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=A New School Year Begins!=

I hope everyone's summer was relaxing, and that you are coming back inspired and reenergised to start a new year!

I don't know about you, but one of my favorite things to do during the summer is to go for walks in parks. I enjoy noticing God's creation: the trees, the birds, and the many other little creatures that live in the forest. While I'm walking, I usually think of a hymntune, that has the verse: "All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, all things wise and wonderful, the Lord God made them all".

Which got me thinking: God is the great artist. He made everything just so. And that's really impressive. I also got to thinking: We need to be good stewards of the earth. (I noticed this during a walk where I found myself picking up soda cans and bottles). So...how does all this thinking apply itself to the art room?

Well: This year, when you first enter the art room, I ask you to first reflect on something beautiful that God created. Notice the world around you. Be mindful of the quality of light as it changes with the seasons, or the leaves, or cloud formations...

I also ask you to please save and put aside things we can use to create recycled art projects:
 * Toilet or Paper Towel Rolls
 * Cereal Boxes (without the cereal, please)
 * Old table cloths
 * Newspapers
 * Magazines (age appropriate illustrations, please)

(These items may be brought in over the course of the year. Please don't send your little one with a bag of recycleables that's twice her size!)

Now onto your basic art business: I see every student at SWS once a week, for 45 minutes. Class time is precious, and we try to create as many wonderful artworks as possible during the year. We learn about different cultures, time periods, and artistic techniques. What we learn in art connects to science, math, social studies, language arts...etc. Because we only have a limited amount of time together per week, it is expected that we always try our best. I may challenge you to try something new. TRY YOUR BEST! It is also expected that you ALWAYS bring the following art supplies to class. This is important!
 * Pencil
 * Eraser
 * Crayons
 * Scissors
 * Glue (may I suggest both glue stick and white glue)
 * Some kind of container (a recycled coffee container works really well)
 * An old tee shirt (art can be messy. School uniforms can be a pain to wash. The art shirt goes over the school uniform during messy projects. This should be a shirt that can get dirty. Please do not go out and buy a nice shirt!)

Other business: We will be having Art Club again this year. It will be held on Tuesday afternoons, from 2:40 until 4:00pm. Art Club will be open to 6th through 8th graders WHO ARE INTERESTED IN HAVING TIME TO WORK ON ART PROJECTS! I will have a sign-up letter shortly. Please do not sign up just to have hang-out-time with your friends. It is a time to work on individual projects. We will learn new things and do many extra projects. Please sign up if you are interested in using that time wisely and for art-making purposes.

P.S. Take a look at some of our creations from last year's art show!!! SWS Students ROCK!