April 19 is the Day of Silence, a day of action created by the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN) to spread awareness about the silencing effect of bullying and harassment. Emily, our Office Manager and GLSEN Middle TN board member, led a conversation with Upper Elementary about the effects of bullying and teasing others, and how to help others who may be bullied or teased. Here, they show how they will help “break the silence.” More photos to come! For more information about Day of Silence, visit http://www.dayofsilence.org/resources/    

The Belmont Repertory Theater visited Abintra and performed three wonderful takes on old folk tales. ECA has been studying the work of Ellsworth Kelly , an American minimalistic artist whose sensitivity to color influenced his use of colors, lines, and shapes.   ECB continues their work with stamping by using fruit such as apples and oranges.     ECC is learning about the Africa and how masks are an important part of their culture.    Children created their masks by pin punching holes for the eyes, nose, and mouth and then used crayons to decorate. A Popsicle stick is added to the bottom of the mask as a handle. LE continued weaving for their spring project.   They also wrote a Haiku to go with their artwork.  Nashville-based artist, Jairo Prado ,   visited UE to speak about his artistic processes and concepts, as well as his experience working with the Frist Center’s community outreach team and a community group from Conexión Amér

ECA explores colors, specifically, mixing primary colors to make secondary colors, using an eye dropper and food coloring. ECB continues to explore the many ways of printmaking by using the end of a celery stalk to make prints.    ECC students asked for blank paper after studying Van Gogh’s "Sunflowers" and "Starry Night". They were given blank paper and watercolor to create whatever they would like with this work. Artwork by Madeline LE is kicking off the Spring season by creating a multimedia piece involving weaving, haiku, painting, and collage about what Spring is to them.  This project will take 3 weeks so be sure to check back to see the final piece.   ME created collage butterflies as part of their unit on symmetry...in this case, bilateral.  They've combined some of their woven Ojos de Dios, God’s Eyes, with the butterflies just for fun!   Middle School studied the nature sculptures of Andy G

In Lower Elementary, students value the weekly Community Meeting as a predictable and safe way to practice respectful communication with their peers.  The process of voicing a concern begins when a student articulates a problem by documenting the issue in a composition notebook we refer to as “the agenda.”  The students know that items added to “the agenda” will be read at the next Community Meeting.  Part of the rationale behind having the students write down their concerns for community discussion at a later time is that it allows for a “cooling off” period and time for the students to resolve their issues on their own. We begin our Community Meetings with compliments and acknowledgements, with each student having the opportunity to contribute.  After that, items on the agenda are read aloud and discussed.  The person who originally voiced a concern in “the agenda” chooses how to approach the problem.  The student may ask the class to share their feelings, to discuss the problem

A touching display of teamwork in the Montessori classroom. In this video, one early childhood student helps another student learn how to tie laces into bows.

LE studied the work of Austrian artist, Gustav Klimt .  They created paintings inspired by his work, The Tree of Life . "Tree of Life" by Ryder ME’s final project with bilateral symmetry uses color opposites to create optical effects.   To wrap up their study of European Renaissance art, UE took on the challenge of doing a realistic drawing of a live model focusing on capturing the right perspective, proportions, and dimensions.   AC kicked off the spring season with these bright and colorful multimedia paintings.

EC, along with the upper school classes,  have spent a significant amount of time doodling this year.  You will see this in the up and coming yearbook!  Doodles are often overlooked, but should be seen as integral to the process of an artist.   “For children, doodling is their way of expressing their ideas and showing their perceptions in visual form. It comes from a need to give physical form to one’s thoughts. “  To understand more about the importance of doodling, please read this wonderful article in Smashing Magazine.  http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/08/03/i-draw-pictures-all-day/ LE studied the work of the Spanish Catalan artist, Joan Miro .  While listening to Spanish music with layers of moods, the students freely drew lines that formed shapes to illustrate what they were feeling. They then painted in the shapes in the style of Miro. To continue their study of bilateral symmetry, ME created theses letternets.  Letternets are  mirror images of their