SUCCESS!

Thank you, students, for your hard work, dedication, and creativity throughout our Chihuly Unit!  Thank you, PARENTS, for bringing your children, grandparents, and guests to our Night at the Museum!  It was a HUGE success!  We had 238 guests sign in!  I loved watching the students give tours through the "museum" explaining about their research and art!  The iPods and MacBooks were a big hit, too!  I have loved this unit and watching the students express themselves through our "Chihuly-ish" art!

It's HERE! CHIHULY WEEK!

I'm so excited!  It is time to hang the artwork, load up all the Ikebanas, carefully pack the Niijima floats, and find a really tall ladder to hang the chandeliers!  Chihuly week is here!  Only a few days until Night at the Museum - Chihuly and AES GATE opens to the public!  Thursday, November 3rd (this Thursday!) from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m., feel free to come and go as you tour the artwork created by our students!  Please enter through the AES Main Office area.  Our AES Ambassadors will greet you and guide you to the media center...also, you can follow the "Chihuly this way!" signs!  Each GATE class will have their own exhibit with their Ikebanas, Macchias, Niijima Floats, Seaforms and Mini-Chandeliers.  The back wall will be filled with all the Chihuly-ish paintings by all GATE students!  It will be beautiful!  Third grade torn paper self-portraits will also be on display.

After touring the artwork, iPods will be available for guests to hear a podcast about Dale Chihuly created by GATE students.  Brochures created in Pages by 3rd graders about Chihuly will also be on display.  We will also have a MacBook area where several computers will be "tuned in" to Chihuly's website while others are visiting the Orbix Hot Glass website.  Guests are welcome to check out two of our favorite websites.  A slideshow of "behind the scenes" work will be playing throughout the night!  It will be a GRAND EVENT!  Don't miss it!  See you there!

Chihuly!

G.A.T.E. students have been diving deep into research about Dale Chihuly and his art of glass blowing.  This past summer Mrs. Shurett (Gifted Teacher at Evans), Mrs. McCulley ( Assistant Principal at Evans) and I attended an international gifted conference called Confratute at the University of Connecticut.  After our week of learning and sharing with other gifted specialists from all over the world, we spent a weekend in Boston, Massachusetts.

One of our first adventures in Boston was visiting the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.  Through the Looking Glass, an exhibit of Dale Chihuly's glass art, was first on our list!  The bright colors and swirling shapes of his art mesmerized us for hours!  Mrs. Shurett and I were so inspired by this artist's work that we both decided to study Chihuly and create "Chihuly-ish" art in our classrooms!

Both 3rd and 4th grade G.A.T.E. students are learning how to conduct research using our Independent Investigation Method (fondly called IIM - Double I M) in our classroom.  There are seven steps to the IIM method:  topic, goal setting, research, organizing, goal evaluation, product, and presentation.  Together we are using these steps to learn about Dale Chihuly.

Our classroom has been filled with paint, glitter, spray paint, pipe cleaners flower, tissue paper, streamers, coffee filters, markers, balloons, ribbons, clay, glass gems, glue, spray starch, and liquid starch.  We would not win the "cleanest classroom award" this week, but the artwork that we have created would be considered "masterpieces" for sure!

Our dream is to hold a "Night of Chihuly" where students' Chihuly-ish art will be displayed and students can share what they have learned about this great artist.  Incorporating technology in our night will be fun with the podcasts created in GarageBand on iPods for our guests to use to listen about all that fills our museum.  Students will also create invitations, brochures, and posters to commemorate this event!