Ivy Fine Arts Spring '11

1.  Violin
-  Ivy continues to take private lessons once every two weeks and plays with the Fiddlekidz weekly.  She has performed at several recitals, a school fundraiser dance, and they busked at the farmer's market.  The group will play at the Children's Festival on May 28th.  Ivy is excited about their opportunity to record at CD in cooperation with the Penn High music students.  Their first recording session is this coming Thursday.  They are also scheduled as an opening band for the 3 Tenors in Gyro Park in early July.



2.  Sketching

3.  Writing sample from library workshop (handed in)

4.   Photos from Dominion Observatory

5.  New claymation project (in progress) 

Update: Another violin video from June:

Ella Fine Arts Spring '11

1.  piano
-  Ella is working on piano and basic music theory this term.  She has lessons for 1/2 each week with Rochelle Henbury and practices 20min/day 4 times a week.

2.  dance
-  Ella has re-joined Fitkidz gym and has been working on an integrated hip hop and gymnastics routine that will be performed on May 29, at the provincial Gymnaestrada



3.  sculpture
- After we made play dough for Ella's science, she used it to make this awesome sculpture!

We've been blown away by Ella's drawing lately. Sometimes she draws out of books, but other times the characters are straight out of her head, and they're often hilarious, like this evil genius shown here. A few more:

• Monster at the bed
  
• Two fun male characters from a cartooning book.
  
• An angry old guy with a newspaper, probably a vision of my future.
  
• A mean girl, complete with speech bubble accusing the cat of misdeeds.
  
• Funky owl -- I believe this one was just made up, not out of a book.
  
• Backpack girl, showing some serious flair.

Ella Fine Arts Winter '11

Ella loves graphic novels and cartooning. She's even written her own first comic! Here are samples of the kinds of things she's been working on.


1. There is a story to go with this lovely girl, I'll see if I can get Ella to re-tell it for the blog...

2. Photocopied cartoon

3. Ella continues to go to voice lessons one time a week and practices her songs and some basic piano 4 days a week. Her favourite song she's worked on so far is still "Sally's Song" from the movie "The Nightmare Before Christmas", but she's working on some new ones, including Weird Al!

4. Kerpoof

5. DSi animation

6. Mini-clips

7. Sketch-up

Ivy Fine Arts Winter '11

1.  Ivy made a set of three cartoons, each depicting her with a different friend. She's really developed confidence in her style and has fun with playing with settings, colours and fashions.

2.  The following is a portrait of the "Terran Oracle" from Ivy's planet of Terra.  She has developed an extensive library of information on Terra, including cities, maps, costume, diet, housing and language!

3.  Ivy's Christmas performance with the Fiddlekidz at the Opus Coffee House.

4. Sketch-up

5. Mini-clips

6. DSi animation

7. Kerpoof

Club Penguin

On Friday,Ella,mom and I went on a very special field trip;the club Penguin headquarters in Kelowna! We learned how to draw club penguin characters(penguins and their pet puffles)and got cool little sketchbooks to practice in.
then some game programmers came in and showed us how they programmed the games on club penguin. then, they used us to demonstrate how they made up the games,like we were a human computer! it was very fun and exiting and at the end we got to sit on giant puffle-shaped beanbags!
by Ivy



Mom's notes: The blue puffle pictured on the side was drawn by Ivy on our new computer stylus. We're not sure why he insists on standing on his side. Unpredictable creatures. Ivy arranged a penguin drawing contest for the family and handed out custom step-by-step learning sheets. We all did pretty well I think!

Ivy Fine Arts

1. Claymation project at HLP

2. Journal Entry - Experience of trial hip hop class (hard copy)

3. Sketch Up space shuttles (online)
- space camper is a downloaded graphic that she has modified, space ship 1 is her own creation

4. Bounce Band (hard copy)
- Ivy and two friends have co-written 2 songs. They have the lyrics and melody for the choruses. They have parts for vocals, guitar, piano and violin! Sorry, no footage yet.

5. Drawing - Pixie (hard copy)

6. Short Story - "The Eternal Flame", inspired by Storyworld cards (hard copy)
- used the cards "Youngest Son", "Cat", "Eternal Flame", and "Wild Beast".

7. Ivy is taking violin again this year. She attends Fiddlekidz once a week and has a private lesson every other week with Liz Lupton.

Ella Fall 2010 Art

Ella set up a new desk station this fall and has been enjoying the relative quiet of her new spot. She's spent hours drawing and listening to her favourite music.







1. Ella started weekly voice lessons this fall and has connected really well with her teacher, Rochelle. (hard copy of practice list)




2. Hip hop - she attended four classes in September and learned a short routine.

3. First Friday at the Penticton Art Gallery. (hard copies of journal entries)

4. Sketch "Funky Star Girl" (hard copy)

5. Poem/Song (hard copy)

6. Kerpoof - story intro emailed

Summer Classes

The girls each took a few classes this summer and although they fall outside of the school year they did a lot of learning! Both girls attended and helped me teach a children's pottery class through the Summer Arts Program here in Summerland.

Ivy took a whittling course in June and then again in August because she enjoyed it so much. She made a walking stick, sailboat, hedgehog, "yip stick", whistle, boomerang and a bunch of other things!

Ella signed up for a week of gymnastics camp where she got to practise her basic moves, play games and learn a bit of hip hop. She was only planning to spend mornings there but stayed all day a few times! Her energy is astounding. Ella also loved the one week drama course she took with JenViens. The theme was "Twisted Fairytales" where the kids got to rewrite some classics with their own twists. Ella ended up playing the part of the frog prince and looked really comfortable on stage.

A few fun sketches from over the summer...

Ivy's portraits of space club members:



and Ella's "Hay Dude".

Allegria

We got tickets for the Cirque Du Soleil show "Allegria" last Christmas and finally got to go! Favourite acts included the Power Track (gymnastics - trampoline tumbling),Flying Man, and Aerial High Bar. It was fantastic but for most of us it was no match for the colours and intensity of Saltimbanco, which we saw a few years ago. Ivy was the exception to this and had a greater appreciation for the more subtle details.

Egypt

Serpents reading level

Ivy took out these two "Theodosia" books from the library and it got us both going on ancient Egyptians. We've had many books out from the library and have worked on several projects. We researched different types of stone and carefully purchased red carnelian for a protective amulet. Ivy used a stick as an experimental subject and followed the steps to making a mummy, even wrapping it carefully. She made a fantastic drawing of a pyramid and a winged disk and several "ankh", a symbol of life. We now have a passing familiarity with the various gods and godesses with Ivy's favourite so far being Thoth, God of wisdom and writing.

Ella's Art - Spring 2010

1. Piano


2. Environment Poster
3. Kerpoof pirate story
4. Money Scene
5.Tree Painting (submitted)

Ivy's Art - Spring 2010

1. Kerpoof

Sugol: A Cautionary Tale
- Ivy worked on this environmentally themed short story all in one session. Unfortunately due to program limitations (Kerpoof)we were not able to go back and edit once it had been saved!

Kandy Korn I & II
- These videos were also made on the Kerpoof site.

2. Environment posters

3. Violin


4. Egyptian drawing

5. Panda

Wiggly Village

Ivy wrote this puppet play and enlisted Ella to help with acting, props and marketing materials. It is the pilot episode of a show for very young children. After several practise runs, suggestions, and adjustments Jeremy did the filming. He showed Ivy how to use Windows Movie Maker and they edited it together.

Art Inspiration

The girls spend a lot of time doing art, and we did another art inspiration activity where they picked a piece of art out of a stack of prints and art books, then drew and coloured their interpretation of the piece or something that it inspired them to work on. After completing their pictures, they did some research to find out about the original artists and the times they were creating their art.

This video shows their selections, finished works and some conversation about the process:

Ella Art - Winter '10

1. Music - Ella has started to learn both basic recorder and piano. She is grasping the ideas quickly and has an amazing memory for tunes. Like Ivy, she is not focusing on reading music but rather on learning by ear and having fun.

Video of playing will go here

2. Gymnastics - In late November Ella participated in a gymnastics fun competition. She memorized simple routines in all 4 apparatus and performed them well (video in this post). Although she is not in any dance I consider the floor routine in particular to utilize some of the same skills.

3. Art Inspiration - Chinese painting from the Tung Dynasty period

4. Wiggly Village video & accessories

5. Sketch-Up house

Ivy Art - Winter '10

1. Ivy fiddled at the Olympic Torch Relay with the Fiddlekidz and Irish dancers. She also participated in the Penticton School of Music recital in February. Ivy attends Fiddlekidz once a week, has private lessons every other week and practises almost every day.

CLIP of new song will go here

2. Eco-posters on Ivy's blog

3. Art Inspiration - Bosch

4. Wiggly Village video & accessories

5. Sketch-Up house

Celtic Jam

This August Ivy had an opportunity to participate in a "Celtic Jam" with many other musicians at the Princeton Traditional Music Festival. She didn't know a lot of the songs but was game to try! She continues to attend "Fiddlekidz" every Thursday and has private lessons every other week. Ivy manages to practice about 4 times a week on top of that.

Click, Clack,MOO

Ivy and Ella adapted the storybook "Click, Clack, MOO: Cows That Type" by Doreen Cronin, to a short play. They wrote down the revised script with colour coded entries to match the character speaking. Ella made a marquis for the doorway and they practiced multiple times before politely inviting the Thanksgiving guests to attend the performance. It was well rehearsed and executed!

Props will be submitted as part of the art portfolio for the fall term.

The Birchbark House

The Birchbark House, by Louise Eldrich

This novel follows a year in the life of Omakayas, an Anishinabe girl of 8 winters. The girls and I used it as a read aloud book so that we could talk about new ideas together as they came up.

Throughout the book we are exposed to the many ways in which animals are used and shown respect. Many different plants and their various properties are discussed. Canadian history is reflected in the life of the village, their Deydey's (father's) work as a voyageur, and the exposure of the village to smallpox. The culture of the Ojibway comes through in the language, stories, spirituality and relationships.

The girls and I made charts to keep track of some of the many ways in which animals & plants are mentioned. There is also a poster to show the different stories and legends that are told. The story is broken into very distinct seasons which we noted for Ella's science unit.

Art, Term III

Ivy's art submissions for the term:

1. James Ehnis review (folder)
2. Windmill painting
3. Puppet show
4. Violin
5. Phys. Ed & Health drawing (folder)

Ella's art:

1. James Ehnis review (folder)
2. Tree painting
3. Tree life cycle
4. Stump photo
5. Puppet show