite paper (not toilet paper) before we start decorating. It is important that the children work on their balloons at home and bring them back every Thursday lunch time as the short period we have at lunch is not enough time to do all we would like. Soon we should get into the decorating phase and the work done at home helps to speed this up. Thanks parents for your patience and help! You can see the art club in action here: http://mscaramelsclass.i8.com/photo_1.html

If any parents have any questions please feel free to email me at caramelart@gmail.com

Hope you enjoy this week's photos!

Hello!

Well the Art Room was awash with colour this week..litterally! I am still scrubbing paint off the tables and off of myself. The upside of all this scrubbing is that the kids got a chance to enjoy the freedom and magic of paint. Everyone wore their painting shirts, but a couple still managed to somehow get paint on themselves. To the parents who are soaking shirts this weekend I apologise! Maybe it would be a good idea to let them wear their 'older' shirts on Art day. Also, there are one or two children who still do not have their painting shirts and art supplies, hopefully by next week all will be in order - thanks in advance parents!

For our lessons this week  the little ones did a continuation of our Primary Colour Bug lesson and learnt how these 'Super Hero Colours' - so called because they are the 'strongest' colours, can be mixed together to form Secondary Colours. They made beautiful blotter bugs and got a first hand experience of how mixing colors works. You can see some examples of their work in the photo gallery : http://mscaramelsclass.i8.com/cgi-bin/photoalbum I am always happily suprised at what the kids come up with when left to experiment...which adult would have ever seen a Transformer in a paint blot?

The older children were introduced to some works of art by carribean painters - primarily Boscoe Holder. They were then asked to choose one of the paintings that most appealed to them and do their own version of it. There was a choice between 'realisim' and 'abstract' type art.  I was very pleased with their work. All children are artists as Picasso said - the trick is in getting them to remain so when they grow up.

For the older kids I asked that they try to find out a little more about Boscoe Holder who was a very talented artist.  Here is a brief biography to start them off: http://101artgallery.com/holderB.html 

Boscoe holder loved to paint caribbean people - particularly beautiful african women in white dresses, but there are a couple paintings in which his women are partially dressed - so parents, you might want to help do the search with your kids if this subject matter is not your cup of tea. The human form is beautiful and we can teach children proper appreciation through art with guidance. Parents I will leave that part up to you.

Some of the  paintings/drawing that the children did are going to be entered into the SanFest competiton on Monday. We are keeping our fingers crossed for good results.  I am not a huge fan of competitions - I much prefer to let the children express themselves without fear of judgement, but it does give them an opportunity to show off their work and learn from others.  In this respect it can be a chance for growth.

You can have a look at some your children's work in the photo gallery. Click the link above. Please bookmark this link as new photos will be added every week.

Thank you to those children who have brought in their $5 for the firing of their sculptures already. I am collecting the pieces from Ajoupa Pottery today and I am very excited to see the finished results. Five of these sculptures will be chosen for the SanFest competiton. The hardest part of my job is choosing just 5 as they were all so good!  Due to the nature of clay one or two of the pieces may not survive the firing. I will ensure that the children whos pieces do not make it will have an alternative clay piece to work on and finish.

I've sent out a request through the children for calenders that showcase art work -eg. Clico puts out a lovely calendar every year. Any kind of artwork - local or foreign would be appreciated. We would like to build up a collection of 'paintings' to be used in art appreciation lessons in the classroom. So parents, if you have any old calendars with art work lying around, please send them in. If any of you have books on art or craft that you NO LONGER want we would appreciate those as well for our Art Library.

Thanks for checking in this week..will keep you updated on the SanFest results.

Have a great weekend!

Hello everyone,

This week was an exciting one for the Art Class. Grades 3 and 4 had their first experience of sculpting with clay..very messy, very tiring, but very rewarding.  The children learnt about where clay is found, the process of 'wedging' and tips for working the clay. We are hoping to have their sculptures fired in time for submission to San Fest at the end of the month. My greatest difficulty is going to be choosing just 5 out of all the amazing sculptures the children have done. The clay for this project was donated by Ajoupa Pottery in Chicklands.  They will also be firing our pieces at a cost of about $5 per child. Kiln firing uses quite a lot of electricity so they need to cover their costs.  I am very impressed with the quality of the work done by the students. They were very original and very focused on their designs. I think you will all be very pleased with the results.  I am hoping to do a clay session with the Grade ones and twos later in the term as I have clay in the process of 'drying out' for use.

Grades 1 & 2 did magazine collage. Needless to say the classroom was a blizzard of flying paper! The children quite enjoyed this session and most even helped with the cleanup after. 

The little ones learnt about different types of lines and were asked to do a drawing that used these lines. After their drawing was complete they were asked to paint their picture using the 'National Colours' in honour of Republic Day. 

Glitches - at the moment I am dealing with a serious set back. This site (being free) has reached its limit for photo storage, which means I can no longer upload photos to the blog or album. But never fear..I think I have a solution!  I have created another free site which should link successfully to this one where I can upload the photos until better can be done.  This is the new site address http://mscaramelsclass.i8.com/

Please bear with me while I get it set up.

Thanks for taking the time to log in!

Hello everyone,Thank you so much for visiting the site. It has been wonderful to log in this week and read your comments and e-mails. I hope that you keep checking in often.

We are now settling back into the school term and beginning to work on our art projects.  In case the parents are wondering, I have kept some of the childrens' art supplies in special cupboards designated for each class in the Art Room. You can have  look here:

Have no fear..all of your children's supplies are labelled with their name and class and will be given to them to use at each art session. I figure this way I can keep a better track of their supplies so there is no wastage and so that the inevitable "Miss I forgot it in class..I forgot it at home" song is not sung!

I have kept their glue, charcoal, scrapbooks and sketch pads, and with the little ones (PK1 - UP KG) I have kept their art shirts and paint as well.  I hope that this system will help to keep us more organized and prevent you parents from having to run out and buy glue and paint every five minutes! It has certainly helped to save time in the class this week as I have everything waiting for them as soon as they get to class.

On occasion I may send a message home if we need any particular art supply, but hopefully I won't have to worry you too often.  I will try as far as possible to use what we already have.  Once again any surplus craft material you may have would be appreciated.  I like to put a lot of emphasis on ways to recycle household materials. Thank you to the parent who left the egg cartons in the class room for me this week!  Ajoupa Pottery has also donated clay and several clay ornaments for our use - thank you Rory and Bunty O'Connor! 

The Art Club has started and I must say I had an overwhelming response today..over 35 students turned up at lunch time!  I may have to split the class by age group and possibly have 2 art clubs for the week. More on this later. At the moment I am running the Art Club as a pilot project and it is free of charge this term. If interest in it continues, it will probably be shifted to Wednesday afternoons from 2.30 - 3.30 in the new school term (2009). I hope that at the end of this term you will be happy with what your children have produced. We are doing a team art project and are very excited about it!

In other news this week - we had a visit from a very special type of creature..a Harlequin Beetle!

(photo above..our beetle)       (this photo: close up of beetle's markings)

 These beetles are quite rare and are among the largest beetles in the world. They are known for their beautiful back markings and vivid colours. Our beetle caused quite an uproar - there were loud shouts of "Spider! Spider!" and much loud squealing. Thankfully, I got there in time to stop some of the kids from swatting it with a large stick!  In honour of our special insect visitor the younger children have been making Harlequin Beetles

 in primary colours..check their work out in the gallery pages. Hopefully now that they know what it is they will learn to appreciate the beautiful creatures that share our world with us and leave them in peace.

Over the weekend I hope to get some new photos up on the site - there has been a lot of portrait drawing going on and I think we need to show off all that hard work. 

 I would like to say a special thank you to the students who have been coming in at lunch time to give me a hand with sorting out supplies - it is very much appreciated.

Thanks for taking the time to read the blog! Happy painting!

Hello Parents and Students,

Great to see you here - and welcome to the launch of our first ever official school Art Room website! On this site you will be able to get a glimpse of what we are up to in the classroom and view the children's art work. I hope that this will be a very interactive site and that you will check in often and comment and e-mail me your suggestions.

As it is the start of a new term, I would like to encourage all parents to get involved, as parental input has a huge impact on the learning process in a child's life:

WAYS YOU CAN GET INVOLVED

• If there are any parents ( or grand parents) out there who are artists or would like to share their creativity, please contact me if you would like to do demo class with the students. Perhaps there is a particular area of art and craft in which you have experience and would like to share this talent with the students. Please don't be shy! Having guest teachers is a great way for all of us to learn and broaden our horizons. It also exposes the students to more than one type and style of art.

• If you have surplus craft material at home, please feel free to donate it to the art class.  Also, we would like to get recycleable material in the form of - foam fruit/veg trays, glass jars, plastic containers of different sizes, old christmas cards, beads, feathers, ribbon - in fact any type of material that can be used in one of our projects..these are just a few ideas. Encourage your kids to start an art material recycling box at home that they can bring to class at the end of the month. Please ensure that all items are washed and clean.

• Check out this website, have a look at the calendar (each week I will give an idea of what is happening in class so click on the appropriate entry to get more details), make comments, and generally be excited about your children's work. The site won't work unless we all take an active part.

• Finally, please attend our Art Exhibition in the Art Room on November 28th. The kids work very hard during the term and are so proud to show off their artwork at the end of term. Many parents missed the lovely exhibit put on at the end of last term.

Thank you for visiting the site. I will try to update it at least weekly, so bookmark it and keep checking back to see what it new!

Happy painting!

Sharon Arrindell