WEEK 2 NEWSLETTER

An email will be sent home on monday that will REQUIRE your response!  PLEASE keep your eyes out for that!

SMAART PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE WAS POSTED IN BLOG YESTERDAY. After you read the newsletter, scroll down to see performance times for next week. 

Advanced Studio Art:  

             This week in Advanced Studio Art, the students close out their drawing unit and begin to explore painting. We begin our painting unit by mixing colors from the color wheel. We will mix primary, warm, cool and monochromatic (one color plus black and white) color plans. Through this process , the students discover just how many ranges of colors an artist is able to create. We also explore watercolor techniques and paint in watercolor. Friday June 30,2017 we will have an art presentation. A letter will go home at the end of this week inviting family and friends to our show. We hope you can come!

Creative Musical Theater: Our creative musical theatre class has had so much fun working hard get get a final script ready so we can start running the show and learning music and choreography!

They are working so hard and having a blast doing it!

Digital Graphic Design: Dear parents,

Our second week in Digital Multimedia has been a blast!

Students continue coding on Scratch, creating computer keyboards with copper tape and paper, using colors to code tracks for the Ozobots and filming all the majors for our presentation in the Rosemarie Theatre next week. We also used the green screen to create some very creative movies.

Now its on to editing and preparing for the last week of SMAART.

See all of you next week I hope!

Best
Tom

Hip Hop Awareness: This week we finally completed our 2nd dance and have worked on Waves and Smooth Criminal.  We will continue to refine our dances for our performances on this coming Friday,m June 30.

Hip Hop Shakespeare: We are hip and hoppin' in Hip Hop Shakespeare! We have memorized our scenes and choreographed our dances. Next week we will choreograph an epic fight scene with Hip Hop Awareness. 

Marvelous Mosaics: Marvelous Mosaics created beaded mosaic letters, started a glass mosaic vase with coasters and has started working on their collaborative installation piece for the finale. In this collaborative work the entire class is making a giant frame and 4 groups are each making props to be used during the art exhibit by family and friends as a photo-booth set. One scene is entitled "Metal band on the beach with Nemo". Stay tuned for more exciting news from Mosaics! 

PLEASE SEND IN BOTTLE CAPS!!

Modern Dance:  

This week the dancers learned and helped choreograph a second dance for the performance. We journaled about costumes, the meaning of our dances, and titles. The dancers have also had the opportunity to be the lead choreographer of their own mini dance!

Moved to Move: The Moved to Move dance class has finished their first of two dances! They are not starting to choreograph their own phrases in small groups based on a common theme. This will become our second dance that you will see next Friday! ! 

Orchestra: Week 2 for SMAART Strings:

The SMAART Strings program is sailing through week two! Both orchestras are making substantial progress on their concert, chamber, and fiddling music.  You are in for two great performance next week as we present their chamber ensembles and select celtic, jazz, and latin music to you during our Wednesday afternoon recital.  Thursday night we will present their orchestra repertoire in the RMM Theater.  Some of the chamber groups are already on to their second or third piece and the sounds of international music fill the hallway during our fiddling time!

Paper Art: This week in paper arts we explored making and dying paper from recycled materials. From this we made 3D paper art! We also learned several origami techniques. Next week we will be using the origami to create an installation for the art show! 

Playwriting & Acting: ​Our talented, young playwrights and actors have been busy working on adapting Aesop's ANDROCLES AND THE LION, THE FOX AND THE CROW, THE ANTS AND THE GRASSHOPPER, and THE BOY WHO CRIED WOLF.  Come see their original show next week, FABLES! FABLES! FABLES! at 9:45 a.m., in the beautiful Rose Maree Myers Theatre!

Power Guitar: Power Guitar continues to learn Blues progressions and songs and how to improvise using the minor pentatonic and the blues scale. We are selecting our music for the performance next Friday and getting ourselves ready.

 

Prodigious Prints:  The printmakers have spent the week continuing work on Tessellated block prints, and  Silk screened banners.  They have created rubber stamps and decorated small boxes. They have learned how to create a mono print, and a gelatin print. All of the printers are working towards  presenting a beautiful art show next week. 

SMAART Singers: This week in the SMAART SINGERS class, students have been exposed to many different styles of vocal music and their production. A concentrated daily scheme is used that includes choreography and prop handling, mic and staging techniques, and strong vocal-performance instruction. Students have been singing songs of Broadway musicals and operas. The second week of SMAART CAMP is a reflection of our Singers’ drive, dedication, and talent: a work in progress, allowing children to participate in an on-going experience that is enriching for them and culminating during a performance on Friday of next week. Fun, fun, fun!!!

Steel Drum Band: Steel Drums is trucking along as we keep learning new music! Death of a Bachelor, Under the Sea and Marianne are all finished and we have begun learning Jump Up and Wake Me Up Before You Go. Jump Up is a Soca song which a traditional style of music from Trinidad and Tobago, the birth place of the steel drums. Wake Me Up Before You Go is a song made famous by the late George Michael and the band Wham! 

Stomp Down South: 

Stomp Down South students are still exploring rhythms and timbres with cans, buckets, sticks, basketballs and more. This class is chock full of enthusiasm and creativity.  Students need to bring their shirts by TOMORROW, FRIDAY so that I can "get them ready" for our show next week!!!  Parents, make sure to see the SMAART information about performance time!  We can't wait!!

You Can Ukulele: This week, u-CAN-lele is working diligently on perfecting their strumming patterns for all of their songs. We have added some new songs to our set list this week and are have a  diverse group of songs to perform. Additionally, we have added a cajon player to help some percussion to our set. The kids are so excited to show you everything they have learned for our performance in the Black Box Theatre. 

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

THURSDAY, JUNE 29

ROSE MAREE MYERS THEATRE:

ORCHESTRA 6:30-7:30

FRIDAY, JUNE 30:

CAFETERIA:

8:30-8:50- Steel Drums

8:55-9:15- Power Guitar

ART CLASSES:

We will start letting people in to see your work at 9:00 in the ART HALLWAY

BLACK BOX:

9:25-9:45- Stomp Down South

9:50-10:10- You Can Ukulele

ROSE MAREE MYERS THEATRE:

8:30-8:50- Graphic Design

10:15-10:35- SMAART Singers

10:40-11:00- Play-writing and Acting

11:05-11:25- Hip Hop Shakespeare

11:30-11:55- Creative Musical Theatre  

12:00-12:45- Dance (ALL CLASSES)

SMAART Newsletter - Week 1 
Scroll down to find your child's major and check out what we've been up to! 
Also, during lunch we have multiple fun activities for the children to participate in. We will share this with them but please inform your children that next Friday (JUNE 23) we are having a Talent Show if your children would like to participate or if you have any questions please email bentonjm@g.cofc.edu. To participate you must email or contact Jordan Benton by Thursday JUNE 22.

Remember, we check our fineartsoffice@charleston.k12.sc.us email throughout the day during SMAART Camp.  
It is a great way to reach us. 

Advanced Studio Art: In Advance Studio Art this week, the students are working on drawing from life. They are creating a number of still life drawings using pencil, ink pen and watercolor. They will also be introduced to a variety of drawing tools such as blenders, kneaded erasers and eraser pencils. The students will use these tools to aid them in perfecting value gradation in their drawings.   

Creative Musical Theater: Creative musical theatre has had a blast this week writing, singing, dancing and acting. We have begun the process of putting out show together through improv and will have a finished script by Friday!!  

Digital Graphic Design: Our first week in digital media design was fantastic!
Your children are creative, imaginative and willing to take risks to further their knowledge.
We coded with Scratch, creating games, stories and art. We explored the amazing MaKey MaKey kit creating an interactive classroom.Some started their iMovie projects.I am learning so much from all of them.
Thanks for choosing my class!
Best
Tom

Hip Hop Awareness:   In Hip-Hop Awareness we have worked with many different styles with in the first week of class so far! They are working on memorizing to work on the technique and movement given to them! And they will soon be helping me create our last dance towards the end of the 2nd and 3rd week!

Hip Hop Shakespeare: In hip hop Shakespeare we have identified the similarities in hip hop and Shakespeare. This week we made hip hop beats, memorized Shakespeare monologues and even wrote our own raps!!!    

Marvelous Mosaics: Marvelous Mosaic artists are learning the direct mosaic making method. After reviewing the history of mosaics, students evaluated the success of the works throughout history, which became a starting point for their own designs.  We started with a "Paper Mosaic Frame" warm up project to teach spacing shapes. Students then planned designs for glass mosaics on boards. Tuesday students decided on color schemes, cut glass using 3 different types of cutters and started setting glass with adhesives.  Students will work on grouting, sealing and polishing their very first glass piece for the remainder of the week. 

Modern Dance: Marvelous Mosaic artists are learning the direct mosaic making method. After reviewing the history of mosaics, students evaluated the success of the works throughout history, which became a starting point for their own designs. We started with a "Paper Mosaic Frame" warm up project to teach spacing shapes. Students then planned designs for glass mosaics on boards. Tuesday students decided on color schemes, cut glass using 3 different types of cutters and started setting glass with adhesives. Students will work on grouting, sealing and polishing their very first glass piece for the remainder of the week.

Moved to Move: Modern Dance & Choreography has been busy choreographing a group dance expressing an anti-bullying message. Each dancer choreographed an original solo to be highlighted in the dance. They have also been working hard in class learning dance vocabulary and how to incorporate them into choreography. Next week the dancers will be learning more choreography for the final performance! 

Orchestra: The SMAART Strings program is off to a great start this week! The students participate each day in one of two orchestras: Primo and Finale. We begin each morning with stretches and fundamentals time where we work on developing our technique and learn ensemble skills as an orchestra. Both groups are making a lot of progress on their concert music that you will get the chance to hear at our final concert. In addition to orchestra, each student was placed into a chamber group that they rehearse with for an hour each day. In these chamber groups, students gain valuable experience working with peers, making musical decisions, and growing as individual musicians. Students are also exploring alternative styles of music such as fiddling and jazz for an hour each day. We are fortunate to work with a great group of students and look forward to another two weeks of making amazing music!.  

Paper Art: We have had an exciting week in paper art. The class made clothes pin critters, 3D compositions and started a magnet project. We look forward to making paper from scratch next week and finishing our magnets!

Playwriting & Acting: ​Our wonderful, young playwrights and actors are getting to know each other, participating in creative dramatic activities, improvising, and writing modern adaptations of Aesop's Fables.  This week's stories include THE LION AND THE MOUSE, THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE, THE SUN AND THE WIND, and THE CITY MOUSE AND THE COUNTRY MOUSE.

Power Guitar: Is off to a great start as we learn a collection of blues songs. Students are busily learning the form of a 12-bar blues, blues riffs and licks from famous blues songs, and various chord voicings appropriate to particular types of blues music. Next week we will be digging deeper into our performance repertoire and more advanced playing techniques.

 

Prodigious Prints: The printmaking class has discovered a variety of printing techniques this week  They began by making a portfolio and using pre-made rubber stamps to decorate it. That  was followed by foam printing in an array of colors. Next they learned About Collagraphs, and built their own Collagraph block out of cardboard. Silkscreen printing and tessellated Block prints were introduced, and the week was finished  with carving and printing their own rubber stamps.

SMAART Singers: This has been an exciting week in the SMAART SINGERS class.  Students have learned numerous songs from operas and Broadway musicals.  The SMAART SINGERS are incorporating choreography (dance), special affects, props, and video technology into a 20 minute review of music on the stage.  Our students have been learning how to sing with strong vocal technique using good breath support and producing diction with rounded vowels and crunchy consonants.  The SMAART SINGERS are like little sponges absorbing great musical knowledge and have displayed a terrific love for singing.  Wow…

We all are looking forward to what next week is going to bring for these talented singers!

Steel Drum Band: Steel Drums is off to a fast start this year! In the first two days we have already learned one song and are half way through two others! This is a talented group and we are anticipating a wonder performance at the end of the program. This week we are working on “Marianne”, a traditional calypso piece from Trinidad and Tobago, and “Death of Bachelor” as performed by Panic! At the Disco. We will still be adding “Under the Sea” from Little Mermaid this week before we are done on Friday.

Stomp Down South: Stomp Down South is working hard everyday, exploring rhythms and timbres and reading notation.  This class is full of creative, fun and enthusiastic stompers!  I would like the students to explore their hard-soled shoes over the weekend and bring in a pair to try out on our floor.  Also, students should look for an old army-green or gray, or black or brown or tan t-shirt that can be "messed up" to wear in our final performance (bring that, too!)  Other than that, I welcome "found sounds" that might be utilized in our room.  Can't wait to see what week two has in store for us. 

You Can Ukulele: This week in "You Can Ukulele", we are getting acquainted with the instrument. The students began the week by learning "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz with C, G, A minor, F, and D7 chords. The students voted on the "set list" for our performance. Additionally, the class is learning to play individual melodies and were assigned duet groups. We are having so much fun learning all of these new skills together!