6th Grade

In April, 601 and 602 will be introduced to reading and writing using standard musical notation. They will also begin learning one of their pieces of choral repertoire, “Pure Imagination.”

7th/8th Grade Majors

  In 7th grade chorus, the majors will work on integrating percussion into their song, “Red, Red Rose”. They will also prepare to share their mashups related to the theme of “protectors” with the rest of the class. In 8th grade chorus, students will continue rehearsing “Golden Slumbers,” and “Carry that Weight” while using solfege to learn the melodies. Additionally, they will organize the songs they chose for graduation into a collection that they will sing for their final performance. The composers of the month will be DakhaBrakha, a Ukrainian group that combines elements of Ukrainian folk music with more contemporary sounds. Their name translates roughly to “give and take”.

Graphic Arts (Ms. Eisenberg)

6th Grade

Classes 601 and 602 will be joining the graphic arts class for the first time this school year. They will have an introduction to graphic design and learn about its importance throughout the world. The students first project will focus on cultural foods from around the world. Using Adobe Photoshop they will use photo manipulation to build a realistic dinner plate setting that emphasizes food from their cultural heritage. The students will learn the design process of research and writing, sketching, design, editing, and presentation.  

7th Grade Majors

The seventh grade graphic arts students will be learning product and three-dimensional packaging design. They will be inventing their own brand of chewing gum. The students will design the logo and packaging design for an original chewing gum brand. They will be using Adobe Illustrator to design a two-dimensional box that will be printed, cut, glued, and scored together to make a three-dimensional artwork. The assignment will have a second part where the students will design an online animated advertisement once the packaging design is completed.  

8th Grade Majors

The eighth-grade graphic arts majors will be working on completing their Pop Art vector portrait in the style of Andy Warhol. Next, they will be designing an original Campbell’s soup can. In 2012 Campbell’s soup came out with a Pop Art soup can that celebrated Andy Warhol and the 50th anniversary of Pop Art. The eighth-grade students will design a soup can that celebrates the 60th anniversary of Pop Art. It will feature the topic they used in their Pop Art portrait. They will design the label for the soup can using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. It will include a description describing the importance of the topic featured on the label. The students will learn type design, copywriting for advertising, and how to design a label within a small constricted space. The label will be printed and glued onto a Campbell’s soup can.

Visual Arts (Ms. Herrity)

6th Grade

Welcome to Visual Art 603 & 604! I’m excited for our time together and looking forward to learning and creating with you in the art room. We’ll start off our journey by learning that drawing is a SKILL and can be learned! It is not a magical ability. We’ll be making notebooks for class together and will be learning the procedures in the classroom so that classes can run smoothly as we move forward. Students will be learning about the 7 Elements of Art and the Principles of Art as well as how to peer-critique. Parents of 603 and 604 – please review your child’s art folder and notebook with them often to encourage their learning – you might just also learn some things, too! 

7th Grade Majors

7th grade Visual Art majors will be working in pairs or solo on a project that puts their figure drawing skills and knowledge into action through new materials to represent and to create a narrative that involves an “interaction” between two or more people. Students will also be revisiting the perceptual skills of drawing, specifically, the perception of negative space as being equal in importance to positive space. Students are always highly encouraged to sign out materials or supplies to use for their sketchbook homework assignments and to work on their assignment throughout the week from brainstorming, to sketching, to creating the final. Each week presents an opportunity to create artwork that can become a part of your portfolio. Especially important to keep in mind if there’s any interest in pursuing art at a specialized arts high school. 

8th Grade Majors

Huge shout out to all of you 8th grade art majors – I am really enjoying my time with you all this year! Also very proud of students who worked so hard on their portfolios for high school applications – your future teachers are very lucky. Students recently wrapped up a “chair” drawing project in class and will be creating the narrative of their artwork with a creative writing component. As the weather warms up this spring we’ll be revisiting field sketching outdoors from time to time and in the classroom we’ll be working with new mediums and materials. Yay! 

Theater (Ms. DiRenzo)

6th Grade

603 & 604: Welcome to Theater! We will be spending the next month building our ensemble skills through theater games. Students will work on cooperative learning, communication and eye contact. Additionally, we will work on having a growth versus fixed mindset. Students will be asked in the next week to be able to independently log into their student PupilPath accounts in order to join the Google Theater Classroom. Parents can help support this by checking that all passwords work and students have them either memorized or written down somewhere safe. 

7th Grade Majors

7th Grade: Our playwriting unit is well underway and students have already written three original monologues and a scene. This month our prompts will become a bit more serious in nature and allow students to explore topics of importance to themselves and their peers. We have also begun our study of William Shakespeare the man and the Elizabethan Era in which he wrote some of the most prolific and well known written pieces to date. Students will explore the language of Shakespeare through his most famous “To be, or not to be” soliloquy from Hamlet. They will then produce, in groups, a selection of scenes from Romeo & Juliet. 

8th Grade Majors

8th Grade: The students have been hard at work designing a selection of scenes from Antigone. They have created mood/vision boards to represent their concepts, designed the stage space fo their scenes and are finishing up color cards and costume designs for each of the characters in their group’s scene. Towards the end of the month groups will be mounting their scene productions including set, costume and lighting design. Scenes will be recording and provided for viewing.