Creative juices are flowing in Meridian’s new Art classroom! Guided by our wonderful Art Specialist, Ms. Marika, students are engaged in a variety of projects, exploring different mediums and making connections between Art, Science, Spanish, Global Studies and more. See a list of current projects below, and learn why our 1st graders think the Art room is such a special and important place at Meridian.

Kindergarteners just finished designing matchbook houses, modeled off of their own homes. These projects will be used to create a large display, integrating Kindergarten’s Family Studies Unit, Global Studies, and Art.

First graders have been working on chameleons this week. Their project incorporates an important 1st Grade visual art standard, as they are using primary colors to create secondary colors. They first read the book A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni, and drew chameleons together. Next, students painted 3 sections of their chameleons with their 3 primary colors. The following class they used their own plate for mixing primary colors to create different shades of green, purple and orange. Simultaneously, 1st graders have been learning primary and secondary colors in Spanish class.

Second graders are working on oil pastel and watercolor hearts based on the artist Jim Dine, and third graders are constructing islands using plastercraft! This interdisciplinary project is being led by our Art Specialist & Science Program
Coordinator. Students are studying Oceania as a part of their Global Studies curriculum, and are learning
about the resources needed to sustain life on an island.

Fourth graders just completed a contour line hand
project, and fifth graders are finishing a Gustav Klimt inspired tree project. Next, they will create papier mâché pie and cake slices, based on the artist Claus Oldenburg and his oversized sculptures of everyday objects.

By Meridian 1st Graders

The art room is a really fun place! It’s different this year because we have Ms. Marika, and our Art classroom is right next door instead of in a different building. Last year Art felt different than other specialists because it was in the other building. Now it feels more like home.

When we get to the Art room we sit on the rug, and the first thing we do is read a book about the activity we are doing that day. This week we made chameleons and dinosaurs using all different colors! In Art we get to use pencils, pens, sharpies, water paints, oil pastels, and more. We are looking forward to making planets out of paper mache.

Our favorite thing about Ms. Marika is the things she helps us create. Art makes us feel happy, and when we walk into the art room we are excited! Art is important because you don’t know if you’re an artist if you don’t try, and it would be sad if you never learned that.

Our favorite part about art is painting because it is so fun…we’re not quite sure why! Actually, our favorite part is all of it, because the Art Room is a great place to learn!