Fifth Graders in The Dickson Herald!

Centennial Fifth Graders were invited to participate in an art contest put on by The Dickson Herald. Their work is currently on display at the Herald office at 104 Church St. and has appeared in the paper twice!!! You can vote for your favorite Centennial artist for $1 per vote, and all proceeds will benefit the American Cancer Society. Participating Fifth Graders include: Hannah Flatt, Danny Castellanos, Diamonique Russ, Abigail Murks, Paige Johnson, Kaitlyn Brown, and Mrs. Ward's entire homeroom class.

Mrs. KK goes to Washington...and Baltimore.

The National Arts Educators Association held its national convention in Baltimore this April. This was a fabulous opportunity for art teachers from around the world to gather and share ideas about lessons, materials, and education research. I was especially interested in workshops that involved reaching diverse learners, and I came back with SO many great new ideas! I can't wait for next year :)

An example of one of the fabulous presentations I attended - a teacher who visited Cambodia to learn about Cambodian culture and art. She then took her experiences back to the students in her classroom.


Mrs. KK with Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan (or at least a cardboard cutout of him).

1st Grade - Primary Portraits!

First Graders mixed their previous knowledge of the primary colors (red, yellow, and blue - just in case you have forgotten!) with their newly acquired skill of drawing portraits. The students thought it was hilarious to color faces blue, hair red, eyes yellow, etc. The results were fabulous!

Secret blog reader hint: First Grade moms should be on the look out for a very special portrait project in the month of May!!!!

Kindergarten - Self Portraits

Our Kindergarten artists have been working very hard to learn how to draw faces. They have learned that pictures with faces in them are called "portraits" and portraits you draw of yourself are called "self-portraits". First, the students practiced drawing the facial features in the correct place on the faces. Then, the kids used their newly acquired skills to create oil pastel self portraits. Finally, each student created a name card in block letters to hang below their self-portrait. The children's interpretations of themselves were both introspective and exciting!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Kindergarten artists channeled the luck o' the Irish to create rainbow and shamrock scenes. The students were very careful to paint their rainbows in the order of the color spectrum: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. The paintings were topped off with a wash of glitter paint.

3 Little Pigs - Nashville Opera

In preparation for a performance of The Three Little Pigs by the Nashville Opera, Centennial students created a variety of pig inspired artwork. Below, see pig paintings and sculptures by Kindergarten, 1st Grae, 3rd Grade, and 4th Grade.

3 Little Pigs - 4th Grade

All 4th Grade artists created pigs from hand dyed modeling clay. Using markers, the students tinted their clay pink. Then, they created a 10 step sculpture of a pigs. Finally, the pigs were detailed with beaded eyes.