Ukiyo-E!

Students in Lisa Marie Jorgensen’s 7^th Grade art class are diving into something they may have never experienced before – Ukiyo-E, or rather, Printmaking!

Photo from The Library of Congress

The printmaking unit for Webster City Middle School students is a little more extensive than some of Jorgensen’s seventh graders were ready for – including an introduction to Japanese Printmaking, a research portion, and even a writing assignment before they even get their hands on the goods.  All of these assignments are influenced by the Common Core State Standards that Webster City Schools are implementing in their classrooms.

“I challenged myself to include as much writing and reading into this unit as I could without taking away from the hands-on portion of the project,” Jorgensen said.

Students enter the classroom with little-to-no experience in printmaking so Jorgensen sets the stage with a classroom discussion and presentation surrounding the culture of Japan and China, followed by the history surrounding the earliest Wood Block Prints.

“We learn the origin of the term ‘Ukiyo-E’ as well as the Edo and Meiji Period in which Japanese Printmaking had a strong impact,” Jorgensen said.

Students also learn that when the popularity of printmaking died down due to trade routes and photography, it played a similar roll to that of the modern newspaper – it became packing material.

All of this history, including the influence that Printmaking had on Europe, brings students to the 20^th century and to current art studies of the practice.

Students also participate in a reading of the process involved in printmaking – to create an image, carve and print using specific tools.

After the discussion and reading, students will take their notes and begin creating an outline for a paper that would cover all of the material they had learned as well as some of what their project would involve.

“The reading and writing are new to the unit but the writing was definitely the biggest challenge,” Jorgensen said.

Students have to outline their topics and pay attention to the basic constructs of writing an essay—including an introduction, body and conclusion.  After the paper is completed, students finally get to start their projects.

“I’ve been extremely impressed with the comprehension the essays have shown,” Jorgensen said. “Students have made inferences and noted great observations surrounding the topic of Printmaking.”

Students are able to experience some of the technology we will have available throughout our district next year by writing their paper using “Pages” on the iPad.

This year, students are taking a stamped image of their school photo and putting it into action.

A student working on his Printmaking project using a brayer, bench hook and ink.

They will carve out the fine details and start the printing process this week.  Students will also create dozens of copies of the image and pass out their work to classmates, simulating the original purpose of printmaking.

“The project becomes personal when students use their school picture so they take care in their work and the results are always spectacular,” Jorgensen said.

Girl Power!

A few students at the Middle School didn’t keep the money they earned.

Middle School ELL instructor Rusty Bever said four 7^th Grade and one 6^th Grade English Language Learner students decided to donate proceeds they earned from running the Middle School concession stand to the All Cultures Equal Center (ACE).

According to their website, ACE is a nonprofit organization, community center and meeting place for people from all walks of life. It was founded in response to the growing diversity in Hamilton County.

“At ACE we strive to bring people together through outreach, education, cultural exchange, and to provide our community with access to a wide variety of resources and services,” their website says.

First, the ELL students took an educational tour of the Webster City High School greenhouse, which was orchestrated by a student teacher from Iowa State University and executed by two Agriculture Leadership students from Webster City High School.

“The high school students did an awesome job of getting the [ELL] students involved and showing off their beautiful plants,” Bever said. “The ELL students learned about different types of soil, planting seeds, and caring for plants.”

Bever said the students also got some hands-on experience by watering the plants with a sprayer and planting lettuce in a pot.

In fact, the students were so moved by the tour, they now plan to purchase some of the High School’s greenhouse vegetable plants for their gardening project, and one 7^th Grade girl is now also interested in checking out the Agriculture Program when she gets to the High School, Bever said.

After the tour of the High School greenhouse, the girls visited with the All Cultures Equal director, Leslie Kauffman, to see what gardening equipment was needed for their gardening program.

When Becky Hacker-Kluver informed the ELL students of the amount of money they had earned from working in the concession stand, they knew what they wanted to do with it.

The students talked about the items they thought they could afford to buy, and looked in catalogs and online to see what the items looked like and how much they cost. They chose to purchase a wheel barrow, hose reel and a hoe from Bomgaars.

But their generous spirit isn’t disappearing when the school year ends.

The girls have already planted some vegetable seeds in containers, and they plan to transplant them into raised beds later in May (when any change of frost is out of the picture).

During the summer, the ELL students will take care of the raised bed gardens they plant, and the produce they will reap will be donated to Upper Des Moines Opportunity.

Wow! What a great way to represent Webster City Community Schools, and what a great demonstration of our Essential Learnings!

Great job, girls!

Special Olympics

Some of our students recently participated in the Special Olympics North Central Area Spring Games on April 19, which was held at Dodger Stadium in Fort Dodge. All different schools attended, and participants included elementary-aged students to adults.

According to their website, Special Olympics Iowa currently serves 11,000 Iowans with intellectual disabilities, participants and Unified Sports Partners.

The mission of the Special Olympics is “to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community.”

This year the North Central Area Spring Games was postponed originally due to weather, though students from Webster City’s Sunset Heights Elementary School, Middle School, and High School got to compete on April 19.

Middle School students

High School students

Students participated in events like softball throw, 100 meter dash, 50 meter dash, long jump, speed walk, and relays.

Students who did well enough qualified to compete at the state competition. Several Webster City students did!

Many students were able to take home ribbons that day, while other students will receive their ribbons via mail.

A student posing with her ribbon and teacher Amanda Nichols

Webster City High School Special Education teacher Amanda Nichols attended the event with her student participants.

“Special Olympics is always so much fun,” she said. “Except this year it was so cold!”

Nichols said the weather didn’t cause her students to regret participating, even though the weather wasn’t as warm as they had hoped.

“The students had such great attitudes and were so happy to be participating,” she said. “They did such an amazing job, and I am so proud of how they represented Webster City.”

Webster City Middle School principal Becky Hacker-Kluver said the students did a great job in their events.

“Everyone survived the bitter cold,” she said. Hacker-Kluver also added that students figure “they now could live at the North Pole with the Eskimos after that adventure.”

Art Showcase!

Spring came quickly for our schools and with that comes the Middle School 3^rd Trimester Parent/Teacher Conferences.  This year, it was decided to spend that evening not only meeting with parents but also celebrating the learning going on in all our classrooms.

One celebration in particular was new this year –art instructor Lisa Marie Jorgensen organized and put on the First Annual WCMS Student Art Showcase for students, staff and parents. Just over 60 pieces of artwork were on display April 23^rd, 2013, from 4:00pm-6:30pm.

WCMS Art Showcase

“I’ve always wanted to put on an art show for the kids but the planning always scared me,” Jorgensen said.

But this year, she faced her fear in the face and began planning.

Jorgensen started collecting work just after first trimester finished—asking some students to bring their work back and others to leave it for the remainder of the year.

“For some students, it’s a huge deal to leave their work all year, especially when they are proud of what they are creating.” Jorgensen said.

Each grade level was represented with at least 15 pieces of work from throughout the year.  Eighth grade showed strong with over 20 pieces represented in the showcase.

8th Grade Pottery projects on display

8th Grade digital photography projects on display

7th Grade Op Art and Printmaking displays

7th Grade Op Art and Sculpture display

6th Grade Multi-Material and Watercolor Flowers on display

8th Grade Triptychs and Fractured Faces on display

6th Grade Perspective projects on display

5th Grade Weaving and Drawing display

“It was great! The variety, creativity and originality were unbeatable,” Gary Scholtens, Technology Instructor, said. “It was high quality, and I can’t wait to see it again next year.”

Jorgensen’s favorite part about the showcase lies in the name, “showcase.”

Rather than being run and displayed as a competition, this showcase functioned to show off what students were learning in class—not just the end result.

The work chosen showed a wide range of skill level, ability and creativity, and because of this, not one piece could be considered better than the rest.

“Students loved the recognition, including the certificate,” office secretary Judy said. “It was great to see the smiles from the diverse amount of students involved.”

One student, Ashley D, from 8^th grade, just had her work returned from Des Moines, where it was on display for Youth Art Month – a state wide showcase displaying work from around the state.

“It was neat to see the commons busy with parents and students discussing what they learned,” Associate Principal Duane Harding said. “They also had a chance to see what they would be learning in coming years.”

“To put it simply, it was a success. I’m impressed with the work that I see come through my classroom and I am so thankful I get to be a part of these experiences with the children of the middle school,” Jorgensen said.

And a bonus? If you managed to stop by for conference, it was a grand buffet – while browsing through the work, you could enjoy free hot dogs, chips and water!

People enjoying free hot dogs and chips during the Spring Parent/Teacher Conferences

“There were many compliments from parents regarding the various artwork and skill levels shown,” Jorgensen said. “I’m excited to see how it grows!”

It’s Elementary!

Sunset Heights Elementary students are television stars!

It’s Elementary is a weekly school news program that is broadcast to the community on Channel 18 on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Each Friday afternoon, 4th Grade students take turns reporting about school events.

Below is the latest installment:

http://bit.ly/11h3EFA

Green Thumbs

Agriculture students at Webster City High School are doing more than sporting green thumbs.

These students are learning skills that they can use in the “real world,” whether or not they pursue agriculture as a career.

Students can take agriculture instructor Kurt Veldhuizen’s two classes: Plant Science and Greenhouse Production and Management.

In Plant Science, students learn the science of plants: how they grow, how they reproduce and how they influence the environment.

In the Greenhouse class, students put that science into action.

“Students are in charge of producing a crop of plants,” Veldhuizen said. “But the better part is the learning they do.”

Veldhuizen said his students not only learn about the plants, but they also learn how to manage the greenhouse as well. Ultimately, he feels the Greenhouse class is more of a “real life” entrepreneurship class.

“The greenhouse is a business,” he said. “Students in the class are in charge of selecting plants—depending on our money—and caring for those plants, managing other Ag classes and students that work in the greenhouse [in order] to get product completed, and supervising other tasks.”

Then students in the Greenhouse class have to take inventory, determine their expenses, set prices, market the product, and then sell the product.

Below are some photos of the plants students have grown:

Veldhuizen said the plants are just the “track” he uses to get the real learning out there.

There are a few students in the Greenhouse class that are not planning to pursue plants for a career—one of them is actually going into diesel mechanics.

Even though these students aren’t going to be working specifically with plants as a career, they are still learning management skills. Perhaps they will become managers of a shop one day, Veldhuizen said.

“That’s the cool part of the facility,” he said. “It is 100% real world.”

Veldhuizen said he could teach the students about business and entrepreneurship in the classroom, or he can get them involved in a real life situation.

“My whole goal is that the greenhouse is self-sufficient, just like a real business has to be in the real world,” he said. “The kids know that, and it’s important that the kids learn those skills as well.”

In fact, the Greenhouse class has several plants available for sale beginning April 25^th.

Click here to see their flyer: 2013 Good Plant Flyer

At the end of the day, Veldhuizen is thankful to have the greenhouse and all that it entails for students.

“I am very passionate about what we do in the Ag Department as a whole,” he said. “I really take pride in what the students do, and I think the students do too—which is why the Ag Department continues to grow.”

If you’re interested in purchasing from and supporting the Greenhouse class students this year (starting April 25^th), you can stop by the greenhouse. It is located on the south end of the high school, and the regular hours are 3:30 PM—6:00 PM.

Mean Muggin’!

This week, 8th Grade students at Webster City Middle School started their ceramics unit with their art instructor, Lisa Marie Jorgensen.

This is a unit they all look forward to because most have not used clay before, according to Jorgensen.  This unit combines elements of art and cultural history, hand building technique and—of course—creativity.

“Students are a little overwhelmed in the beginning,” Jorgensen said.

Students have a series of requirements to get through before they even get their hands on clay.  This includes a reading and writing assignment that ties tightly both into the Common Core and National Art Standards.

After the reading, students are exposed to the cultural history of African American Slavery within a Prezi presentation and learn about ceramic “Face Jugs,” also known as “Ugly Jugs”.

During slavery, anything that was considered valuable also had the need to be hidden,  and these face jugs were created to do just that.  Using scary or ugly faces—occasionally normal—the jugs would often “scare” away anyone that didn’t know what was in them.

During this Prezi , students also learn about the different techniques involved in hand-building with a series of rules to follow when working with clay.

Below are two photos Jorgensen uses in her presentation:

Image: African American Face Jug from Bath, South Carolina, late 1800s – from Skinnerinc.com

Image: Artistic Take on the traditional “Face Jug”, Alex Irvine

Following this, students participate in a demonstration in which they walk their teacher, Jorgensen, through some of the steps they’ve learned in their reading and Prezi.

They also have to take time to think about the process and plan out their ideas, including what the purpose of their jug will be – will it scare away or invite someone in?  Or will it be pleasant enough that no one is scared?  The possibilities are endless.

“Because they have been exposed to so much information in a variety of ways, they are pretty much ready to start,” Jorgensen said.

Students receive their clay and, on day one, roll a slab for their base and begin attaching coils.

“Making coils is one of the more challenging tasks for them,” Jorgensen said. “But they get the hang of it after a couple of days.”

After a series of days in which they attach coils and smooth over their walls, students learn the variety of ways that detail can be added (there are too many to count).

Their requirements are pretty straight forward – they must make a face that has one eye, one nose and a mouth.  These details should be recognizable but do not have to be plain – in fact, Jorgensen encourages her students to get as creative as they can – whether they do something human, animal or completely make-believe.

Below is an image from Jorgensen in which students were working on building up their face jug with detail:

“I am always impressed with the imagination students put into this project,” Jorgensen said. “We have faces that range anywhere from normal, to monsters, to goofy, even animals and some zombies!”

Below are some images of projects made from previous trimesters this year:

Kaitlyn R., Class of 2017

Luke B., Class of 2017

Devin C., Class of 2017

Ann Marie L., Class of 2017

Jorgensen said she enjoys this unit because students end up having a great discussion surrounding a big part of our American history. Students also have a great collaboration regarding creativity.

“Students are constantly talking about their ideas and problem solving when something doesn’t work how they thought it might,” she said.

Vocabulary Parade!

Yesterday, some students from Webster City Middle School got to try something new!

The Fifth Grade reading and language teachers tested out a new, fun way to practice vocabulary, memorization and public speaking skills. In their classes, students read a story called Miss Alanieus, in which there is a vocabulary parade.

Since MAPS testing was coming up, these teachers thought that creating a vocabulary parade of their own would be a “fun way for students to learn vocabulary and be creative at the same time,” teacher Kelly Johnson said.

Students had to create a definition, sentence and costume to go with their vocabulary word. They had some time in class to work on their costumes and props, but most of the work was done outside of school.

“At first students were apprehensive and nervous,” Johnson said. “However as the parade drew closer and their costume was created, the excitement started building.”

Aside from the students, there was a nice turnout of parents in the audience as well as staff from the school.

Johnson posted four videos of the parade, and it sure seems students had a fun time learning!

“Overall we felt this experience was great for the students,” Johnson said. “We look forward to doing more of this in the future!”

Teacher Christina Moline added a few more photos from the parade:

 

“It was also nice to see that there have already been many YouTube views of the videos,” Moline said. “I am happy that the kids have a way to share their experience with others who could not be there.”

Moline said the parade was a “great success!”

“We definitely will have a vocabulary parade again,” she said.

Bugs, Bugs, Bugs!

We have a bug infestation over at Sunset Heights Elementary!

Luckily, it’s the kind of infestation we want.

Certain 2nd Grade teachers began piloting our new FOSS Science curriculum on Monday, April 8, 2013. This new curriculum is research-based, standards-based and supports the reading program with a strong literacy component. FOSS claims it makes science fun and exciting by having students learn while doing. And from the photos and videos the Curriculum Department has received from the principal and teachers of the school, excitement sure does describe what students are feeling about bugs!

Dawn Scholtens, one of our 2nd Grade teachers, said it was a “good call” on this new science curriculum.

“Kids wanted to know if they could vote to do science all day today,” she said. “[I] even got comments from parents that all their child talked about last night was science.”

Scholtens shared a photo of the “first thing” she saw in her room this morning:

This 2nd Grade student is “reading to her vial of science worms,” Scholtens said. “No wonder I love my job!”

Below are some more photos that Chuck Bonjour, principal of Sunset, sent us yesterday afternoon. These students are working with mealworms:

Colette Bertran, another 2nd Grade teacher, shared these two photos below:

These students are “measuring and recording” their observations of their mealworms.