Student work exhibited at New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC)

One of my goals, each year, is to display as much artwork as possible outside of our school. This month, and throughout the summer, 8 pieces of artwork will be on display in the lobby of the Victoria Theater at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark, NJ. Congratulations to Kayla & Emily (5th grade), Alessandro & Jed (4th grade), Martin, Claire, Abby & Julia (2nd grade) and Amil (1st grade). This is a juried exhibit sponsored by the Art Educators of New Jersey, 30 pieces will be exhibited in all. The Artist's Reception, for this exhibit will be Sunday, June 10, 2007 from 11:30 am- 12:30 pm. All students who have artwork exhibited in this show have been informed by mail.

2007 Spring Art Exhibit - PREVIEW

5th grade - Sneakers
2nd grade - Lions & Dragons to Celebrate Lunar New Year

3rd grade - King & Queen Portraits

Spring Art Exhibit
This year’s Spring Art Exhibit ready for viewing!!!
The work will be on display from
May 18, 2007 through June 8, 2007
Visit the school ANYTIME to view the exhibit
or
Come early, before the CONCERTS, May 22, 2007 & May 29, 2007 - this is the perfect opportunity to enjoy all the artwork students have created this year!!!

Artwork from each child, in the school, is on exhibit in the long hallways on the 1st and 2nd floor. All work is identified by the teacher & student name, you will also find a description of the project!

Attention Third Grade Parents & Guardians
A special exhibit of artwork from 3rd grade is on display in the hallway
past Ms. Salazar’s room, look for signs!!!

We know you will enjoy!
Thank you - Susan Bivona & Kamyee Ladas, Art teachers

Charter Day - May 19, 2007

Happy Birthday Basking Ridge!!!

Saturday May 19, 2007 is the 13th Annual Charter Day - a celebration of the day that Basking Ridge received its charter! The day runs from 11:00 am - 5:00 pm - a variety of community groups and businesses have booths and there are activities throughout the day. Most of the activities take place right in the center of Basking Ridge.

One tradition is an Art Exhibit, from the Art classes in the Bernards Township School District, at the church. Mount Prospect School will have over 70 pieces of artwork on display. Enjoy!!! Any child who has artwork on display will receive a notice before Friday, May 18, 2007.

For more detailed information about Charter Day, check out the Historical Society of Somerset Hills website! Hope to see you there!

Artsonia Hall of Fame

Although the school year is starting to wind down, ARTSONIA is just getting started with one of the newest family involvement features on our site! Now, parents and fan club members can help their artists earn Artsonia awards and even get their name listed in the Artsonia Hall of Fame!
* "Portfolio" Award -- earned by having 5 or more pieces of artwork in the gallery this year
* "Popular Artist" -- earned by having 5 or more fan club members
* "Rave Reviews" -- earned by receiving 5 or more comments this year
* Hall of Fame -- our highest honor, earned when the artists has all three of the above awards

Mount Prospect School currently has the following award winners for the 2006-2007 school year:

2 Hall of Fame winners

14 students have earned 2 of 3 awards

144 students have earned 1 of 3 awards

Ready to see which students have achieved awards this year? Click the following link (or enter in your browser) to view your school's student awards page! http://www.artsonia.com/schools/prospect1/studentawards

Geico's 2006 - 2007 National Safety Belt Poster Contest Winner

Geico's 2006 - 2007 Safety Belt Poster Contest

Another WINNER -- for the 2nd year in a row we have a WINNER in the Geico National Safety Belt Poster Contest! Here you see artwork created by a Kevin, a third grade student at Mount Prospect School. This piece was selected as the third place regional winner for the 6 - 8 age group. WOW - a Congratulations goes out to Kevin, keep up the GREAT work!!!


For more about this contest go to:
http://www.geico.com/about/poster/

NJ Conserve Wildlife Foundation Species on the Edge Art and Essay Contest

For the second year in a row Mount Prospect School participated in the NJ Conserve Wildlife Foundation Species on the Edge Art and Essay Contest. Once again, we had 3 pieces selected!!!
Congratulations go out to 5th grade students - Raeann, Sabina & Andy!

You can find out more about this contest at:
http://www.conservewildlifenj.org/teachers/2007species.html

Artsonia Update!!!

Mount Prospect School Gallery at:
www.artsonia.com/prospect1.

Security Keys, Comments and Fan Clubs !!!

Mount Prospect School has been publishing student artwork to our On-line Artsonia Gallery for 6 years now! I continue to get lots of positive feedback from both students and parents.

Here are just a few things you should keep in mind.

SECURITY KEYS
Please Note...when your child has a piece published on Artsonia you will receive a paper notice. It is important that you check this notice and see if you are REGISTERED. To register you MUST have your child's SECURITY KEY...the only way you can get it is from me, Mrs. Bivona, on the notice I send home. Once you register you will automatically get e-mail updates when new artwork is published! Thank you for taking the time to do this!!!

COMMENTS
Artsonia allows you and other visitors to leave comments for our young artists, I would like to encourage you to do so! Students LOVE to read positive comments about what they are creating! The next step is you, the PARENTS & GUARDIANS need to approve the comments!

FAN CLUBS
Parents need to register to receive e-mail updates, but other family members and friends can become a member of a child's FAN CLUB. This way they can receive e-mail updates each time a new piece of artwork is uploaded!

Mrs. Bivona hits the TODAY Show for Youth Art Month

The National Art Education Association's Convention was held in NYC - March 14 - 18, 2007. As President of the Art Educators of New Jersey (AENJ) I represented our association at the Delegates Assembly. On Thursday - March 15, 2007 a few of my art teacher friends (and AENJ Board Members) decided to hit the TODAY Show to tell the world that March is Youth Art Month! We got up at 5:00 am, so we could get in line early. We were there by 6:15 but there were many people there before us - including many other art teachers from across the county! They finally let us in at 6:45 and we decided on the "perfect spot", it was right next to the door that Matt, Meredith and Al Roker use to go outside. Although we were not on the air speaking, there was an art teacher who got on the air to talk about Youth Art Month! And we had the opportunity to give Meredith a set of Youth Art Month note cards!

State Youth Art Month - Trenton, NJ

Congratulations go out to Nikhil K. in 5th grade!!! His artwork was one of 6 pieces selected at the Somerset County Youth Art Month Exhibit to move on to the State Youth Art Month at the State House in Trenton. Both of these exhibits are sponsored by the Art Educators of New Jersey (AENJ). The Artist's Reception was Wednesday - March 7, 2007. Each child received a certificate, a button and a t-shirt. Once again the reception was well attended with a standing room only crowd! There were many proud students, parents and teachers! Artwork representing all 21 counties in New Jersey were on display.

March is Youth Art Month

The Johnson Gallery

Endorsed by the National Art Education Association (NAEA), Youth Art Month (YAM) is a national annual observance each March to emphasize the value of art education for all children and to encourage support for quality school art programs. To recognize Youth Art Month, the Somerset Art Association partners with the Art Educators of New Jersey
to host a two-part exhibit of Somerset County student work on both floors of the Johnson Gallery.

The Somerset County Youth Art Month Exhibit is held at the Somerset Art Associaton (SAA) in Bedminister, NJ. Part I of this exhibit ran from March 4 - 14, 2007, highlights the talents of children in Kindergarten through 5th grade and Part II, March 18 - 31, 2007, highlights work created in 6th through 12th grade. Above you see photos from the first exhibit.

Mount Prospect had 17 pieces on display for this exhibit. Six pieces of artwork were selected from these two exhibits to go on to the State Youth Art Month Exhibit at the State House in Trenton. The award winners from Part I are, Nikhil K., Grade 5, Mount Prospect School (Art Teacher, Susan Bivona); Katherine G., Grade 1, Bradley Gardens School (Art Teacher, Lani Montgomery) and Rohit R., Grade 3, Triangle School (Art Teacher, Nancy Knutsen).

The exhibit has been here at SAA for the past 5 years and a BIG thank you goes out to Robyn Tromeur, Director of SAA and all the volunteers from SAA who helped hang this exhibit.

All the work can be viewed at our Artsonia, On-line Gallery @ www.artsonia.com/somerset1

Americans for the Arts

Somerset County Environmental Center

"Nature Through a Child's Eyes"

For the 11th year in a row the Somerset Environmental Center has sponsored this exhibit. All K- 6th grade schools, in Somerset County can participate. This is the 6th year Mount Prospect has participated!

Over 35 students from Mount Prospect had their work exhibited. All the work on display is inspired by nature. The children are asked to write, What nature means to them...
All of the answers are included in the exhibit program.

It is always so exciting to see the students with their family and friends, they are all so proud! There are refreshments and a variety of art activities for the children to experience.

Artwork Exhibited at NJPAC

One of my goals, each year, is to display as much artwork as possible outside of our school. This month 10 pieces of artwork will be on display in the lobby of the Victoria Theater at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark, NJ. This is a juried exhibit sponsored by the Art Educators of New Jersey, 30 pieces will be exhibited in all. The Artist's Reception will be Sunday, November 19, 2006 from 11:30 - 12:30 pm. All students who have artwork exhibited in this show have been informed by mail.

More Artsonia News...

The first batch of artwork has been uploaded and published to Artsonia. Thank you to all the parents & guardians who sent back the Artsonia Permission forms.

Please Note...when your child has a piece published on Artsonia you will receive a notice. It is important that you check this notice and see if you are REGISTERED. To register you MUST have your child's SECURITY KEY...the only way you can get it is from me, on the notice I send home. Once you register you will automatically get e-mail updates when new artwork is published! Thank you for taking the time to do this!!! I hope you enjoy all the projects that are publihed on Artsonia. Check out the Mount Prospect School Gallery at: www.artsonia.com/prospect1.

Leadership Award from Artsonia

Mrs. Bivona has been recognized by ARTSONIA - the world's largest children's art museum - for outstanding leadership in the area of art education at Mount Prospect School. The school's online art gallery - www.artsonia.com/prospect1 - ranks #3 in the state and #17 in the country.

The Leadership Award presented to Mrs. Bivona honors teachers who go beyond the classroom walls to encourage family and community involvement in art education. The award also recognizes significant achievement in the area of technology integration within the school art program. State and nationwide rankings are based on specific criteria, which demonstrate both aspects of the Leadership Award.

While teachers in more than 100 countries showcase their students artwork on Artsonia, Mrs. Bivona has created a school community deserving of recognition. During the 2005-2006 school year, the Mount Prospect School gallery showcased 1215 pieces of artwork. This popular collection of art has been visited more than 120,000 times and has received over 450 comments from friends and family.

Headquartered in Chicago, Ill., Artsonia is an online children's art museum providing free, educational resources for kids, families and schools. Founded in 2000, Artsonia continues to integrate technology in the classroom, developing multicultural understanding through art and increase family involvement in children's education. To find out more, visit www.artsonia.com.

TILES Welcome Visitors to Our School

The next time you visit Mount Prospect School -- STOP and take a look at the beautiful tiles that surround the door to the Office and WELCOME visitors to our school.

At Mount Prospect we are very fortunate to have students from many countries attend our school. To welcome students, parents and other visitors we had students design tiles with the words – “Welcome to our School” in 30 different languages. Many of the tiles were designed by students who are fluent in the language.

This project was a collaboration between Senora Reilly (Spanish Teacher), Mrs. Bivona (Art Teacher), the Mount Prospect PTO and ARTSONIA. Senora Reilly and Mrs. Bivona worked with the students (June 2006) to complete this project. Each student designed their tile on paper. Then digital photos were taken of each and the pictures were uploaded to ARTSONIA. Artsonia very generously made the tiles for us! If you would like to take a better look at each tile and you cannot make it to school, take a look at the gallery on ARTSONIA. Of course, like many projects here at Mount Prospect we could not have completed it with out the support of the PTO. Thanks for helping to make this possible!

Mrs. Bivona's Atlanta Adventure at the HIGH Museum of Art

Louvre Atlanta is an unprecedented partnership between the High Museum of Art (Atlanta) and the Musée du Louvre in Paris that will bring hundreds of artworks from the Louvre's collections to Atlanta from fall 2006 through 2009. The collaboration will include an exchange of cultural expertise and educational programs.

Some time in mid-May ('06) I recieved an e-mail from the Director of School Programs at the High asking me if I would be interested in teaching at the High's Summer Teacher Institute. My art teacher friend Debi West, from Atlanta, gave him my name! I said "yes", and before I knew it I was writing a lesson plan around an artwork, of my choice, from the "Kings Collection". My lesson focused on the tapestries. I would present this lesson, at the High, to the teacher in the Visual Arts Strand of the Institute.

Nine teachers were invited to be faculty for the institute, part of our responsibility as instructors was to attend the morning lectures presented by the curators & teachers from the Louvre. Each presenter discussed a different aspect of the Louvre and "The Kings Collection". To begin we learned how the Louvre began as a fortress and grew into a museum, then we learned what it would have been like to live during Louis XIV's rule, finally we learned about the all the different collections that will be on display, from the Louvre, at the High. As instructors, we were encouraged to relate that information from the morning lectures to the lesson we presented in the afternoon.

This was an incredible opportunity! I will share all that I learned with our students here at Mount Prospect -- The Louvre at Mount Prospect School. I will continue to post more on my Atlanta Adventure!

State Fair Success - Crayola The Art of Childhood

Friday, August 4, 2006 was opening day at the New Jersey State Fair in Augusta, NJ. I was there to volunteer at CRAYOLA'S Art of Childhood Exhibit.

Images of State Fairs bring to mind funnel cakes, ice cream and prize winning sheep. Well this year at the Fair, add Children's Artwork to the list of must see attractions!

Twenty pieces of art were included in the Fair from Mount Prospect School, with two coming in Second Place in their categories. It was exciting to see Crayola's colorful ribbons on the two selections. The winners will receive their awards on Tuesday, August 8, 2006 at the Artist's reception (3:00 pm). All student's who have artwork in this exhibit will receive a certificate and something special from Crayola -- ALL are invited to come!

The Fair is the perfect backdrop for the exhibit, allowing people to come see the artwork and complete a project provided by Crayola. If you have any time between now and August 13, 2006 I would encourage you to visit the fair!

Congratulations to all the students who had artwork accepted into this juried exhibit and an extra Congratulations to our 2 second place winners!

CRAYOLA’S
The ART of CHILDHOOD Exhibit

New Jersey State Fair
August 4 – 13, 2006
Sussex County Farm & Horse Show
Augusta, New Jersey
(973) 948 – 5500

You will find the “ART of CHILDHOOD” Exhibit in the
RoNetco ShopRite Family Entertainment Area Events
Open daily from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm

“ART of CHILDHOOD” Artists Reception
Tuesday – August 8, 2006
3:00 – 4:00 pm in the
Performing Arts Tent

Mrs. Bivona will be attending the Artists Reception -- hope to see YOU there!!!

To find out MORE information about the NJ State Fair or to purchase TICKETS on-line
check out…

NJ State Fair Website: http://www.newjerseystatefair.org/index.cfm

End of the Year Self Portraits

In Art we begin each school year by drawing a self portrait. K through 3rd grade draw on white drawing paper and the 4th & 5th grades complete their drawing in their sketchbook. Next week we will begin to close the year by doing their "End of the Year Self Portrait". I keep the drawing the students do at the beginning of the year and return them now, so they can see how much they have grown physically and in their ability to create their self portrait. I do this each year, if you kept each of these drawings you would have a wonderful memory of their drawings from Kindergarten through 5th grade. I hope you will ask to take a look at them. They always provide the children with laughter and fun at the end of the year. They certainly look forward to it. Enjoy!