Post on 20-May-2018
Arts a la Carte Department of Visual & Performing Arts December 2015—January 2016
Westfield Public Schools Westfield New Jersey
http://tinyurl.com/nx8rzac
Please see page 17 for
information on Christmas Tree
Disposal Services…..
Please see page 16 for important information on
the School Bond Referendum
ALL CONCERTS BEGIN AT 7:00 pm unless otherwise noted
Date Place Performance
12/2/15 WHS Orchestra
12/3/15 McKinley Band & Chorus 12/8/15 EIS 7th Gr. Chorus & 6th Gr. Strings
12/8/15 RIS 6th, 7th & 8th Gr. Concert Bands 12/9/15 EIS 6th Gr. Chorus, 8th Gr. Strings & Chamber
12/9/15 RIS All Jazz Ensembles 12/10/15 WHS Band
12/14/15 Franklin Chorus
12/14/15 Jefferson 5th Gr. Band & Chorus 12/14/15 Washington Band & Chorus
12/15/15 EIS 6th & 7th Gr. Band, 7th Gr. Strings 12/15/15 RIS 6th & 8th Gr. Chorus
12/15/15 RIS 6th & 8th Gr. Orchestra – 8:00 pm
12/16/15 EIS 8th Gr. Band & Chorus, Broadway Singers & Jazz Ensemble 12/16/15 RIS 7th Gr. Chorus, Sharps and Flats
12/16/15 RIS 7th Gr. Orchestra & Early Morning Orchestra – 8:00 pm 12/17/15 WHS Chorus
12/21/15 EIS All Elementary Intermediate Strings
12/22/15 Franklin Advanced Band 12/22/15 Tamaques Band & Chorus
12/22/15 Wilson 5th Gr. Band & Chorus 1/20/16 McKinley Beginner Band
1/21/16 Franklin Beginner Band 2/5/16 WHS Chorale Night of Love Songs - 7:30 pm
ALL City Auditions will be starting
soon. Please contact your child’s
elementary music teacher for more information.
.
Page 2
Arts a la Carte December 2015-January 2016
Westfield
High School Art
Sophomore, Yenteen Hu’s artwork was chosen for this year’s
Winter Concert program cover. The covers will be used district wide, for
all the upcoming Winter Concerts.
Congratulations Yenteen!
Ceramics II have been
constructing coil pots in which the process of making them is evident
in the finished piece.
DRAWING
The art students in Mrs. Happe-
Conway’s drawing class continue to learn new techniques of drawing.
Students are fine-tuning their seeing
skills and hand-eye coordination.
Still in the linear drawing half of the year, their skills are rapidly
advancing creating layered drawings with increasingly beautiful line
variation and sensitivity. Experimenting with how drawing
media responds to surface selection,
Drawing students created scrolls on a variety of papers; handmade
papers, rice paper, mulberry paper, using familiar medium, feeling the
difference as they touched the
surface, with self-selected subject matter. In class, more and more
complexity will begin to be layered into projects. Works will continue to
develop from the observation of singular objects to complex multi-
object still-lives and environments
as student’s confidence in their ability to make special judgments
increases.
COMPOSITION Composition students have been
investigating the importance of Value Massing and using historical
armatures to make their individual pieces stronger. Working with sound
historical, compositional practices
they have then worked up a series of smaller drawings leading to a
large value massed acrylic painting. Homework assignments are getting
more complex as they begin to
understand the joys and stress, of being responsible for not only the
marks they make, but how they organize space. As they continue to
integrate and test their new knowledge of composition, many
are being empowered to take risk
trying new materials and subject matter.
Page 3
December 2015-January 2016 Arts a la Carte
ADVANCED PORTFOLIO PREP &
ART HISTORY (ART IV)
For the past month Art IV students have been working on self-directed
pieces and setting up their electronic portfolios. The seniors
had to develop their own themes or
concepts and determine if they would be working from observation
or imagination or a combination of both. They then need to think about
what materials and medium would best develop the concepts they
envision. Pastels, watercolors,
mixed media pieces, collage, acrylic paintings, and colored pencils are
just some of the media selected by individual students.
With the new Marking period upon us Art IV students, begin an intense
exposure to Art History. Working with the Visual Thinking Strategy
method, seniors will spend more
time with individual pieces, investigating and observing. As they
ask themselves, “What is going on in this piece?” and “What do I see
that makes me say that?” they will improve their observational skills,
critical thinking and writing skills.
Closely observing historical works
will then let them make more intentional and stronger decisions
when they create their own art work.
Individual students continue to
curate, hang and exhibit their Sr.
Thesis Shows every three weeks up on the second floor gallery hall at
the High School.
WHS Foundations of Art students
continue to develop a deeper understanding of the elements and
principles of art and how they can be used to help create more
effective works of art. Their exploration of line and what it can
do culminated in a contour line
drawing centering on creating an interesting combination of Fall
leaves. The contour line drawing acts as a separate work of art,
beautiful in the way the lines
describe the delicate nature of each leaf. This acted as a basis for a
watercolor painting which followed. Students carefully studied their
leaves, paying special attention to
the different values within each leave, the veins, and cast shadows.
Currently, students are working on projects to help broaden their
understanding of the elements of art known as shape and value, as
well as the principle of art known as
balance.
Ceramics 1 students learned about
rolling out slabs of clay and draping the clay over a Styrofoam plate in
order to create a decorative ceramic plate. The plates were decorated
with a version of their name, nickname, monogram or initials.
Below is a picture of a student at
work on his plate. Students will then take this knowledge and roll
out a base for the creation of a coil vessel (shown in the other picture).
Students in Crafts are finishing out
the Fibers unit. They already
learned how to sew, how to felt with raw wool and how to create
macramé bracelets. The pictures show students working on the
current Fibers project – Batik. In
one photo, the student is using a tjanting tool and hot wax to draw
his design on muslin. The other photo shows a student who has
already waxed out her design and is
now dying her fabric.
Page 4
Arts a la Carte December 2015-January 2016
World Crafts Sampler students
are creating sheets of marbleized papers to cover the front and back
of hand-bound journals. The
ripples of colored chalk or thinned acrylic paint are then carefully
manipulated to form kaleidoscopic patterns on the surface of the
paper. Marbleizing, which involves
using absorbent papers to pick up the patterns from the water bath,
dates to the twelfth century.
The students are also designing and cutting an original book plate using
linoleum printing block. The
linoleum print will embellish the journal with color coordinated inks.
Music
WHS Concert Bands
The WHS Wind Ensemble,
Symphonic Band and Concert Band are off to a wonderful start for the
2015/16 school year. All three ensembles are preparing literature
for their December 10th concert, which will be held in the high school
auditorium at 7pm. In addition to
traditional band literature, each of the classes is also working on
chamber music for woodwind and brass choirs.
On December 12th, the following WHS band students will travel to JP
Stevens High School to audition for the CJMEA honor ensembles:
Danielle Gabuzda, Flute/Piccolo Alistair Kapadia, Bassoon
Michael Hauge, Bb/Eb Clarinet Michael Bergman, Alto Clarinet
Matthew Schiff, Bass/Contra Clarinet Daniel Shenker, Alto Saxophone
Albert Chen, Alto/Bari Saxophone
Dale Beyert, Trumpet Austin Chen, Trumpet
Emily Greaney, Trumpet Sofia Gonzalez-Nolde, Trumpet
Mark Kostyack- Euphonium
We would like to wish all
students auditioning the best of luck as they represent the WHS
band!
WHS Jazz Bands
A record number of auditionees tried out for the WHS Jazz Bands in
mid-November. Bands will begin rehearsal in January and will
perform at regional jazz festivals throughout the winter and spring.
Don’t miss the 4th annual Westfield
Jazz Night on Saturday, May 14th in the WHS Courtyard featuring jazz
bands from Roosevelt Intermediate, Edison Intermediate and Westfield
High School.
WHS Winterguard
The Westfield High School Winter Color Guard will begin rehearsal in
December in preparation for the 2016 competitive season. The group
will rehearse twice a week from
December through April and will perform at local and regional
competitions. They will also be giving a stage performance at the
June 7th Jazz and Percussion
Ensemble Concert. Contact Mr. Vitale for more information:
cvitale@westfieldnjk12.org
WHS Marching Band
On November 8th, the Westfield High School Marching Band traveled
to Allentown, Pennsylvania to compete in the USBands A-Class
National Championships. The Marching Blue Devils placed first out
of ten competing bands in division
V-A from New Jersey, Maryland, New York, Connecticut, and
Massachusetts with a score of 96.738. WHS received awards for
Best Music and Best Overall Effect.
Page 5
December 2015-January 2016 Arts a la Carte
The stellar performance at Nationals
capped off a very successful
competitive season for the Blue Devils, which also included a 3rd
Place finish at NJ States and 1st place at the Towson Music in Motion
Northeast Regional competitions.
The 2015 field show was "The
Caged Bird Sings," based on poetry by Maya Angelou. There was bird
imagery throughout: elegant flags designed to resemble wings, 8 large
gold cages on the field, bird calls
and several stanzas of the poem recited by WHS principal, Peter
Renwick.
Westfield High School recently had
six students participate in the NJ All State Chorus, a chorus consisting of
over 200 selected high school students around the entire state of
NJ. These students were not only
accepted through a rigorous audition process, but have spent
several weekends over the course of nearly half a year working to
prepare their concert. Our students sang side by side with the NJ All
State Orchestra at both Boardwalk
Hall in Atlantic City and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in
Newark, NJ. The students sang under the baton of Dr. Anthony
Leach from Penn State University.
A Big Congratulations to the
following students for a stellar job well done and for representing WHS
in this prestigious ensemble! We are
proud of you!
Pictured Left to Right, All State Mixed Chorus Singers: Catherine
Moore, Max Wasilewski, Lucy Hale, Abby Rothenberg, Noah Bram,
Emma Stern
Students in all of the choirs have
been preparing for their winter
holiday concert that will take place
December 17th at 7 PM in the WHS
Auditorium. Among the pieces Mixed Chorus has been working on is a
medley of British Carols that will be sure to please! The WHS Treble
Chorus has been preparing Benjamin Britten’s Deo Gracias, as
well as a 4-part piece by Norwegian
composer, Ola Gjeilo called Tundra. Through its rich word painting a
lush chords, Tundra paints a picture of a vast, cold and weathered
landscape. The WHS Concert Choir
is collaborating once again with WHS Symphony Orchestra and will
be performing Daniel Pinkham’s multi-movement work, Christmas Cantata. The Chorale and Choraleers will be performing both
from the traditional choral music
canon as well as singing familiar holiday and jazz standards.
There will be a Final Rehearsal open
to the public on December 16th,
open to the community during period 6 in the High School
auditorium. If you are interested in attending please email Lorre
Korecky at:
lkorecky@westfieldnjk12.org
Westfield Choral Parents Association
The WHS Choral department is pleased to announce the formation
of the Westfield Choral Parents Association! The organization was formed to help “promote and
support activities of the WHS Choral Department”. We are
pleased to announce the inaugural
Board Members for this organization:
Amy Flax, President
Audrey Hale, Vice President Karna Gerich Cestero, Vice
President - Fundraising
Eliana Carvajal, Vice President - Marketing
Monica Bergin, Treasurer Tina Wasilewski, Secretary
Page 6
Arts a la Carte December 2015-January 2016
To find out ways in which you might
get involved in the WCPA, visit http://www.westfieldchoir.org/westf
ield-choral-parents-association.html.
District Choral Night January 20, 2016
The choral department will be
holding its first ever District Choral Night on January 20, 2016 at 7 PM.
The night will include performances by two elementary school 5th grade
choruses, 8th Grade Chorus, RIS
Sharps and Flats, EIS Broadway Singers, and High School Choral
Ensembles.
WHS Choir Leadership Council The new WHS Choir Leadership
council was formed to provide
leadership opportunities to students as well as provide service to the
choir. In order to be involved in the leadership group, students in
Concert Choir have to complete
service projects and have attended monthly meetings. The WHS Choral
Department is proud to announce The 2015/2016 Choir Leadership
Council:
WHS Choir President
Madeleine Rosenthal
WHS Choir Vice President Erin Hanlon
Secretary/Treasurers Meagan O’Connell
Max Wasilewski
Choir Technology/Website Managers
Alan Fang Alex Cestero
Choir Librarians
Alex Cestero Erin Hanlon
Choir Managers Erin Hanlon
Alana Payne
Choir Historian
Isabelle Wright
Section Leader/Assistant Directors Lucy Hale
Catherine Moore
Members
Maggie Bergin Alex Cestero
Jack Ciarrocca William Collum
Alan Fang
Lucy Hale Erin Hanlon
Alison Jaruzelski Briana Lichholt
Catherine Moore Meagan O’Connell
Alana Payne
Madeleine Rosenthal Abby Rothenberg
Max Wasilewski Isabelle Wright
Philip Zanfagna
WHS Orchestras
Concert season is here and we have been hard at work in the Westfield
High School Music department. The
WHS Orchestras are getting ready to kick off concert season on
Wednesday, December 2, 2015. The concert will begin at 7:00 PM and
will feature the String and Chamber Orchestras. This concert will feature
music from Telemann, Bartok,
Saint-Saens, among others. Members of the Chamber Orchestra
will also be featured at the WHS Choir concert on December 17th as
well. We look forward to see you
there!
In December, we are excited to send 11 students from our
orchestras to CJMEA Region auditions on December 12th. For
students with questions about
auditions refer to the CJMEA website at www.cjmea.org. We
wish those students the best of luck at their auditions.
Roosevelt
Intermediate
Art
The students In Mr. Greenwood's 6th grade classes were recently
introduced to the art and culture of
the Australian Aboriginal people. Native to the land of Australia the
Aborigines are nomadic tribesmen who have chronicled their lives and
culture through art for thousands of years. Largely working with natural
materials the Aborigines make cave
paintings, sand sculptures and paintings on skins depicting their
lives. They use art for ceremony, adornment, storytelling and
recorded history. The theory behind
their cultural style is that art brings together the living universe and the
spiritual universe called the “Dream Time”. Artistically, Aboriginal art is
broken down into the use of repetitive dot patterns integrated
with vibrant colors framing a focal
element such as animals. Other topics explored this Fall were
exploration of the Art Elements and designing a promotional poster
based on the history of Westfield.
Students in the 8th grade focused on
a traditional art exercise of drawing
and painting from observation a few weeks ago. The project was a fall
theme based on objects such as pumpkins, wine bottles and foliage.
These items were chosen for their
Page 7
December 2015-January 2016 Arts a la Carte
variety of color shapes and
shadows. The project emphasis was about learning to draw “What you
see” not what you assume is there in addition to color basic theory
utilizing complementary colors. This can was done in a variety of
techniques, such as Water color
painting, pencil drawing, crapas and pastels.
Earlier in the Fall the 8th grade
students looked at the work of artist
Romero Britto. Britto’s work comes from a desire and inspiration to
overcome an impoverished childhood and to bring art and joy
to the world. How the impact of art
can motivate and inspire. How art and color can have an influence on
emotions was a theme. To have the students understand that all art
interpretation is individual and to have a more valued and in-depth
appreciation of famous works of
noted artist need to be recognized.
The 8th and 7th grade students in
Mrs. Cohen's classes are working on an enlargement project. They will
take a 6” X 8” picture and make it
into a 15” x 20” picture. They will
use a pencil to create it and then use an ebony pencil or colored
pencils to enhance the subject matter. The 6th graders are
finishing up their woven bookmark; adding fringe to both ends to
embellish their artwork.
Music
RIS Bands The Roosevelt concert bands are
very excited to present our winter
concert on Tuesday December 8th at 7PM. All three concert bands have
spent the past three months preparing a variety of challenging
repertoire.
The 6th grade band will open the
concert with “The Star-Spangled Banner”, under the direction of Mr.
Doyle. Following will be an excellent
march entitled “Valor” by Larry Clark. Ms. Marissa Wright, student
teacher from the John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State
University, will lead the band in this piece. The 6th grade will close out
their portion of the program with
Ms. Marisa Minogue conducting a wonderful arrangement of
Tchaikovsky’s “Waltz of the Flowers” from The Nutcracker Suite. The 7th
grade band will begin their portion
of the concert with Ms. Wright leading them in “Aztec Fire” an
exciting, fast-paced piece by Jay Bocook. Next, Mr. Doyle will conduct
the band in an arrangement traditional Hanukkah tunes called
“Hanukkah Holiday”. Ms. Minogue
will close the 7th grade portion by conducting the band in an
arrangement of Johannes Brahms’ “Academic Festival Overture”. The
8th grade band will open with a
patriotic medley entitled “March On America”, which features a few very
popular patriotic tunes. Next, they will perform a three-movement
work, “Suite from The Planets” by
Gustav Holst. Arranger Calvin Custer
used three of the movements from Holst’s original orchestral work:
Mars, Venus, and Jupiter. The 8th grade band will close the concert
with their rendition of “Sleigh Ride”, a holiday classic by the great
American composer Leroy Anderson.
On Wednesday December 9, the
RIS jazz ensembles will be performing their winter concert. The
Accidentals, Morning Jazz, and The
Naturals have been preparing since the beginning of the school year.
Featured works include “Go Tell It on the Mountain”, “White
Christmas”, “The Sound of Silence”, Georgia on My Mind” and others.
This concert will also feature solos
from a number of RIS students. December 9th at 7PM- don’t miss
out!
The 8th grade had a wonderful
performance at the Veterans Day Assembly on November 9th. The
band played “March on America” as students entered and exited the
gymnasium. This medley included
the tunes “You’re a Grand Old Flag”, National Emblem March” and “The
Stars and Stripes Forever”. Many compliments were received from
administration and teachers on how professional the band looked and
sounded. In addition, Max Tennant
played a beautiful rendition of “Taps” on the trumpet. Thanks to
all who attended!
The 8th grade band will also be
participating in the WHS recruitment day on January 13th. The band,
chorus and orchestra will travel to WHS and spend an afternoon
performing with their high school counterparts. The bands will be
rehearsing for an evening
performance on the 13th, where they will join the stage with the 8th
grade concert band from EIS and the WHS Wind Ensemble. This is a
Page 8
Arts a la Carte December 2015-January 2016
yearly event and is an excellent
opportunity to see the wide range of talent in the Westfield band
program. It will take place at 7PM in the high school auditorium.
RIS Chorus
At RIS all chorus classes have been
doing great work. The 6th and 7th graders have been doing
rhythm projects where they are composing rhythm pieces to given
texts. They are having fun as well
as understanding written rhythms better. The Sharps and Flats as well
as the eighth grade chorus sang at the annual Veterans Day Assembly
on November 9th. Sharps and Flats sang The Star Spangled Banner
while the eighth grade chorus sang
America the Beautiful. Both groups sounded fantastic which set the
tone for the assembly. All chorus classes are working hard on their
Holiday Concert Music. Our concerts
are Tuesday December 15th for 6th and 8th grade chorus and
Wednesday December 16th for 7th grade chorus and Sharps and Flats.
The concerts are going to be a
blast.
District Choral Night January 20, 2016
The choral department will be holding its first ever District Choral
Night on January 20, 2016 at 7 PM.
The night will include performances by two elementary school 5th grade
choruses, 8th Grade Chorus, RIS Sharps and Flats, EIS Broadway
Singers, and High School Choral
Ensembles.
Drama
Congratulation to the RIS cast and crew of Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Bravo to all!
Edison
Intermediate
Art
The 6th grade students in Ms. Hooper's class completed an
exciting unit based on the Mexican holiday called Day of the Dead. Day
of the Dead is a time when people
get together to celebrate family and friends who have passed. The
students created colorful bas-relief clay Masks and have just begun a
new unit on 1 Point Perspective. Studying examples such as the Last
Supper, by Leonardo DaVinci, the
students are learning how artists
use mathematics (measuring) to
create the illusion of 3 dimensional form on a flat (2-D) sheet of paper.
The 7th graders also joined in the
excitement of the Day of the Dead
celebration at EIS. Some of the students painted 2-D masks
commemorating a loved one while others built a plaster Skeleton which
was decorated to resemble a friend or family member. All of the
projects created in the EIS art
classes were proudly displayed down by the school gym alongside
the decorations and stories written by the students enrolled in the
Spanish classes.
Page 9
December 2015-January 2016 Arts a la Carte
Ms. Hooper worked collaboratively
with the 7th grade History teacher, Mrs. Jackie Messenger, to teach the
students about the art of Illuminated Manuscripts and the
historical impact of these beautiful books. Each child was given the
opportunity to design an Illuminated
Letter (Initial) which was decorated with gold metallic markers to imitate
the gold leaf used on the original art pieces from the Medieval times.
Eighth grade Fine Arts students have been busy practicing how to
accurately render the 4 facial features of the human head.
Beginning with the eyes, students worked on creating realistic, shaded
drawings of the nose, mouth and
ears. Afterwards, each artist selected a photo of a celebrity to
draw for an 18" x 24" Portrait. The students have the opportunity to
select which medium ( pencil/
charcoal/ oil pastel or paint) they would like to use for the final "
bigger than life" Portrait Project.
Students in Ms. Hooper's Crafts
classes are finishing up their Fibers Unit by completing a Coil Basket
and a Cardboard Loom Weaving and have moved onto Tie-Dying. Each
artist was able to experiment with a variety of tie-dye methods and use
a piece of dyed fabric to build a
small pillow. The running, whip and
blanket stitches were taught to the students who will be able to apply
these stitches to sew the sides of their pillows and also incorporate
these stitches within the design of their upcoming Paper Embroidery
project.
Students in Mrs. Frees Crafts class
are benefitting from her visit to the
Art Conference with lots of new ideas flowing in her classroom. They
just finished a project on the tree of life. The students are learning about
the Native American love and reverence for nature. The students
brainstormed ideas about what a
tree could represent for them. They thought of family, of favorite
pastimes, of favorite times of year and seasons. The students did a
beautiful job with the project and it
became a wonderful mixed media project. Students are continuing
working with fibers, and are learning basic sewing techniques.
They are also getting a chance to use our sewing machines that we
received from a grant from the
Coalition for the Arts!
The students in 7th grade are doing
a new lesson on Pop Art that involving black acrylic mixed with
Gesso to create the shiny “ben day” dot technique that Roy Lichtenstein
used to create his work. The students are focusing their attention
on art history and movements of
art. We talked about Andy Warhol using the dark black lines and the
contrast with the bright colors. The students learned about still life
drawing in their assessment, they
drew using ellipses to create cylinders that had proper
perspective. The kids used liquid watercolor to paint and they were
excited to use a new material.
Students in 6th grade learned about
cultural art from South America, making Chanchitos (tiny pigs) and
also working on Foam relief sculptures for Day of the Dead.
They are learning perspective and
are having a wonderful time. They are focusing on being able to see
cubes from both above and below the horizon line.
Page 10
Arts a la Carte December 2015-January 2016
Music
EIS Bands
The 8th Grade Band had their first performance at the EIS Veterans
Day Assembly on November 11th. Performing for a packed house, they
played “Armed Forces On Parade”
and a challenging Claude T. Smith arrangement of “America, The
Beautiful.” The 8th Grade Band was able to show off the hard work they
put in over the first months of school.
The 7th and 8th Grade students
joined the WHS Marching Band on October 3rd at the annual Band Day
performance. Playing “Crazy Train” and “Fight on Blue Devils” the
students had the opportunity to play
on the field with other band students from RIS along with the
entire Award Winning WHS Marching Band.
The Concert Bands are hard at work
preparing for their Winter Concert.
The 8th Grade Band is working on the very rhythmic piece “First
Landing Celebration” by Michael Oare and Richard Saucedo’s
“Ukrainian Bell Carol” which will be
an exciting rendition of the classic holiday tune for their concert on
December 16th. The 6th and 7th Grade Bands are working on a wide
variety of songs ranging in genres from patriotic, cultural to holiday.
Their concert will be held on
December 15th.
The EIS Jazz Band has been rehearsing every Tuesday morning
at 7:15am before school. Working on skills such as swing and
improvisation, the group is
improving rapidly. Also performing on the December 16th concert you
can hear the jazz band perform “St. Louis Blues,” “Don’t Get Around
Much Anymore” and a special
holiday jazz tune.
District Choral Night January 20, 2016
The choral department will be holding its first ever District Choral
Night on January 20, 2016 at 7 PM.
The night will include performances by two elementary school 5th grade
choruses, 8th Grade Chorus, RIS Sharps and Flats, EIS Broadway
Singers, and High School Choral
Ensembles.
EIS Orchestra The Orchestra students are very
excited to welcome Ms. Fatsis as
their Director for the remainder of the school year! Ms. Fatsis spent
the beginning of the year working with the EIS Chorus students and is
looking forward to working with the instrumental students as well. The
Orchestra are busy preparing for
their December concerts with selections such as "Adamant" by
Larry Clark, "Christmas Time is Here" arranged by Bob Cerulli and
"Procession of the Nobles" arranged
by Deborah Baker Monday.
Drama
Congratulations to the cast and crew of EIS' Fall Production, Stuart Little. The fun and laughs
were one that will not soon be forgotten. Some of the stars of this
amazing production include Kathryn
Bartlett as Stuart Little, Thomas Lupicki as Mr. Little, Madison Bryant
as Mrs. Little, Ana Fowler as Snowbell the cat, Elisa Saint Denis
as Margalo the bird, and a huge group of talented students that
helped to bring this classic story to
life. It was a great job and we are all so proud of you!
Franklin
Elementary
Art
The Art Students at Franklin School
are using their creative energies to produce many works of art. Under
the direction of Mrs. Coveney, the
color wheel with its warm and cool colors is being experienced through
painting. Mixing and identifying colors can be seen through a variety
of artistic creations. New vocabulary
has been introduced and executed in their art projects.
The 2nd grade art students use the
color wheel to identify their primary,
secondary, warm and cool colors. They learned how to mix tints and
shades. A tint is when you mix any color with white and a shade is
when you mix any color with black. Through this experience, a sky was
created with a selected perspective
Page 11
December 2015-January 2016 Arts a la Carte
by adding mountains in 2 neutral colors. The mountains were torn to
create a foreground and the sky became a background. Symmetry
and asymmetry will be our focus
and student’s growth and learning will be assessed.
The 3rd grade art students worked
with symmetry by creating a large mask. Crayon and tempera paint
were the media of choice. They
experienced a transfer process which allowed them to see
symmetry. They developed their mask and finished it off with a wax
resist technique. This allows them to become accustom to different art
vocabulary and enriched their
artistic sense. Regular and irregular patterns were introduced and
students learning were evaluated.
The 4th grade students were introduced to Georgia O’Keeffe
which proved to be an inspiring influence for their paintings. The
drawings used large shapes and
they were taught this skill by the use of cropping. Warm and cool
colors were used and paint brush pens created a successful painting.
Tints and shades were introduced
and applied to create geometric cityscapes. Foreground, Middle
ground and Background were reviewed and were apparent.
The 5th grade students experienced
a new medium for their introductory project. Acrylic paint was used to
create a Foreground, Middle ground
and Background. The school year began with a bang as the subject
matter for their paintings was a sky filled with Fireworks and its
reflective body of water. Shades
were used to create distance and space within the composition. The
students’ creative experience has helped Mrs. Coveney with their
assessments and proving student learning.
All students are thoroughly engaged and enjoying their art experiences.
Music
Like the leaves on the trees, fall is
quickly fading into winter but things are growing brighter in our music
classes at Franklin as we enter the holiday season. Our 2nd graders
have been moving, playing and
singing about a little furry critter that is getting ready for the colder
months. Yes, you guessed it. A squirrel! Through our songs they
have discovered a new rhythm, the half note and a new note on the
staff, Re. Over the next month,
they’ll begin their study of the instrument families and create
motions to go with selections from The Nutcracker. In January, the
second graders will begin
experiencing songs in Do hexatonic, but they’ll have to be patient as
they discover this tonal pattern in third grade.
Third graders are working hard on reading and composing rhythm
poems using their known rhythms. Soon they’ll be able to use their new
note, the sixteenth note, which they discovered through the popular
singing game, “Chicken on a
Fencepost”. They also worked on alternating mallet technique on the
xylophones and metallophones. Like the 2nd graders, the 3rd graders will
also explore the instruments of the
orchestra, but will learn about each individual instrument and how they
produce their sound.
Fourth graders have been quite successful in performing songs with
more complex textures and meters. Not only are they singing partner
songs and canons, but they’re also
singing partner songs that are canons. They also began exploring
different modes and recently sang and played in Dorian and Aeolian. In
January, the 4th graders will be
discussing form and style as they learn several dances and clapping
games from around the world. This will also tie into a unit on poetry in
music as they examine the natural prosody of words.
December is a busy month, but we
hope you can take some time out of
your busy schedule to enjoy one of our many concerts. The Franklin 5th
Grade Chorus & Glee Club concert will be held on Monday, December
14 at 7:00 p.m. This song will
feature student accompanists as well as some Franklin alum on
strings and oboe.
The Franklin Glee Club is excited to collaborate with the New Jersey
Festival Orchestra again for their “Home for the Holidays” concert.
They will also be combining with
some of McKinley’s students for this public concert on December 5 at the
Presbyterian Church in Westfield. Later in December the Glee Club will
also share their talents at a local assisted living home as they bring
holiday cheer during their annual
caroling trip.
Page 12
Arts a la Carte December 2015-January 2016
Jefferson
Elementary
Art
First grades are just finishing up
their African Masks. Your children should be able to tell you how many
continents are in the world, what continent they live in, what
continent they studied and a little
about the life of the average South African student. The children
explored pattern making with watercolor paint and crayon resist.
They created hair with chenille stems and are now delving into the
plethora of the choices offered in
this multi-media project.
Second graders have just completed their study of block lettering,
creating name banners. In some
classes, children created one feather in a class turkey using diffusible
paper oil pastel crayons and watercolor paints. They are now
beginning a group project based on
the works of Keith Haring that will introduce the concept of body
proportions.
The children in the 3rd grade have begun a science-based unit studying
the way the eye works and sees
color. We will be discussing the science behind 3-D animation.
Fourth graders did an amazing job
with their still life pictures in
charcoal. They are now tackling their “One Point Perspective” cities.
This is a very difficult concept for the children to learn; but they
always end up being most proud of this project at the end of the year.
Fifth grade children continue to
work on their projects on “Dia de los Muertos”. The children have
studied this national Mexican
holiday, sketched out the anatomy
of a skeleton and have begun the
structure of their marionettes. Some classes have started cutting
fabric outfits that we will be sewing onto the puppets. We will string the
marionettes last.
McKinley
Elementary
Art
McKinley artists have been working hard communicating their artistic
voice through their art projects. Every student is engaged in his or
her own authentic art-making experience and it really shows
through their uplifting creations.
First grade artists are focusing on
their color mixing, color theory and have a lot of fun creating their first
ever color wheel! A color wheel
helps these young artists to identify colors, mix colors and choose the
best color for their artwork. Class 1-2 even made a 3-D color wheel by
selecting broken recycled crayons and gluing them onto a ceramic tile.
The students identified the color
family for each crayon piece and glued it down into its correct space
on their color wheel. Many of the other first grade classes mixed their
own paint to create their artistic
tool.
Second grade artists are completing
their unit on positive and negative space with their final project making
a paper stencil print. The students are learning how to transform
negative space into positive space by sponging color through their cut
paper stencils. The cut negative
space of their stencil is used to form the positive space of their print!
These students showed much independence in their classroom
studios and have really
concentrated on good craftsmanship in their artwork. Check out these
artists in action!
Third grade artists have just finished their non-toxic oil painting where
value was used to create form. The
students observed light falling upon a bunch of apples positioned on
their desk. Concepts such as value, cast shadow, reflected light, shadow
and highlight were introduced and
used to form these representational paintings. After an initial pencil
sketch, color was added by using our own homemade oil paint. To
make this paint, the artist simply
applies baby oil with a brush to a swatch of oil pastel. Through layers
of wash, value is created and form is developed. Backgrounds were
added as a final touch where each student was given the opportunity
to express their own aesthetic.
Page 13
December 2015-January 2016 Arts a la Carte
Fourth grade artists are putting the
final touches on their Joan Miro
(Spanish, 1893- 1983) inspired paper mache organic shaped
sculptures. The students studied important curricular concepts of 3-D
form, organic shapes and limited palette. These hard working artists
are currently painting and designing
the surfaces of their sculptures. It has been a lot of hard work, but the
students have shown much perseverance as their final 3-D piece
has transformed from their initial 2-
D sketch.
Fifth grade artists are in the final stages of their plaster casting.
These hard working artists created a model sculpture out of tin foil, tape,
model magic clay and sculpt-a-mold.
Artistic concepts of proportion,
model, form and cast were
understood and utilized through their art making. In these final
stages, the students have covered their
model by draping a layer of paper
mache on top of their form. This
paper mache layer will dry and then be removed from their model form.
Under close supervision, the students will mix their own plaster
and pour it into a paper mache
“mask” to create their plaster cast. Once dried, the cast is removed
from the paper mache and a final layer of wood glue is used to seal
this plaster cast. Once dried, the students will complete their plaster
cast with a sponge layer to create
faux texture to make their sculptures look as if they are made
of marble or metal. A very complicated and lengthy process,
but these students are having an
exciting time and really enjoy the detailed process to make their very
own plaster casts!
Tamaques
Elementary
Art
Puppetry is an ancient art form that has been used in every culture. It
continues to appeal to all ages. The 2nd graders in Mrs. Massenzio’s
classes created wonderful owl
puppets, using various textures and materials. The students learned that
there are about 180 species of owls around the world. Owls have eyes
that face forward- their eyes don’t
move: extra neck bones allow owls to twist their heads so far around,
that they can see their backs!
The 3rd graders in Mrs. Massenzio’s classes learned how to create a
successful still life of overlapping
glass bottles. The students
developed an awareness of line, shape, composition and how to
create depth through the use of overlapping shapes. Symmetry,
shading, perspective and the use of warm and cool colors, were focal
points in the lesson.
The 4th grade classes had fun
learning all about trapeze artists. The students discovered that paper
can be manipulated and bent in a
myriad of ways. Everyone enjoyed experimenting with various
materials and textures to create their own 3-dimensional trapeze
artists, hanging from a trapeze bar. Jules Leotard was the first flying
trapeze act on record. It occurred in
1859 in Paris. The tight sleeveless garment is named after him!
After a recent class trip to Sandy
Hook, the 5th graders had a perfect
tie-in art lesson! Sandy Hook, N.J. has the oldest operating lighthouse
in the United States. It is 85 feet tall and has operated continuously since
1746, except for periods of darkness
during wartime. The children created their own beautiful
lighthouses, using mixed media. The students learned how to create a
seascape, learned about texture, and at the same time learned all
about lighthouses and their
interesting history.
Music
Tamaques & Washington
4th & 5th Grade Bands
The Tamaques and Washington 4th grade band students were excited to
play the following songs at their family’s Thanksgiving Feast: Hot
Cross Buns, Rolling Along and Go
Tell Aunt Rhodie! The students plan to entertain family and friends
Page 14
Arts a la Carte December 2015-January 2016
over the holidays with Jingle Bells
and My Dreydl!
The Washington and Tamaques 5th
Grade band students are busy preparing for their December
concerts. The students are hard at work on First Winter’s Sleigh Ride, The Good King Rocks, Chanukah Joy and Invasion of the Christmas Crabs! Family and friends are invited to the
free concerts! The Tamaques 5th
Grade Chorus and Band Holiday Concert is Tuesday: December 22nd
at 7:00 PM in the Tamaques School auditorium. The Washington
School Chorus and Band Concert is Monday: December 14th at 7:00 PM
in the Washington School
auditorium. Come and enjoy the music!
Washington
Elementary Art
Artists at Washington School have been getting their hands messy with
some awesome artwork!
In 1st grade, students have started
learning the art basics; line and shape. After building lines that could
stand, they wove lines, drew long
squiggling lines and then bent them
into shapes. They are now
arranging a variety of interesting shapes into a sculpture in the style
of Louise Nevelson.
Second grade students are creating
landscapes. This unit of study began with a collaged picture of the ocean.
Using two different types of paint
and unique gluing and tearing techniques, students were able to
create some beautiful pieces. They are now drawing and painting
a mountain scene that shows an
understanding of foreground, middleground, and background.
The 3rd grade is working on the basic principles and elements of
design. Most interestingly, each
student recently created an image that displayed repetition and unity
by using their first initial 12 times in one image. Artists are now using
text to create sculptures. We're all excited to see the results!
Fourth grade artists are investigating figure drawing. With
Keith Haring as their inspiration, students are creating colorful people
in markered drawings as well as
complex, 3D sculptures. The bright
colors and active designs display a new level of energy in the work.
In 5th grade, students recently added color and shading to large-
scale crayon drawings. They have
really brightened up the hallways around the building! Artists in this
grade have now moved onto a study of portraiture with a twist. Each
artist is drawing his or her face in
the Cubist style. This is turning out to be a really fun project!
Look for more examples of the work
from Washington School at: www.artsonia.com/washington76
Music
All the students at Washington
worked very hard during the month of November on their variety of
songs for the Fall Sing Along. This
exciting event was held on November 25th in the gym at
Washington and was a bit hit. The students were very excited to
showcase their hard work!
Page 15
December 2015-January 2016 Arts a la Carte Throughout November, we
discussed rhythms and using
dances, body percussion and games to help our understanding of specific
kinds of rhythmic values. We have already discussed pitch, melody,
dynamics, and texture and the
students have demonstrated their
knowledge by singing songs and playing games that incorporate
these important musical concepts.
Throughout December, the students
will be exploring the many instruments, timbres and colors of
the orchestra. The students will learn about how sounds are
produced on instruments and why specific voices vary. They will be
listening and analyzing music,
determining tone color and quality.
The 5th grade chorus is enthusiastically preparing for our
upcoming winter concert! This will
take place on December 14th at 7pm and will include both the 5th
grade chorus and band here at Washington. We will be singing a
wonderful mix of songs about
Winter, Christmas and Hanukkah. Some favorites of ours include
“You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” and “Deedle Deedle Dai”. All are
welcome to attend this free concert at 7pm in the gym at Washington!
Wilson
Elementary
Art
The frogs are back! First grade
learned to draw fantastic frogs through direct instruction and then
painted them using warm and cool colors! They also used their newly
acquired knowledge about color
theory to create printed leaf patterns with tempera paint.
Grade 2 recently learned about tints
and shades. They created small
planets, first with oil pastels and then with tempera paint, to learn to
balance the black and white with
color. Next they composed their planets into super galactic galaxies
complete with space ships and alien
beings! They are out of this world!
The students in 3rd grade are also focusing on color theory, learning
about complementary color sets.
They created 3-D color wheels with model magic and then designed
their very own complementary color emoji designs! They will finish their
unit on complementary colors with tempera paints learning how to
neutralize the colors when they are
combined.
3rd Gr. Complimentary Color Emojis
Grade 4 is learning about 3-D form.
They recently began their plaster sculpture unit…. creating Minions!
This project is hands down the class favorite! Look for an awesome
display in the main hallway soon!
The 5th grade is focusing on creating mixed media fish paintings which
will serve as artwork for a fundraiser
for the PTO. Next they will begin
their self-portraits.
Coming Soon…MINIONS!!!
Music
Music classes are in full swing at
Wilson School: we sing, we learn theory…… and we move! Our
fearless 5th graders, like all their district counterparts, are busy
preparing for the 2015 Winter
Concert. In addition to choral performance, soloists will be
featured, as well as various instrumental accompaniments.
When not studying repertoire, 5th graders are focused on identifying
major and minor intervals, visually
and aurally. We’re off to a good start!
The thriving 3rd and fantastic 4th
graders continue to work on note-
reading skills. Signs and symbols of the music staff are also under study
and students are exploring new repertoire.
Our super 2nd graders are having fun getting to know the instruments
of the orchestra. Listening to our “very special” guest, oboist Rachael
Siegel, in a performance of the second movement of Camille Saint-
Saens’s Sonata for Oboe, was quite
unique. She is awesome! (We all know there is no substitute for a live
performance!) The children learned a great deal from Ms. Siegel during
the question and answer sessions
Page 16
Arts a la Carte December 2015-January 2016
following her performances. She
plans to re-join us at some point,
playing other instruments for the 2nd graders.
Our “fenomenal” (as in Spanish) 1st
graders officially made their “debut” as Wilson performers during the
Halloween Sing-Along. Everyone
loved them! Most recently they have been learning about the
Underground Railroad and singing some of the songs connected to this
important piece of American history.
Many of the Wilson School students
continue to enjoy presenting short, informal performances (of singing,
dancing or playing an instrument) for their peers. They are developing
the necessary confidence for a
future of hopefully many amateur and professional performances!
Lincoln
School
Our kindergarteners are working hard while in art class – painting
and drawing. In December and
January, we will be working with primary and secondary colors,
creating perspective in a winter landscape and adding a bit of
sculpture in for fun.
Our littlest students in pre-k have
been hard at work creating wonderful art with a focus on a
different shape each week. In December and January, we will be
focusing on color, 3-dimensional design including sculpture and
collage with some patterning mixed
in. Should be a fun time for all!
The first graders in Tamaques have been focusing on line, form and
pattern during the first few months of school. We will start building on
those skills and concepts in
December and January, when we create art with symmetry, color and
texture.
IMPORTANT SCHOOL
IMPROVEMENTS PROPOSED
The following proposals will be
presented to Westfield voters in the
January 26 School Bond Referendum
Projects in Question #1 are those things
that need to be done so we can keep
functioning safely and effectively.
Question #2 is meant to achieve a
comprehensive solution – one that
resolves the problems with the acoustic
quality, seating, air conditioning, etc. – to
our intermediate school auditoriums. The
projects in both questions are
ELIGIBLE FOR 40% FUNDING FROM
THE STATE.
Proposal #1 – Safety, Security & Technology Upgrades
Replacement of fire alarms in10 buildings
Replacement of public address systems in all10 schools
Replacement of switches and Wi-Fi upgrades( cabling) in all elementary schools
Replacements of multi-purpose room floors at three schools
Replacement of boilers at Jefferson, Roosevelt, Westfield High School, & Wilson
Installation of gym partition at Westfield High School
Installation of barrier free access at McKinley and Roosevelt
Proposal #2 –Renovations & Upgrades to Edison / Roosevelt
Auditoriums
Replacement of seats, including barrier free seats
Replacement of sound system
Installation of acoustical treatments
Barrier free stage access
Electrical and lighting upgrades, including stage lighting
Replacement of flooring
For more information, please visit
www.westfieldnjk12.org
Page 17
December 2015-January 2016 Arts a la Carte
Support the Choir and Band programs at Westfield High School!
Have your Christmas tree picked up and brought to the conservation center by one of our musicians!
Saturday, January 9
$15 per tree Order by January 1
Email whschristmas@gmail.com for order forms
Page 18
Arts a la Carte December 2015-January 2016
Westfield Coalition for the Arts
FALL 2015
Dear Westfield Parents: The mission of the Westfield Coalition for the Arts is to act as an advocate for the
arts, including music, drama, visual arts, and dance in the Westfield Public Schools, by speaking out on behalf of the arts, maintaining public awareness and utilizing sources of community, financial and philosophical support. Each year we award grants to different arts programs in the schools based upon applications submitted to us from the Westifield Schools’ faculty. This year, we were happy to award over $20,000 in grant money for the following: Guest Clinicians to work with the WHS Band, an Apple TV for RIS music program, a field trip for Ms. Gant’s 8th Grade Orchestra at EIS, a Guest Collegiate Choral Director for WHS Choir, acoustic ceiling tiles for the WHS Band Room, transportation for the WHS Choir to travel to a senior housing complex, Master Classes for the WHS Chorale, musical instruments for Franklin School, music conferences for faculty, art supplies for RIS, new drum sets for RIS, EIS and WHS, and beautifully embroidered choir robes for the high school. We are so fortunate to live in a community that reveres the arts and believes strongly in nourishing the diverse talents of our youth. Demonstrate YOUR commitment to the arts by making a donation today. With your donations we are able to assist the music, choral, fine art, and theatre programs at the elementary, intermediate and high school levels. We are an independent, not-for-profit organization, and we depend solely on the generosity of parents and supporters. In addition, the Coalition is interested in your ideas, suggestions, and comments and hope that you will take the time to email us at WestfieldCoalition@yahoo.com. PLEASE “LIKE” us on FACEBOOK and visit our website: http://www.WestfieldCoalitionForTheArts. We look forward to hearing from you! Thank you for your support.
~ Margaret Smith, W.C.A. President _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Yes, I/we would like to support the WCA. I/we will donate:
Benefactor $500 Sponsor $75
Angel $200 Sustaining Member $50
Patron $100 Donation $_______
In appreciation of your gift of $75.00 or more, your name will print in the Winter & Spring concert programs. Name: ____________________________________________________________________________ (If donating $75 or more, please print the name as you would like it to appear in the programs.) Email: _________________________________________________Phone: _________________________ Westfield Public School (where youngest child attends): _____________________________________ Yes, I am interested in volunteering with the Coalition. Check here :____
Please make checks payable to Westfield Coalition for the Arts and mail to:
WCA Treasurer, 562 Pierson St., Westfield NJ 07090