Art On Centre

Graphic Design Class Welcomes Guest Artist David Hamilton  Graphic Designer November 6, 2015 On Friday, the sixth grade Graphic Design Class hosted visiting artist David Hamilton David is also the father to one of our Curley second grader in Ms. Ciardi's classroom! David is one of our many talented parents, bringing his skills and expertise to the Curley in many ways.  David is also the designer of our fabulous Curley Cares School Tee Shirt's and posters.    The students in Graphic design were excited to have David, a professional Graphic Designer present a  lesson in  Designing Typography using Positive and Negative Space to create a class alphabet.  You can see the alphabet next to him on the right. The students were amazed to see how many ways they could draw, identify and design just one letter.  Each student was given a letter and he told them to come up with designs 10 different ways...

Resources For  Parents and Students It was wonderful to meet so many new parents and see some familiar faces at our annual Back To School Night. For parents who are interested in learning about our updated Visual Arts curriculum and assessment models please contact me for a detailed description of the visual arts curriculum including the citywide standards and common core connections.  I will also include detailed grade level assessment models and grade level specific lessons.  Please email me for more information or questions at my school email address:  cwall@bostonpublicschools.org Please include your name and your child's name, their grade level and teacher in the body of the email.  I will return your request within 48 hours.   For parents who are interested in volunteering for school events in the arts, classroom ...

What Are Your Thoughts as Parents, Teachers and Artists on the new Teacher Performance Evaluation Process?    As a specialist,  I agree with the article in the Times. I personally feel as if I have less time to discover new ideas for lessons, no time to see what other artists are doing both locally and through media and I feel that I need three more hours in the day on top of the three I already do outside of the school day to do evaluation work.  I found out the hard way that doing what I love most, developing new lessons and experimenting with the ideas in my studio first then connecting them to the Common Core, ELA, and new standards is a long time consuming process that can keep me up until the wee hours of the night thus getting far less sleep than I used to.   For me, I spend much more time trying to connect what I am doing to the state mandated teacher rubric so that I can prove I am teaching and prove the stude...

THE CURLEY K-8 COMMUNITY WISHES MAYOR MENINO GOODBYE! Our new Principal Ms. Katie Grassa, was invited to an Educator's Goodbye  Meeting for Mayor Menino and asked if the Curley art students could make a goodbye card. We had an outpouring of artwork so the students put together a book of pictures as our card for her to bring to the meeting. Here is a sampling of just some the artwork that was included in the card. We all wish the mayor well!

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

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...

So it was really nice to spend time with my Mother and my Husband for a few days relaxing and doing some gardening. We swam and relaxed in my brother's hot tub every night looking at the stars.  But, there is something about your own home too that makes you long for it after being away in a bed that is not your own.  I was excited to get back to my garden and I bought a few pots and my mother gave me some plants too so I was itching to garden at my house. I took some pictures of my deck today and I though it reminded me of a Frida Kahlo painting for some reason.  I think its all the colors, wine bottles, candles and plants galor.  I am happy to be home.

Painted on the side of Lawson Bros' Barber Shop, this mural whimsically depicts a child's first haircut at Mr. Lawson's long-standing neighborhood shop  here in Jamaica Plain.