Light! Camera! Action!

Claymation!

The 7th grader who made this animation claimed she was not very good with computers, yet she produced this project all on her own,

figuring out how to use imovie to make her animation, add music, dub in her own voice, create titles and add sound effects.

Two stop action animation projects were recently completed in one 7^th grade class. Students set up tripods, crafted characters and scenery and  took hundreds of photographs to make their short films. Theyused imovie on the classroom computers to make their photographs come to life, adding sound effects, titles and music.

"K" & "L" work together to add a snowstorm scene to their animation using a hand-textured painting by "Z"

It didn’t take the 5^th graders very long to notice the equipment and begin their own projects. These students learned about the process of stop-action animation last year at Thatcher Brook, and have been able to use their prior experience to begin their projects in the art studio this year.

Meanwhile, another team of 7th graders created a hysterical movie, filming through the built-in camera on the Mac, employing a combination of live action, drawn backgrounds, special visual effects,custom sound  track and a cast of  naughty, rude reckless lizards.

Paper Mache Pets

2 balloons form the armature for this sculpture

“H,” a highly organized, intrinsically motivated 6^th grade artist, listened carefully at the beginning of the quarter about to the description of the choice-based classroom. She understood that students would be doing the authentic work of artists – identifying an idea, a process and a product to work on.

"A" painting her paper mache sculpture - the 2nd dog to come to life in the studio

She came in the next day with a plan: she would make a papier mâché panda. The plan she carried in to the classroom included thumbnail sketches, images captured from the computer, a list of needed materials and the steps she would take toward completion. Over the next several classes, “H” organized her materials, started to construct the panda and planned intermediate goals. She worked on her sculpture to completion, only stopping to help other classmates who became interested in starting similar projects.  

Tandem Painting

In the studio- classroom, student artists sometimes choose to work side-by-side on similar ideas, or work together on one idea...

5th grade friends work to make a group of pastel paintings that fit together together and tell a story

sometimes producing twin paintings or connected drawings.

Twin paintings with a camping theme are painted side-by-side

Sometimes a more experienced artist peer-coaches a less experienced artist.

6th grade friends work with care to make a set of "name art" drawings, so each will have one to take home.

 Sometimes friends make friend-paintings