Little Drummer Boy by Pentatonix

I think this song was executed immaculately by Pentatonix.  I really like how each singer has their own individual line to sing at the beginning of the song.  Also, the voices of each singer are flawlessly performed.  The beat boxing in this little drummer boy song makes it stand out from all the other versions of this song I have heard or seen performed.  I really like how all the singers voices blend harmoniously with one another.  The filming in this video was beautifully done and well edited.  I would show this video to my class to inspire them to sing Christmas songs since this video was professionally done and it sounds truly amazing. 

The True Meaning of Christmas

This video reveals what I believe to be the true meaning of Christmas.  I really like how this church choir catches people off-guard and sings familiar Christmas Carols, so that other people in the mall can join them.  I find it really interesting to see the people's reaction to such an incredible scene.  It is amazing how music brings the masses together.  I really like how the four men ascend the escalator singing "oh come, all ye faithful." I also like how the man sings "Go Tell it on the Mountain" on the top floor of the mall almost as if he is on top of a mountain. All the female singers in this video have such beautiful voices, hence it would be hard to walk away from such a delightful scene.  Most of the people in the mall seemed appreciative of all the singing, and some of them even joined-in at specific times. I really like the powerful ending of the medley that shows Marry and Joseph holding baby Jesus with the rest of the people bowing before their new King. 

Art Gallery Visit

 From the Art Gallery Visit I learned about analyzing different pieces of art.  For instance, notice the above two images contain food labels and packaging.  I think the artist placed food labels on the fruits and vegetables to send a message.  This message could be that food is shipped globally, which adds carbon emissions into the atmosphere.  Also, if you look at the image on the right, one of the fruits has plastic around it with food labels.  The artist could be trying to indicate that food has lots of packaging, and that we should be trying to reduce amount of packing on our food.  I also noticed that smaller food is orientated at the front of the images, and larger food is located at the back, which is a strategic way to show all the fruits and vegetables.  Also, in both images it appears that the artist used shading on the right of all the fruits, vegetables, and baskets.

 At the art exhibit, our class got a chance to see a beautiful sculpture of a man lying down.  At the side of his body, there were lots of famous quotes from various influences in the artist's life.  Some of these quotes were biblical, and lots of these quotes were non-biblical.  Some quotes were from famous people like Shakespeare.  This sculpture also had light shining out from the side of his body.  This made me think that perhaps it represents the after life or the resurrection of Jesus.  According to scripture, Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven (Mark 16:9 - 19), and He is also known to be the light of the world (John 8:12).  However, I am not sure whether my interpretation of the sculpture is correct since only the artist knows the true interpretation of the sculpture.

This sculpture showed a man in a pondering pose.  Again the artist placed some quotes that were important to the artist's life. When I saw the other side of this sculpture it looked like the person was deep in thought.  Therefore, maybe the artist had to make some big decisions in his life, which required much thought.  I think that the artist experienced lots of darkness and sorrow in his life as well as lots of peace and happiness since I saw a mixture of his sentiments written all over his body. 

Fall Harvest Basket Still Life Drawings

In my practicum, I taught the students how to draw a fall harvest basket.  With this task the students had to include line, colour and shading to show form. The students had to also incorporate a carrot and a pumpkin into their fall harvest basket drawings since they had learned how to draw these vegetables in previous art lessons.  The students had to include one other fall fruit or vegetable into their drawings, which gave them freedom of choice.  As a result, I was very flattered by the excellent fall harvest basket sill life drawings that the students produced. 

I was very impressed with Dayton's fall harvest basket.  He incorporated a cross-stitch pattern on his fall harvest basket, which made his basket captivating.  I also find the yellow background in his artwork pleasing since it often symbolizes creativity, happiness, and clarity.  Dayton's contour lines on the corn, and the pumpkin adds some detail to his drawing.  His drawing also includes lots of different types of vegetables, which separates his drawing from the other drawings I observed. 

 I was amazed by Morgan's fall harvest basket drawing.  She included some subtle contour lines on both her carrot and pumpkin, which makes her vegetables appealing.  I also like the grid design that she used on her basket.  I appreciate that the fall harvest basket, the carrot, the pumpkin, and the apple are all nicely coloured-in.  Furthermore, the sun at the top-left corner adds a pleasant and happy feeling when one observes Morgan's artwork. 

I find Mya's fall harvest basket drawing delightful.  The pattern at the bottom of her fall harvest basket draws my attention because there is a variance between smooth "swiggly" lines and pointed "swiggly" lines.  It appears that Mya blended brown and white colours on her basket, which adds a cool effect.  Mya also included some nice brown contour lines on the pumpkin and the carrot.  The rainbow in the background is a neat feature that adds extra flare to her Fall Harvest Basket drawing. 

Drama: How Animals Eat Their Food

I really like how these two men start eating dinner in a non-nonchalant manner.  Then, the one man humorously portrays his interpretation of how animals eat their food.  Notice how these two men both have "pink-sippy" cups, which makes this video even more hilarious.  My favourite animal interpretations of how animals eat food are the kangaroo, and the flamingo.  I really enjoyed the element of surprise when he kicked the table after the man put the food into his kangaroo pouch.  I also loved his flamingo costume because it added a sense of creativity to this video. 

Carrot Still Life Drawings

During my practicum experience, I taught the students how to draw carrots.  The focus of the lesson was to create a drawing of a carrot by using colour and line to show form.  The students were encouraged to draw a carrot by observing an actual carrot and they were also encouraged to add shading.  I was very pleased with the results of my lesson.

 I really like how Jake added black contour lines that were "swiggly" because I find it adds creativity to his artwork.  His dark contour lines really make his carrot drawing stand out from the rest of the carrot drawings that I observed.  I also like the interesting dark green pattern that he incorporated into his carrot top. 

I love the choice of colour that Kassidy implemented into her carrot drawing.  Notice how she darkened the exterior of her carrot to emphasize the edges of the carrot.  I also like how she blended the orange and yellow colour on the interior of her carrot; it creates a cool effect.  She also used a smudging technique on her carrot to blend the orange and yellow colours together.  Kassidy also smudged the green colour on her carrot top, and then added dark green lines over-top.  The rainbow in the background of her drawing is a fascinating feature that adds a unique sense of style to her artwork, which was another feature that makes her drawing stand out from the rest of the carrot drawings. 

 Ocean created a phenomenal carrot drawing.  In her drawing I like the yellow lines she included on her carrot.  I like that her carrot top has and interest pattern that involves both a dark and a light green colour.  The leaves are light green, whereas the stem is dark green.  Lastly, I admire the silhouette shading feature she incorporated into her carrot drawing.  This feature is very innovative and creative, which makes her drawing unique. 

Who needs a drum set when you got buckets?

 This video motivates me to pick up an instrument because the drummer is tremendously talented, and he inspires me.  I feel that this video could be shown to a class, particularly the ending of the drum solo since the drummer plays a really fast beat, and does some fancy drumstick trick maneuvers.  This video not only shoes the drummer's skill; it also displays that one could make music out of relatively cheap materials, such as buckets.  I learned from last year's Spring Fling Conference that Genius Hour is an upcoming trend in teaching.  I think an innovative and creative class assignment could be for students to create their own percussion instrument using relatively inexpensive materials during genius hour.  This type of assignment would encompass innovation, creation, brainstorming, and designing.  I think the students would have a lot fun creating their own percussion instruments because it is a fun assignment that focuses on art, music, and freedom of choice. 

Fruits and Veggies Song

Since I was teaching a lot of content about fall fruits and vegetables, I wrote a short song about fruits and vegetables with my guitar.  This song is a complete original, which means that I wrote the song lyrics and created the melody using my voice, and the guitar.  Here are the lyrics, so that you can follow along.  Note. This video might take a while to load, but it is worth the wait.  Click on the link. 
Fruit and Veggies Song Link

Fruits and Veggies Song

Verse 1
I put tomatoes in my sandwich,
I put tomatoes in my stew.
What would I do without veggies?
What would I do without fruit?
Say what?

Verse 2
Onions, peppers, and anchovies should be placed on our HD screens
because we need to learn about nutrition.  Says the dietitian!
Bell peppers, oranges, and kiwis all contain some vitamin C
that prevents us from contracting a sailor's disease
called scurvy, but don't worry.

Chorus
Because we get nutrients and minerals in our food.
Fruit and veggies keep the doctor away, don't be afraid, I say.
Ba dada da da, dada, dada.
Ba dada da da, dada, dada. 

Pumpkin Still Life Pastel Drawings

In my three practicum, I facilitated a Grade 4 art lesson where students were asked to draw a pumpkin using oil pastels.  At the beginning of the lesson I turned-off all the lights in the classroom, and shined a flashlight at an actual real life pumpkin to show shading.  Shortly after, I showed some pumpkin drawings from the Internet on the Smart board, so that students can see key features that I wanted them to incorporate into their artwork.  One of the main features that the students pointed out was contour lines on the pumpkins, which showed form. 


The learning intention of the lesson was "I will create a pumpkin drawing using short and long lines."   I also reminded students to integrate shading into their pumpkin drawings.  Overall, the students produced some amazing artwork, and I was very pleased with the results. 

Evolution of Music - Pentatonix

I really like how the group called Pentatonix covers the Evolution of Music spanning from the 11th Century all the way to the beginning of the 2010 decade.  The flawless voices of all the singers and beat boxers make this mash up of music incredibly unique.  This music video demonstrates that these talented musicians can sing a variety of music genres from classical music to modern day pop culture music.  If I were to teach music, I would use this video as an inspiration to explore music genres that are often under-represented, such as classical music, and jazz music.  This video also shows students that it is possible to blend multiple songs together to make it their own style.  I love how each of the singers in this video range from low voices to high voices, which adds variety to the tone of the music.  Lastly, notice how this video transitions from a black and white screen to a colour screen to indicate the time period that colour television entered the world market. 

Our 3D Communities

 On Tuesday September 30, 2014 our class was asked to create a demo lesson plan.  Prior to fulfilling our lesson plan, we discussed in our group (Team Winter) that earlier in the year we would have done previous lessons on various items.  These items include:

An art lesson explaining what art is, and how it could include different mediums, such as colour, line. shape, and texture. We would also do another lesson on how to build a 3D sculptures. To incorporate other subject areas we would conduct a social studies lesson about "What does community mean?" and "What does a community look like?"

For our actual demo lesson we decided to tackle a Grade 3 PLO, which was "A4 - experiment with materials, technologies, and processes to create particular effects."  

Our learning intention was I can build a 3D community using various materials to create particular effects.  The following pictures show the outcome of our (Team Winter's) demo lesson.   

 Team Summer came up with a brilliant design incorporating a wall made out of birch bark, supposedly from the television and book series The Game of Thrones.  This 3D Community Model also encompasses a clash between ancient civilization, the modern era, and the futuristic era.   

 Team Fall featuring Steffanie and Adrian present a remarkable 3D Community that entails a river, and an exuberant rainbow feature.  This work of art also contains a fall-looking tree to suite the team name, and also an exciting path leading to the rainbow.   

 Last but not least, Team Spring presents a 3D Community Model of Prince George.  In this model you can see where the Nechako River meets the Fraser River.  A stunning Mr. PG Man overlooks the community and towers over the two rivers for extra protection.  On the left side there is also an aesthetically pleasing gardenesque landscape to top off this wonderful creation.  

Another look at Team Spring proud of their collaborative efforts.  This picture also gives you an idea on how big these 3D representations were in comparison to my fellow classmates in this picture. 

Art Battle 169

On Friday, September 19, 2014 I attended the Art Battle 169, which took place at the Groop Gallery on 3rd Avenue Prince George.  I was truly amazed on how fast these artist worked to produce such lovely pieces of art.  In this Art Battle, artist only had 20 minutes to complete these wonderful masterpieces.  I support the arts because art fascinates me, and it inspires me to become more innovative, creative, and unique. 










These were the top three paintings of the evening based on audience votes.



This painting was done by a local artist named Amy Stoltz.  I found her painting of The Chief very detailed with vibrant colours, which brought a unique quality to her painting.  Stoltz's selection of colours seems suiting because many first nation dancers wear such colours during tribal ceremonies.  The design of the First Nation person's core appears to be in the shape of an eagle feather, which adds symbolic significance and creativity. 

This painting was created by a local artist named Cliff Mann.  I really like how Mann adds such fine detail to his City Street Scene, such as the reflections at the bottom of the painting, all the individual windows on the buildings, the birds in the sky.  I was completely astonished by the fact that he completed this painting with a couple minutes to spare in the Arts Battle competition.  

Cliff Mann was the ultimate champion of the evening with this wonderful water colour painting called The Mountain Rush.  This event showed Mann's remarkable talent and also proved that Mann is a watercolour specialist with this event winning painting.  I admire how Mann incorporates a couple different colours with the trees, such as violet, green, blue, and yellow.  Like the previous painting, Mann also added a reflection of the trees at the bottom of the painting to add extra flare to his work.