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!