Art On Centre

Its not going to snow but the holidays are still going to happen whether or not we are ready for them or its white.  The students in all my classes are having a lot of fun painting rocks and turning them into picture frames by wiring the rock and then wrapping the top of it around a marker to make the picture.  We all decided the clip did not look as cool as the spiral did like the one in the picture. The students have become obsessed with digging up rocks and painting them.  There are many other projects they can choose from but this seems to be the most popular  I think partly because they never though of a rock as art let alone painting one.  It is definitely not an hour long class project and can take up to three to have it completely done the right way. My only suggestion to them as far as painting it and the colors was not to "holiday it up".  I asked them what happens to all your holiday decorations when the holidays are over?  Oh now we get...

The Curley Winter Music Festival 2012

Primary and Secondary Wheel We have been studying color theory on all levels this year.  I want to be sure that the 2nd grade-5th grade students all know the primary colors and hopefully understand where the secondary colors come from.  We will be reviewing it throughout the year.  In January the 3rd grade through the 5th will actually a have written assessment showing me how much they have retained on the subject.  The students that are still struggling will have a review and then another assessment to check their progress.  The Younger students have been making simple color wheels and we are talking about rainbows so that they retain names of colors and the meaning of dark and light. Elementary Color wheel

Do not be mislead be informed! I received a disturbing call today from our councilman in JP informing me that certain neighborhoods in Jamaica Plain are going up for a vote for redistricting this Wednesday! For information on what this actually mean you can call our councilmen's offices their names are below or read the following: http://www.redistrictingca.org/what-is-redistricting/ The neighborhood I live in near the the new BTU school on Walk Hill will become Dorchester if the vote passes on Wednesday, yes this Wednesday! Please help by call the following number and saying you oppose the redistricting of JP and to leave JP as it is and has always been. I do not want to become Dorchester when I do not even live near it. This will affect our schools, property, children and much, much more! I believe anyone can call not just a Jamaica Plain residence.  This was sudden he said and is happening allover the city and the people have not ben informed of it. When some call the...

CHECK IT OUT THE CURLEY K-8                                                                    http://www.curleyk8.com This is a great resource for both teachers and parents.  It is a beautiful blog and loaded with information on the school, upcoming events and much, much more.  It's worth a look.

PLEASE VOTE FOR MY BROTHER'S VIDEO ON FACEBOOK or YOUTUBE!  http://youtu.be/zztF4iB8XdM LET'S GET OUT THERE AND VOTE!  TUESDAY NOVEMBER 6TH... This race is too close to sit back and let someone else do it. This is your state and country and we all  have a voice.  Your voice cannot be heard if you don't use it! Cathy

Now that our Art Department is finished with the Fall Fling and our Silver Graphics Fundraiser work in which I want to personally thank everyone for the support you all have give the art department here at the Curley. I will be posting some of the lessons we will be doing in art class.  The following book is probably familiar to all of you and it incorporates what we are doing in the art room this year.  So stay tuned to see what we come up with based on the book from grades-5th. Any ideas or comments?  Please feel free to write me. I look forward to your comments. So many ideas come to mind when reading this book for art lessons.

How To Connect and Contact Our Classroom  I am very excited to be able to stay in contact with you through email, Twitter and our web page/blog.  Here you will be able to find the following: Current projects The visual art syllabus for the year Information for special projects, shows and events General classroom news  Funding events Teacher contact information This year we are continuing incorporating the three R's in the art room.  These are not the R's you may remember form when we were young though! These are the three R's of the environment and they are as follows:  •                Recycle :  Many of the things we use every day, like paper bags, soda cans, and milk cartons, are made out of materials that can be recycled. Recycled items are put through a process that makes it possible to create new products out of the materials from the old ones. • ...

Reflections on Teaching:  A Journey of Challenges, Passion, and Purpose

  School is finally over. Now it's time to work in the studio again, and do some gardening The rain has caused the garden to turn into a jungle.  I shouldn't  complain it has taken me 3+ years to get the garden to fill in and take care of itself.  I was always jealous of the other gardeners who would ask me if I wanted some plants because theirs were " just so overgrown ".  Well now I have given away a few plants myself.   I just really want my Mums to take I thought this was going to be the big year but I only got two.  They  were beautiful, maybe next year.   I have definitely learned so much from my neighbors.  I will never remember all the names but as long as I can draw it or write it down I am all set.  I went to Allendale Farms the other day and I brought a piece of one of my favorite plants /flowers.  It is called Lantana yes, I know this to be true and its the ONLY one.  Anyway, my go to gardener at the farm s...

Well here is one VERY creative way to get rid of an ugly crack in your front yard retaining wall!  Bravo beautiful, It was a lovely garden tour/party!  Thanks to Joanne Rossman for having such great artists/friends featured in her shop.  Its a great way to connect with other artists and network. No wonder she won best of Boston.  I bet they won't worry if it cracks again. It's a jewel of a crack!  The garden was just as magical as the wall.  So serene and relaxing, a great place to have a cup of coffee on a summer morning. 

Please Read Teacher: I dare you to measure my ‘value’ by  Valerie Strauss This was  written by Donna McKenna, an elementary ESL teacher who is passionate about language learners and language learning, and a new mom trying to raise her daughter in a bilingual/bicultural home. This first appeared  on her blog , No Sleep ‘til Summer. Read full article >>

Read more after the jump. This was   written by Francie Alexander, chief academic officer for Scholastic, Inc. She has has taught at all levels, was a district reading consultant for Pre-K through high school, and has authored numerous professional articles for educators and dozens of books for children.

Teachers go public in contract bid. Please read the latest articles on our negotiations thus far. http://articles.boston.com/2012-03-16/metro/31195572_1_teachers-union-president-school-teachers-contract-negotiations

After countless times addressing the Boston School Committee our parents, teachers and supports of The Curley K-8 Community as a whole say:  "ENOUGH. NO MORE" February 1, 2012 Boston School Committee Meeting Tania Tavarez, Heshan Berents-Weeramuni Curley Parent, Involved member of the Jamaica Plain Community and Believer in Public Eduction Statement of the Curley K8 SSC and SPC to the Boston School Committee We are Heshan Berents-Weeramuni and Tania Tavarez. We are parents at the Curley K-8 School in Jamaica Plain. We are concerned about next year’s budget cuts. Again, we say “Enough. No more.” Like all Boston public schools, our bright and diverse student body comes from every type of family. 72% are from low-income households who qualify for free or reduced lunch, 83% are ethnic minorities, 39% have limited English Language Proficiency, and 23% are special education students. In almost every category, we are above our district’s average. (1) We are one of t...

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Please watch our schools video by parents, students and teachers.  We need your support and cannot afford to lose anymore teachers, staff or programs. http://www.curleyk8.com/parent-involvement/school-parent-council/the-enough-no-more-video/

Just a bit of spring to remind us its on the way regardless of the snow falling!

Rockport Ma.   So its been a long time and a lot has gone on since the last blog and I will leave it at that .  School is in full swing and there is not as much time to blog but I am getting back up on the horse and trying to stay current with the art scene and happenings in Boston and specifically Jamaica Plain. So DJ/Producer Kon has become quite the photographer these day. He has sent me some of his work form his travels while he was on his last tour. Check them out. Helsinki with looming Nuclear plant in background. The sky, the sky Lonely fire hydrant Yummy strange name for a small boat ....and we never thought Kon but it's beautiful! NY,NY Amazing cemetery in Eastern Europe. Look at that blue!