Starting the second semester is in many ways like starting a brand new school year. As I welcome new classes and learn to put names with new faces, I am also establishing a foundation of communication and routines for our next five months together.

Google Classroom – The first goal was to get all of my new classes on Google Classroom (GC). All students were enrolled by the end of our first week together. I will continue to use GC to send out assignments and collect finished work. In the art room, students take photos of their artwork at varying stages and post the photos to GC for me to see. Students will also write artist statements to reflect on their work. My students and I have found GC to be super helpful over the past couple of years with the centralized instruction and efficient sharing of resources it offers.

Parents may sign in to receive summaries of our activity. Rather than actually participating in the class, you instead observe what we are doing. For information on just how to do that, visit the Guidelines for Guardians. Please know if you ever have questions about your child’s class, you can always email me at agentili@mursd.org.

Artsonia – By the end of last week, I had created accounts for all 5/6 art students on our online gallery at Artsonia. Those students who have had art before are automatically moved to the new group. If your child already had an account, you need do nothing ( except watch for emails announcing new work has been posted 😀). If your child is taking art for the first time in middle school, watch your email inbox for an announcement about how to approve their account. Click on the link within the email to give permission for your child’s art to be on display. If you are curious about Artsonia, visit our gallery here to see what it’s all about.

Sketchbooks – Last but not least of the semester start activities is the creation of sketchbooks. As of the end of the day yesterday, every student had created a sketchbook. They will be using them every day for at least five minutes responding to creativity sparks, quick write prompts, as learning logs, or as plan books for projects. Please read about the importance of using sketchbooks in the art room in this post.

Now that we have implemented all the semester start processes, we will be hitting the ground running with projects. First up is the inclusion of paper circuits and LED lights on the sketchbook covers. Stay tuned for future activities right here on this blog!