SCHOOL NEWS 

Chatham Elementary School

            Art news: The kindergarten has just finished sunflower paintings inspired by Vincent Van Gogh. The paintings are displayed at the elementary school. This week students created butterflies using scallop shells and fluorescent, acrylic paint on paper. They are a breath of spring.

            Grade one has completed their flower paintings in tempera paint. They have already learned how to incorporate a beautiful background along with the subject in order to make the object come alive. Truly amazing work!  Grade two recently completed a 2-D and 3-D combination project using modeling clay on painted plates with a painting backdrop using the same theme. They created animals in their habitats. Many of these pieces will be displayed in the elementary school library. Next week second graders begin their Kachina doll project. (More updates to come on this long term project.)

            Grade three is currently working on a take off of Calder’s circus using Kleenex boxes, paper towel rolls, tape, paper mache, tempera paint, plastic bottles, etc. The students will enter their circus in a recycling art contest in May. They will also present their circus for the elementary school when it is complete.

            Grade four has just finished their collage project based on the work “Sheba” by collage artist Romare Bearden. Each piece features a silhouette and an interior/exterior space within the collage. This work is on display in the elementary school art room. Students are pushing their collage further this week by experimenting with restructuring proportion using magazine images, colored paper, wallpapers, newspaper, tissue and paint on poster board.

            More art updates to come. Please feel free to visit the elementary school as well as the art room in order to view the student displays at any time 

Chatham Middle School

            Artist Jenny Bovey shares her time with students at the Chatham Middle School on a quarterly basis.  Her interactive discussions cover P.E.R.T.S., an acronym for Political, Economic, Religious, Technological, and Social attributes of the art.  Jenny displays art that covers the classes’ history lessons and applies P.E.R.T.S. concepts to the art.  The talks have been powerful, interesting learning situations for students. 

            Students in Mrs. Roy’s fifth grade class have been working hard the last few weeks in preparing to teach the rest of the class about famous explorers.  Each student makes a dramatic entrance and proceeds to teach his or her peers about “their” explorations, in costume, using maps, props and journals made to look like they’ve been around for 500 years. Some of the explorers represented are Balboa, Hudson, Cortez, Cabot, Magellan, Vespucci and Pizarro.  

Chatham High School

            Congratulations are in order for Chatham High School senior Chelsea Maher.  Chelsea participated in the “National Poetry Out Loud” contest and became a state finalist.  She recited and performed “O Captain, My Captain” by Walt Whitman and “To My Dear and Loving Husband” by Anne Bradstreet at the semi finals in Framingham on Saturday, March 8.  She was picked to continue to the state finals in Boston on March 9.  Although Chelsea will not represent Massachusetts in the Nationals in Washington, D.C., she does bring home $500 in cash, shopping gift certificates, books of poetry, and many other prizes.  You can see photos of Chelsea competing, a Poetry Out Loud program from the event, and her award certificates on display right outside Mrs. Forte-Doyle’s classroom.  Great Job Chelsea!

            Read Across America Celebration: Chatham’s  Volunteers In Public Schools coordinator Karen McPherson visited Dr. Aucoin’s Culinary Arts class and read Dr. Seuss’ beloved rhyme, “Green Eggs and Ham” to the student chefs.  Dr. Seuss, also known as Theodore Geisel, was born in Springfield, Mass. in 1904.  His children’s stories and birthday have inspired the celebration of reading day across America.  In fact, over 40 million students were read to from community volunteers on this special day.

             The culinary students then learned about the parts of the egg, nutritive value of an egg, and the safety issues involved in handling eggs, then feasted on scrambled egg sandwiches with ham, on burrito, English muffins, or bagels.  Actually, none of the students felt green eggs would be particularly appetizing.

            Community actors Lou Maloof, Mary Arnault, Karen McPherson and Ed Etsten also visited Elaine Aschettino’s English classes and Dave Alexander’s history classes, and for a few moments the CHS students experienced the enjoyment of being read to, once again.

            The Cape Cod Art Association’s High School Art Exhibit is currently on view at the Cape Cod Art Association on Route 6A in Barnstable until March 24^th. Chatham winners this year are Kacey Rayder who won 1^st, Kayla Rose Jason who won 2^nd and Celia Muto, Kate Terrio and Liz Cantrell who won Honorable Mentions.

            The winners of the VFW Art Poster Contest have just been released. This year first place goes to Kacey Rayder, second to Taylor Masaschi, and tied for third are Chris DeTraglia and Stephanie Clark. The National Youth Essay Patriotic Art Dinner will be Thursday, March 27 when the awards will be given.

            Author Frank Bosworth recently met with Chatham High School Art Club students Kacey Rayder, Kate Terrio and Alex Hackenson who created clever designs for the cover of his book, a “dramedy” called “Never Play Leapfrog with a Unicorn.” Kacey had the winning design with Kate and Alex tied for runner up.

3/27/08