Visual Journal Assignment #4

Due: Monday, September 23rd 

An idiom is a combination of words that has a figurative meaning due to its common usage. An idiom's figurative meaning is separate from the actual meaning or definition of the words of which it is made of.

The idiom "a horse of a different color" has nothing to do with an actual horse. Instead it refers to a situation or a subject that is different from what you had first thought it was. 

Another common idiom is "it's raining like cats and dogs". The saying refers to a very loud and noisy rainstorm.

For this visual journal assignment, you are gong to be creating an illustration of an idiom of you choice. For example, if you chose "it's raining like cats and dogs" you would draw a picture of cats and dogs raining down from the sky.

For your written element, you will write down what idiom you chose and then describe what the figurative meaning of it is. For example, if you chose "a piece of cake" as your idiom, you would draw an actual piece of cake, but then describe to me in your writing that the term is used to describe something that is overly simple or easy. Like, "That test was a piece of cake".

Check out the site www.idiomsite.com if you need help thinking of an idiom to use.

Miss Goff's idiom illustration of "The Last Straw". The idiom refers to something that finally brought someone to the point of losing their temper.

Observational Drawing

The 6th graders are hard at work learning how to draw what they see. We've been working on various drawing exercises that make students really look at what they're drawing and translate that on paper.

This week students have been working on doing observational drawings of their shoes. Check out the photos below of students hard at work.

Postcard Designs

Last week for homework, students had to create a postcard from a destination of their choice. It could be from a location they'd been to before, or some place they'd like to go to in the future.

These postcards from Claire and Ben were awesome! Claire drew a postcard depicting Gallifrey, the home planet of Dr. Who while Ben chose to keep things earthbound with Japan.

Gallifrey postcard by Claire

Japan postcard by Ben

 Nice work, guys!

7th grade artwork!

Even Miss Goff practices her portrait drawing

The 7th graders are currently working on portraiture. To get ready to tackle the challenging task of drawing faces, they're practicing drawing each of the major facial features individually. This week we've been working on eyes. Here are some really great eye drawings by some of the 7th graders.

Eye drawing by Ally

Eye Drawing by Sam

Eye drawing by Audrey

Eye drawing by Christine

Eye drawing by Jake

Eye drawing by Jared

Eye drawing by Johnny

Eye drawing by Rachel

Visual Journal Assignment #3

Due: Monday, September 19th

For this visual journal assignment, you are going to be designing a movie poster for your favorite film.

Movie posters are a way to advertise a film and to give audiences a sneak peak at what a movie may look like.

In your movie poster, you should include the following:

• The name of your film written in an interesting way that goes along with the feel of the movie
• Images that go along with the film

This should be your original take on a movie poster. You should not copy a preexisting movie poster.

Also, your movie poster needs to be school appropriate. Please do not choose any R-Rated movies or movies that are violent or gory. 

For your paragraph, please explain to me why you chose the movie that you did and how you feel like your poster is a good representation of the film.

Miss Goff's poster design for "My Neighbor Totoro"

Student Artwork

As I said in my first post, I plan on using this blog to showcase student artwork from the school year. Today I'd like to feature a student who blew me away with her homework assignment for this week.

Hannah wowed me with her M.C. Escher inspired skateboard deck design. Keep up the good work, Hannah!

Skateboard deck design by Hannah. Pencil on Paper.

Visual Journal Assignment #2

Due: Monday, September 9th

For this visual journal assignment, you will be designing a post card from a destination of your choice. Postcards usually feature landmarks from the location or images of things the location is well known for.

Your postcard design destination can be somewhere you’ve been in the past or it may be a location you’d like to visit in the future.

 For the postcard design, you need to include the following:

*  Visual elements that come from the destination you’ve chosen. For example you may wish to include Big Ben if you’ve chosen London or the Coliseum if you’ve chosen Rome. You could also include geographical landmarks like Mt. Fuji for Japan or a tropical beach for Jamaica

* The name of your destination written in interesting writing

For your paragraph, you will write to a friend/family member about what you’ve done or would like to do in your destination of choice. For example, if you chose Hawaii, you could talk about how you went to the beach or how you visited lava flows.

Miss Goff's postcard design

Miss Goff's paragraph describing what Rio would be like