SMAART 2019 Newsletter - Week 2

Week 2 Newsletter for the 2019 SMAART Program

Parents, see little updates from your child's "major" classes.  Also, we have just a few general notes:

1. Please remember that if you will need to pick your child/ren up early, the BEST way to notify us is with an EMAIL to fineartsoffice@charleston.k12.sc.us or to speak to us directly at 843-746-6438 (leaving a message isn't great - we stay pretty busy)
2. See our previous post for detailed information about Performance Day (June 28th).

Advanced Studio Art (A and B): 

This week in Advanced Studio Art we worked with portraits and pastels and charcoals and animals and watercolors. Next week we will be working on abstract acrylic on canvas, sculpture and preparations for our Gallery Exhibit on Friday.  

Digital Multimedia:

 

Students are well on their way to finishing their final projects. The movies represent a variety of different styles using everything from green screen to scratch and creating documentaries on all the other majors.

 It has been a pleasure working with your students and I look forward to working with them next week and showcasing all of our creations on Friday 

Tom

Moved to Move:

This week in Choreography for the Stage dancers finished two dances

for their final performance! We chose costumes and practiced staging

skills. Dancers have also been polishing technical skills such as

turns, extensions, and balances. We look forward to our final

showcase!

SMAART Music Studio:

The SMAART Music students are continuing to work on their original compositions and GarageBand projects. Next week we will start doing mini-projects using iMovie, adding sound effects and music to short cartoon animations. On Friday we will do a "gallery walk" with a virtual bulletin board featuring all of the students' work. They will also have their computers available to show off GarageBand and what the GarageBand files look like behind the scenes. We hope to see everyone next week and share our musical creations with you!

Playwriting and Acting: 

Our amazing young playwrights and actors have written their original play, entitled "The Fabulous Folktale Factory."  The play has been cast with more than 100 roles!  Each participant will play multiple lead and supporting roles.  We are in the process of analyzing the script and blocking the show.  Congratulations students on an excellent second week!

Photography and Light Science:

This week the artists in Photo & Light Science started exploring how to take digital pictures on ipads or their own device. They created sculptures out of natural objects that were inspired by the Andy Goldsworthy. Then students photographed their sculptures from different perspectives. We also practiced working in groups during our fashion photography shoot. Later in the week students looked at the documentary photography of Gordan Parks. Then we visited other classes in the program to document the SMAART experience.

Shrek, Jr.: 

In Shrek Jr. this week we focused on getting the show staged. Staging is a process where we answer the following questions: who is moving? Where are they going? When do they move? Why are they moving? We also worked on memorizing all the songs, both choreography and lyrics! The goal from the beginning was to be off-book by the second Friday- and I'm proud to say that we are there!! We have gone through the show a couple times, making adjustments along the way. Next week will be a week of refining and fine tuning any problems that pop up. In our minors classes, we got straight to creating and made lots of props, painted lots of set pieces, and witnessed several hilarious costume fashion shows. Shrek Jr. will debut on Thursday the  27th at 6 pm in the Black Box theatre....come one, come all! 

Steel Drums: 

It has been another great week in Steel Drum Class! We are working hard on all of our music for our performance next Friday at 8:45 in the morning in the cafeteria. We finished two songs this week and started are last two. There will be lots of wonderful music for our wonderful students to perform. We also focused on some improvisation this week so students will be able to perform their own improvised solos on the song Speak Easy. We are looking forward to next week and if there are any questions feel free to check in with Ian MacMichael or Jake Cummings. 

STOMP Down South: 

The Stomp Down South campers are getting pumped for our final performance next week.  We are refining all of our rough edges, yet we are still creating like crazy!!  80 % of our performance is KID CREATED!  These kids are terrific.  Stomp parents, we are having a little class party on Thursday and a letter will go home with your child on Monday with details. 

Stop! Create! Animate!:

Animators in the major group are creating stories that involve multiple characters and dialogue.  They are also preparing for the filming of multiple dance party animations that are the result of collaboration with students in the SMAART Music Studio class (we provide animation, they provide music).  The minors are also getting in on the dance party act by animating wood manikins so they are dancing along with a steady beat as well.  Next week should be awesome!  

SMAART Strings: 

We have been hard at work and having fun preparing all of the pieces for our Thursday night concert! During sectionals, students from the Finale orchestra have been paired with students from the Primo orchestra to offer peer tutoring on their music. Students have also had the opportunity to perform their chamber pieces for each other during chamber masterclass - their small group pieces are really coming together, and we are excited to share this music with you! 

Performance schedule for 2019

For easy reference. here is your Performance schedule for next week. 

THINGS TO KNOW about the last day of SMAART:

1. June 28th is also our last day and all students will be dismissed by 1:00pm. Please make plans to meet them 3 hours early at your afternoon bus stop, be here on time for car rider dismissal or... you may sign them out if you are here for performances. 
2. There will be no student entry into the building until 8am on performance day.  1st performance isn't until 8:45 so students who arrive may go to the cafeteria to get breakfast and go straight to their Major. 
3. There will be no visitor entry until 8:20am.
4. ALL VISITORS WILL RECEIVE A WRIST BAND upon entry to the campus.  There are no exceptions, even children visitors will receive a wrist band and must wear them the entire time they are on campus. SMAART Camp students will NOT get a wrist band.   This is a security measure that will help us monitor who will be allowed to leave with a SMAART camper. 
5. If you wish to sign a child out of SMAART Camp you MUST bring a photo ID and you MUST be on the list of those eligible to sign that student out. You will sign the SMAART camper out from their SMAART teacher.  We will make every effort to keep everyone aware of where classes are if they are out of their regular rooms (probably taking in one of our great performances). 
6. FOOD TRUCKS will be here from 10:00am - 1:00pm.  Please consider getting something delicious from these food vendors since they were kind enough to join us! The food trucks scheduled is as follows:
• Rolled Quesadillas (savory)
• Sabor Cubarican Cuisine (savory)
• Miracles Tasty Express (savory)
• Charleston Caribbean Creole (savory)
• Holy City Cupcakes
• Pelican's Snoballs (sweet)
• All About That Bean (Hot and Cold Drinks)

SMAART 1st Week Newsletter

Week 1 Newsletter for the 2019 SMAART Program

Parents, see little updates from your child's "major" classes.  Also, we have just a few general notes:

1. Today we held a Code Red Lockdown DRILL. The drill lasted about 15 minutes and our wonderful faculty and students did a great job!  This confirms for us that this will be a safe campus as we continue our summer fun. 
2. We held a FIRE DRILL yesterday and that went well also.
3. Please remember that if you will need to pick your child/ren up early, the BEST way to notify us is with an EMAIL to fineartsoffice@charleston.k12.sc.us or to speak to us directly at 843-746-6438 (leaving a message isn't great - we stay pretty busy)

Advanced Studio Art (A and B)

This week in Advanced Studio Art (A) and (B) students have been learning the basics of drawing (how to hold a pencil, shading techniques, proportions and composition). 

Choreography for the Stage

Choreography for the Stage has been hard at work learning

salsa-inspired choreography and creating their own contemporary

choreography in small groups. Dancers have been leaping, turning,

rolling, and grooving their way through the week. In the next two

weeks they will learn more tools for their choreographic toolbox!

Digital Multimedia

Hello Parents!
Next week Digital Multimedia Design students will continue working on their movies as well as creating interactive game controllers using the MaKey MaKey, coding on Scratch and designing pathways for the Ozobots!
Some are composing music on GarageBand, some are using the green screen to enhance their projects and others will create a SMAART Documentary, highlighting all the majors in this amazing program.
Thanks for sharing your kids with me for these three weeks! They are all super creative risk takers.
Until next week,
Tom Noren

Moved to Move

This week in Moved to Move your students are learning a combination of modern dance technique. We have been memorizing a set warm-up and performing combinations across the floor.  We have also started to explore the word home, and what it can look like through movement. We are learning the beginnings of choreography we will be performing at the end of SMARRT camp. Your dancers have been eager, enthusiastic learners, and a joy to teach! 

SMAART Music Studio

In the music studio, we are hard at work creating our compositions using GarageBand and our Akai MPK MIDI keyboards! Many of the students have completed a few songs and are going back in to master, mix, and add the final touches before moving forward. Earlier in the week, we created songs using the website Incredibox which the students uploaded to our Google Classroom. By the end of next week, each student should be finished with 3-4 songs with a final goal of creating an album. We are having a great time and making great music each and every day. 

Playwriting and Acting

Our amazing playwrights and actors are getting to know each other, participating in creative dramatics, improvisation, drama games and activities.  They are writing modernized versions of folktales, and reading their original scenes.  We are putting together the scenes to create an original presentation to be performed the last week.  Great job actors and writers!

Photography and Light Science

This week majors in Photography & Light Science experimented with paint mixing and color theory. They also created their first cyanotypes. This early photography process uses only the sun and light sensitive paper. Next week we are going to look at work by contemporary photographers. We are also planning a fashion photography shoot. 

Shrek, JR.

This week in Shrek we hit the ground running! We started off listening through the show and getting an idea for the structure of the show. On Wednesday we held auditions and cast our show- that was the toughest job for Mrs. Majewski and Mrs. Reid! Thursday and Friday we spent a lot of time singing and learning some of the big group numbers, and have several numbers staged and ready! In our minors classes, we brainstormed set design ideas, put together costume ideas for the ogre family, and painted set pieces for the show! 

SMAART Singers

Oh.my.goodness! Mr. Rogers and I are SO excited to have such a wonderful roomful of young Singers! This week we’re working to learn the lyrics and notes for opera arias, operetta mashups, and lots of Broadway musical songs. Please ask your Singer to share with you what they’re doing in class. Encourage them to check out both the Greek myth about Orpheus and Eurydice and  Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew as well. Every Singer needs a bucket or box or tub or crate to keep their “toys” organized. Please don’t hesitate to contact either teacher if you have questions or comments.

Steel Drums

Hello SMAART Parents,

It’s already been an extremely productive week for us! We have been hard at work in the Steel Drum room getting adapted to our new instruments and learning new repertoire. We have started each day with a study of musical scales and then transition into learning our performance-based musical literature.

We have started a composition from one of our SMAART instructors called Speak Easy, and are now beginning Time After Time - yes the pop tune from the 80’s! We plan on diving into more musical styles including latin and soca tunes as the weeks progress. Thanks so much, and please contact us with any questions or concerns you may have!

Jake and Ian

Stomp! Down South

The Stomp Down South class is making AMAZING progress!  What a super class!  We are playing buckets and basketballs and rulers and well, so many things.  The students are reading notation, learning sticking techniques and beginning to create some very cool rhythms with the most unusual "sound makers".  I can't wait to see what week 2 will produce!!

Stop! Create! Animate!

Campers are using iPads and construction paper to create their first animated short based on the theme of "Escape".  This thirty second project is introducing them to stop action animation and the story telling element of conflict.

SMAART Strings

SMAART strings is off to a great start! We have two wonderful orchestras, Primo and Finale, that are working on a mix of classical music and pop tunes. Each student has also been assigned to a small chamber duet, trio, or quartet. Get ready to enjoy everything from a classical Bourrée trio to an orchestral arrangement of Game of Thrones at our Thursday evening concert on June 27! In addition to performing music, students are studying music theory and will be composing their own short pieces next week. Lastly, we are practicing Alexander Technique in order to improve body awareness and discover healthy habits to prevent tension and pain while playing our instruments.  

Hello SMAART Parents,

Students may be highlighted in efforts to promote SMAART Student achievements. Your child may be photographed, videotaped, audio recorded, and/or interviewed; and may be featured in materials for print, web, video, and social media use (known as Media Coverage.)
If you do not return this form, you hereby grant permission for CCSD employees, representatives, and authorized media organizations to use material featuring your child's image/likeness/voice and his/her art or other creative work.

Forms are available in your email (sent today) and are  due Friday, June 14, 2019

If you need a new copy, please email fineartsoffice@charleston.k12.sc.us 

Rain and Road Closures

Hi Parents and family,
We wanted to keep you as up-to-date as possible on BUS CHANGES due to weather related road closures.  The city has informed of us of the following closures: https://gis.charleston-sc.gov/road-closures/

Please sign up as soon as possible to receive TEXT UPDATES from DURHAM for your child's bus.
Text the number next to your child's bus to 81010