Hello lovely parents!

 

My name is Mrs. Trout and I am the Middle School Art Teacher here at American Academy! This will be my 7th year at AA. I am incredibly excited to be teaching these students about the elements and principles of art and to watch their passion and skill grow throughout each trimester. 

 

I will be using Artsonia this year to document student work and allow parents a sure way of seeing their students masterpieces! You will receive an email once their artwork is uploaded after each assignment. You will then have the chance to leave a comment, share it, and also order merch with the image on it- and a good percentage of those proceeds go towards my classroom budget, so your support is greatly appreciated!

 

Here is a quick run-down of what each grade level will be learning this year (26-27) according to the Core Knowledge Curriculum and CO state standards. 

 

6th Grade-

For our first middle school project, students will be learning about artist signatures and creating their own! Once they have a signature, we will be carving them into pink erasers and using them as stamps on all of our projects! This is a really fun and easy project that teaches the students about the importance of signatures in adulthood as well as the art world. They always have a ton of fun!

 

Next, Middle school can be a hard time- usually when students are trying to find their place in the world and who they want to be. To make my students transition a little easier, we will be talking about Identity and who they are. To dive deeper into this idea, the students start by creating their own self-portraits, learning how to create accurate proportions and realistic shading. We go over how to make it unique like you, learning how to draw different facial features and hair types. The background of these self-portraits will involve a pattern of something that represents who they are, inspired by artist Kehinde Wiley's paintings. We use anatomically correct features, using science and math to create these cool portraits!

 

Finally, we will end the rotation with a dragon eye drawing using oil pastel. This further teaches the students value and form, while also talking about the color wheel and complementary colors. This project has the most amazing outcomes and the students are always so proud of their work.

 

   

 

 

7th Grade-

For their first project we will be going over Chinese dragon puppets by creating a version that includes the students Chinese zodiac sign based on their birth year. These get extremely detailed and the end product is amazing. For this project we use colored pencil, construction paper, and cardboard. The elements we go over include texture, form, value, and balance. This is a 2 week long project and they are always so individualized and fun. 

 

Next, students will create a yarn painting using only glue and yarn. This is an incredibly fun project where the students can create whatever landscape they wish, using different colors of yarn to depict depth, texture and contrast. This project is a favorite in the district art show, as well as on Artsonia!

 

Students will also be creating a paper quilling project, using at least 5 techniques to demonstrate their new skill! This one is really great for those who might not be in love with drawing, but enjoy creating something new nonetheless. 

 

   

   

 

 

8th Grade-

In this unit we start with a pointillism piece of a fruit still life based on George Seurat's work. The pointillism also helps students learn more about Art Therapy and how they can use art-making to calm down (middle school can be stressful!). We talk about color theory and using only a pair of complimentary colors to create shadows and highlights, and they also learn how to add value using only dots.

 

Next, students will learn color theory and how to make ANY color using ONLY the primary colors + white. They will choose a silver or gold object and find a reference photo, and then we will learn how to mix all of those metallic colors ourselves and recreate the image! This one is always so amazing and shows students how talented they really are. 

 

For the last project, students will create a small bird, fish, or insect using cardboard and paper mache! Using our color theory skills, students will paint their creations using only the primary colors! 

 

  

   

 

If you ever have any questions, please feel free to reach out.

Thank you for reading, and I look forward to a lovely year ahead! 

 

-Mrs. Trout