In yesterday’s Upper School Studio class, I showed the class The American Alphabet by artist Heidi Cody. Each letter of the alphabet from A to Z is represented by the first letter of a well-known American product logo. For Example: A is from All Laundry Detergent, B is from Bubblicious Bubble Gum, C is from Campbell’s Soup, and so on. We talked about the identity of these products from popular American culture. Then I showed them the video Looking Past Symbolism: Meaning in Dutch Still Life Painting presented by Smarthistory.org. We learned about iconography: the use of symbols or images to signify meaning and concepts. I introduced them to the concept of the 17th Century vanitas style of painting that depicts the transient character of youth, beauty, and wealth. For today's class, Aiden has selected his objects that he plans to draw, and he started sketching his ideas.

Jackson worked on his sun catcher project. He added colorful tissue paper to the center of the sun, and then he created patterns and neatly colored those on his four sun-shaped fun facts to attach to his sun catcher. Good work!

It was an action-packed class today with energetic movement to Danny Go!, a game of ping pong, and three chrysalis sightings on the playground. Then Remington worked on his sun catcher project. He added colorful tissue paper to the center of the sun, and then he created patterns and neatly colored those on his four sun-shaped fun facts to attach to his sun catcher. Remington’s hand-eye coordination and motor skills are sharpening!

Iconography: Symbol Writing or The Use of Symbols for Meaning
I showed Cam the artwork entitled American Alphabet by artist Heidi Cody. Each letter of the alphabet from A to Z is represented by the first letter of a well-known American product logo. For Example: A is from All Laundry Detergent, B is from Bubblicious Bubble Gum, C is from Campbell’s Soup, and so on. We talked about the identity of these products from popular American culture. Then I showed him the video Looking Past Symbolism: Meaning in Dutch Still Life Painting presented by Smarthistory.org. We learned about symbolism: the use of symbols or images to signify meaning and concepts. Then I asked Cam to think about a still life that he will curate that has objects of significance and meaning to him and then to draw it. I gave him the rest of the class to sketch.

We started the lesson by watching the video Facts About the Sun for Kids: What is the Sun? Science Lesson for Kids by Twinkl USA. I had Jackson write four facts about the sun that he learned from the video on his My Sun Facts worksheet. He wrote the following: 1) The sun is a star; 2) The sun is 27 million degrees Fahrenheit and is a huge ball of gas; 3) The sun is 864,000 miles wide and is 4.5 billion years old; and 4) One million earths can fit inside the sun. Then Jackson cut out sun rays along the edge of a white paper plate. I cut out the center of the plate for safety purposes. Then he put two sheets of wax paper down over the cut-out center of the paper plate and traced and cut out a wider circle. Next, he cut out several squares of colored tissue paper. He will complete the sun catcher tomorrow.

We started the lesson by watching the video Facts About the Sun for Kids: What is the Sun? Science Lesson for Kids by Twinkl USA. I had Remington write four facts about the sun that he learned from the video on his My Sun Facts worksheet. He wrote the following: 1) The sun is a star; 2) The sun is a huge ball of gas that is 27 million degrees Fahrenheit; 3) The sun is 864,000 miles wide, and 4) the sun is 4.5 billion years old. Then Remington traced sun rays on a white paper plate and cut those out. I cut out the center of the plate for safety purposes. Then he put two sheets of wax paper down over the cut-out center of the paper plate and traced and cut out a wider circle. Next, he cut out several squares of colored tissue paper. He will complete the sun catcher tomorrow.

PJ finished another drawing featuring his very creative and unique characters in upper school studio yesterday, 03/12/2026. He is absent from art class today.

Cam has finished his colorful and dynamic landscape with its swaying trees, bright colors, and bold landforms.

Aiden has been practicing drawing hands from life by observing and drawing his hand in various poses.

I put several How to Draw books out for Remington to look through by looking up items in the table of contents and index and going to that page number. He had his sketchbook and plenty of drawing media. Remington selected to draw some insects following a step-by-step observation and instruction method. He did great!