Instructional Highlights – ART

The Midland Art Program

Artists of every age benefit from Midland’s Art classes.  Students learn about different art topics while using repetitive skills and familiar art materials. For instance, we used studio clay and glaze to form heart shapes in February and in March we used the clay to form oval shapes for eggs.  Repeating skills and materials while learning about a variety of art topics makes art class feel relaxed for the students. They feel more confident while creating different shapes and forms because they’re using familiar materials.In addition to our work with clay, students have been making designed name plaques using raised shapes and letters, scrapbook stickers on a painted background board and an underwater habitat for a sea turtle.

Younger students focus on basic art techniques like painting, and we paint quite often. Painting is a very effective way to engage our young artists. They love to look, touch and smell the paint. We practice and repeat using and holding brushes. We use a thick stubby brush to paint larger areas and some students may use a thinner, rounded brush for outlining or drawing with paint. Using repetitive words and phrases, when giving directions for painting, help students remember what to do.   Some of our favorites include “back and forth, back and forth the brushes go, to the end our brushes go” and “tap, tap, tap, dot, dot, dot, up and down is how we use our brush”.  When we move on to gluing, “a little bit of glue, a little dab will do”, is another favorite phrase. 

Visit our FACEBOOK Page for more Highlights and Information: https://www.facebook.com/TheMidlandSchool