4 POINTS about the Pencil + It's National Pencil Day!

Today is National Pencil Day, so I thought I would share some PENCIL INFO! I am sure many of you go through pencils practically like water, just like me. At some point last year I read a blog describing these GRIP Pencils from Faber-Castell, they are jumbo size, painted grey with black dots (they are also very expensive, about $10.00+ for 12) - which was noted in this blog post! Anyway, I decided to give them a try and I have to say...THEY ARE WORTH EVERY PENNY! Did I mention they are also triangular shaped? No more rolling off the table, HOORAY! So, I did an experiment. I put them out on February 1, 2013...Guess what? I still have every single one I put out, all 24 pencils!  I think they may even last through April (3 months), that is a record!   So, if you decide to use these pencils you will also need to purchase some high quality, hand-held pencil sharpeners, I happen to like the Lyra Pencil Sharpeners with 2 holes. For right now the sharpeners stay on my desk and I have been sharpening the pencils for my students. I know it sounds like a lot of work, but in reality the pencils stay sharp pretty long.  So, I am only sharpening them 3-4 times in a week. Ok, on to my 3rd POINT about pencils...the Faber Castell pencils have no eraser anyway, so you will need some erasers too. Even before this I have always purchased erasers and put them out on each table. My favorite are MAGIC RUB, by Prismacolor (I cut them in 3 pieces, that way they last longer)! Finally, for my 4th POINT, I would like to share one of my student's favorite books, The Pencil - by Allan Ahlberg! It's full of adventure!  Thanks for reading and Happy Pencil Day!  

Do you have a favorite pencil in your art room?

This post is my personal opinion, I was not asked by any of the companies above to write it nor was I given any products to write it!

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Mount Spring Art Exhibit 2013

Each Spring we hang the Mount Prospect Spring Art Exhibit in the hallways of the school, this exhibit goes along with our Spring Conferences.  A perfect time to showcase everything the students have accomplished, in Art this year.  One piece of artwork is included for each child in our school, the artwork is displayed by class, with tags identifying each piece and a description of the experience.  The slide show below includes all the work included in the exhibit, they are in order from Kindergarten through 5th grade...ENJOY.  Thanks for stopping by!


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Help Mount Prospect Reach 500,000 view to our Artsonia Gallery!

 

We are just 465 views away! 
Click Here and view all the amazing artwork our students have created this year!!!

Did you know that every piece of artwork created at Mount Prospect School is published to our Artsonia Gallery?  That’s 3,469 pieces of artwork as of today!

Did you know that many 3^rd, 4^th & 5^th graders have been adding ARTISTS STATEMENTS to go along with their artwork?  They have written 581 statements as of today!

Did you know that YOU can invite friends & family members to be a part of your child(ren)s FAN CLUB?  We have 1,621 FAN CLUB Members but we would love some MORE!  Forward this e-mail to friends and family members!

Did you know that YOU can leave a COMMENT for your child(ren) about their artwork?  They love to read what other people think about what they have created!

When visitors leave COMMENTS, for your child, they need to be approved by YOU before your child can read them!   Please take a moment to log-in to you child(ren)'s Artsonia Account and check their digital ARTSONIA GALLERY. 

If you have questions about logging into your account, you can contact me:
sbivona@bernardsboe.com
OR contact Artsonia directly!

Thanks for visiting our Artsonia Gallery!
Please share this e-mail with family & friends!

Bye-Bye Google Reader

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Well, like the rest of you I am working hard to figure out what to do when Google Reader goes away!    I had a bit of a rough start to this school year and this blog has suffered (life is back to normal now).....but all this discussion on Google Reader etc...has inspired me to get back at it!  Which is a great thing!  I spent a little time using Feedly this week, and although it is super slick, I think I like the Bloglovin interface better!  So, I transported everything over there - I really like it!  Even though I haven't been posting, I have been reading and I love reading about & seeing all that goes on in you art rooms!

Tomorrow is my Youth Art Month Exhibit so I will back tomorrow with my "Grand Re-Opening" post at Art on the Move!

So...What is Art?

Well, my 1st through 5th grade students answered that questions on their Monochromatic Hands that they created for Back to School Night.  I saw this idea on another blog - but I cannot figure out where (if it's YOU let me know - so I can give you credit)!  It was a huge hit with all the visitors at Back to School Night.  If you want to see what the individual hands look like check out out Artsonia Gallery.

Art Room WISH List!

Well, it's not quite Back to School but I have seen the ads on TV so it must be coming soon!  While you are out and about shopping for school supplies there are a few items on the Art Room Wish List that I would love to have some EXTRA of...so, here is my WISH LIST.  There are also a few items that you will find around your house - don't throw them away - donate them!  All donations are greatly appreciated.  Just place them in a bag and have your child drop them off at the Art Room.  Thank you!!!

Wish List/Donation List for the Art Room

Clorox or Lysol Wipes
Lysol Healthy No-Touch Hand Soap Dispenser
Lysol No-Touch Hand Soap Refills
Mr. Clean Magic Erasers
Tissues
Quart or Gallon size Ziplock bags
Hand sanitizer

Donations
Styrofoam Egg Cartons
Rinsed out yogurt cups/icing containers
Plastic bottle caps in different colors & sizes

The Perfect Hole Punch

The simple hole punch...somehow it seems to cause difficulty for little hands! I saw these in the Nasco catalog and decided to purchase 6, just to see if they really are as EASY as their title indicates! Well, the "Paper Pro Easy Punch One-Hole Punch" does not disappoint! Wow, they are SO EASY for little hands! Yes, they are more expensive ($3.30 each) but they WORK and how many times do you really buy hole punches anyway!?! I say they are worth it! 

Presentation of Elementary Artwork for the Spring Music Concerts!

Over the next few weeks the 4 elementary schools will have their Spring Music Concerts at the Ridge PAC. For the first time, the elementary art teachers created a slideshow of elementary artwork to run before the concerts. What a fantastic way to advocate for the ARTS!  Amazingly enough the presentation was created in Google Docs, each teacher added their own photos - no e-mailing photos or mailing CDs!  Here is a preview...Enjoy!!!

Hint - click the forward arrow to move through the presentation more quickly!

Spring Exhibit at NJPAC

Created with PhotoShake

NJPAC - Spring 2012

One of my goals, each year, is to display as much artwork as possible outside of our school. Throughout the months of April & May 6 pieces of artwork will be on display in the lobby of the Victoria Theater at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark, NJ. This exhibit is sponsored by the Art Educators of New Jersey, 30 pieces will be exhibited in all.  All the artwork is framed under glass and lit in true gallery style. It is quite an honor to have work exhibited in this exhibit, art educators from around the state of New Jersey submit work.

The Artist's Reception was Sunday, April 22, 2012.

Congratulations to...
Olivia (Kindergarten)
Ishani (1st grade)
Grace (2nd grade)
Antonio (2nd grade)
Claire (4th grade)
Audrey (5th grade)

CONGRATULATIONS to all the young artists!
 

If you are going to NJPAC please make sure to stop by and enjoy the exhibit! All the artwork from this exhibit can been viewed in the Mount Prospect Artsonia Gallery.

Have you seen what's new at ARTSONIA?

ARTSONIA Snappables are jewelry made from ART.  The pendant necklace is magnetic and the SNAPS are printed with artwork and are interchangeable on the pendant!  As you can see from the photo below the artwork can be printed in its original format (square or rectangle - in the box below) or you can have the artwork printed so it fills the circular pendant (out of the box below).  What a great way to actually WEAR some artwork!  You can check out the Mount Prospect ARTSONIA GALLERY HERE!

 

Celebrating Art - We Have a Top Ten Winner!

Congratulations Shreeja!

Once again, we participated in a fairly new contest called Celebrating Art.  Artwork was submitted digitally and artwork selected as finalists will be published in a full color, hardcover book.  We submitted 80 pieces of artwork and had 49 pieces selected as finalist - YAHOO!!!  This is the 3rd time we participated in this contest.  Any school that has 15 entries accepted to be published, receives a free Celebrating Art Book for the classroom.  This book is one of the most popular in my ART bookshelf ~ students from all grades love to look through it because they find artwork that students at Mount Prospect School have created, they find artwork that their sisters & brothers have created and artwork that their friends have created~very cool!

Shreeja, 3rd Grade students at Mount Prospect School just received news that she is a Top Ten Winner in the Celebrating Art Contest, in the K - 3 grade category.  Shreeja will have her work specially featured in the book and receive an additional prize!!!

Congratulations to all 49 Mount Prospect students that will have their artwork included in the Celebrating Art book and 3 cheers for Shreeja for making the TOP TEN!  Keep up the GREAT work!  There will be another contest this Spring so decide which piece you will enter!  Permission forms will be going out in April!

Below are 2 photos of my students with the Celebrating Art books, they are truly beautiful!

 

Celebrating Art will have another contest this year - entries from K, 1st and 2nd grade are due to Mrs. Bivona or Mrs. Roman by March 21, 2012.  Entry forms went out on Monday.  If you need one contact Mrs. Bivona at sbivona@bernardsboe.com.

NJPAC Mid-Winter Exhibit - 2012

NJPAC - Winter Exhibit 2012

One of my goals, each year, is to display as much artwork as possible outside of our school. Throughout the February & March, 4 pieces of artwork will be on display in the lobby of the Victoria Theater at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark, NJ. This exhibit is sponsored by the Art Educators of New Jersey, 30 pieces will be exhibited in all.  All the artwork is framed under glass and lit in true gallery style. It is quite an honor to have work exhibited in this exhibit, art educators from around the state of New Jersey submit work.

The Artist's Reception is Sunday, February 12, 2012 from 11:00 - 12:00.

Congratulations to
Giulia (Kindergarten)
Valentina (Kindergarten)
Brian (2nd grade)
Nishant (4th grade)

If you are going to NJPAC please make sure to stop by and enjoy the exhibit! All the artwork from this exhibit can been viewed in the AENJ Artsonia Gallery.

NJPAC Winter Exhibit - 2011

 

One of my goals, each year, is to display as much artwork as possible outside of our school. Throughout the Winter, 11 pieces of artwork will be on display in the lobby of the Victoria Theater at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark, NJ. This exhibit is sponsored by the Art Educators of New Jersey, 30 pieces will be exhibited in all.  All the artwork is framed under glass and lit in true gallery style. It is quite an honor to have work exhibited in this exhibit, art educators from around the state of New Jersey submit work.

The Artist's Reception is Saturday, December 17, 2011 from 11:00 - 12:00, then starting at noon there will be an afternoon of free Kwanzaa activities at NJPAC's Kwanzaa Celebration!

This event runs from 12:00 pm-5:00 pm, and includes hands-on workshops (for adults and children) in African dance and music, storytelling, Capoeira, drumming and more.  These workshops give families the opportunity to learn more about the Kwanzaa holiday and the African Diaspora.

There will also be a Children's Book Fair, an Arts and Crafts Village featuring face painting, hands-on activities such as spirit masks, sekere crafting, Kwanzaa wish scrolls, and more.

Activities take place at NJPAC and next door at the Center for Arts Education, 24 Rector Street, Newark, New Jersey.  Click here for more information.

Congratulations to

Kevin6471 (K)

Angelina996  (K)

Beckett22  (1)

Lauren  (1)

Nicholas6731  (1)  

TY1303  (2)

Aastha6  (2) 

Jillian1505  (4)

Rose604  (4)

Emily8991  (5)

Katherine653   (5)

If you are going to NJPAC during this holiday season please make sure to stop by and enjoy the exhibit! All the artwork from this exhibit can been viewed in the AENJ Artsonia Gallery.

CRAYOLA DreamMakers Sweepstakes WINNER - Thanks Crayola!

So, this morning when I walked into my room I saw a HUGE box, it had been opened by the school secretary and I could see 3 smaller boxes, with that familiar CRAYOLA logo peaking through - how exciting! At some point in September I received an e-mail from Crayola with the subject line: "Dream-Makers Sweepstakes winner notification", I really did not think too much about it...until this morning! I entered the contest this summer (between June and August).

As a winner, my school, receives 3 Dream Maker Student Activity Centers - grades 1 & 2, grades 3 & 4 and grades 5 - 6.  Each center includes:  an Activity Center Teachers Guide, Student Activity Cards,  SUPPLIES (YES, I said supplies) and a cool container to hold the supplies!  The supplies included are:  3 pairs of scissors, a set of PIP Squeak Markers, Twistable Colored Pencils, Twistable Crayons and 4 glue sticks.  

I certainly have not had time to go through all of it yet - but it looks exciting!!!

Each Student Activity Center includes 360 cards with standards-based projects.  And all of the learning activities are built on three foundations:  Bloom's Taxonomy, Gardner's Multiple Intelligences and national content standards! 

A BIG Thank You to CRAYOLA for these amazing resources!  More to come as I explore & discover what's in the box!

Mount Prospect at NJPAC - Fall 2011

Hailey - to see her gallery CLICK HERE 

 

One of my goals, each year, is to display as much artwork as possible outside of our school. Throughout the Fall, 2 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.  All the artwork is framed under glass and lit in true gallery style. It is quite an honor to have work exhibited in this exhibit, art educators from around the state of New Jersey submit work! The Artist's Reception was Sunday, September 25, 2011.

Congratulations to Hailey (2nd grade) & Martin (5th grade)!!!

If you are going to NJPAC soon please make sure to stop by and enjoy the exhibit! All the artwork from this exhibit can been viewed in the AENJ Artsonia Gallery.

 Martin - to see his gallery CLICK HERE

Check out our Monochromatic Portraits!

Welcome Back!  For the first two weeks of school the students created Monochromatic Portraits.  Monochromatic means containing or using only one color or one group of colors.   I first saw this idea on the blog - smART Class.  It was the perfect way to begin the new school year.  The portraits were drawn on 5X8", unlined index cards.  Students started by drawing in pencil, then they used crayons, markers and colored pencil to add color.  To complete the project - ALL the self portraits (over 500) were displayed in color order - it made for quite the exhibit!  It was hard to walk past without stopping and looking at all the amazing work!  Enjoy the video below!

Who's been Pinning your images? Find out...

Many Art Ed bloggers have been using Pinterest like crazy.  If you don't know what Pinterest is...CLICK HERE!  Like many of you I have been wondering if there is a way to find out what images from our blogs have been "Pinned" well there is...to find out if someone has pinned one of your images on Pinterest, use this URL, replacing

art-on-the-move.blogspot.com with your own domain name: http://pinterest.com/source/art-on-the-move.blogspot.com 

Give it a try!

Pinterest ~ A Linky Party

Well, the reality of school is slowing setting in - we don't start until September 6, 2011 and the kiddos do not return until September 8, 2011 so I still have some time.  In the mean time I discovered PINTEREST this summer (along with lots of other fellow bloggers & art teachers) and I have been loving it!  Pinterest allows you to "pin" images you find online and organize them on different boards.  As artists and art educators we are a visual clan - it's just a perfect way to remember things!  For the most part I have been using it to get ready for school - pinning all sorts of projects that I want to add to my MUST TRY List!  While searching around on Pinterest I found a blogger, Michelle's Math in the Middle who is having a Pinterest Linky Party!  So, if you have not checked out Pinterest go check it out!  If you decide to join in on the FUN, then Follow Me on Pinterest and then go check out Michelle's Math in the Middle Page and add your blog to the list!  Hopefully you will find some interesting "pins" on Pinterest and some new and interesting blogs to follow and maybe even get some new followers!  Welcome Back...more to come!

Index Card - A -Day...a Summer Project

School is not quite over, 9 days left to be exact - finishing up projects, taking down the art show and getting all the artwork back to my students!

One of my favorite things to do each day is read all the blogs that I follow - Tammy over at Yellow Daisy has posted a great challenge!  It's an Index Card - A - Day Summer - draw, doodle or sketch one index card, each day in June, July & August (and you get one day off a day if you need it)!  Just get started before June 16th, today I got my pack of index cards.  I have a few days to get caught up.  So, while things are quite here at Art on the Move over the Summer I think this is a great way to keep things interesting!  Maybe you want to join in on the FUN?!!

Come see the Spring Art Exhibit at the ICE CREAM SOCIAL

Spring Art Exhibit 2011