Dancing their way to appreciating art of Picasso

Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2008

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by JOANY NAZDIN Doing the Picasso Polka during art appreciation class are, in the front row, Charles Richardson, left, Jesse Lockhart, Montez Butler, middle row from left, Jacob Leaply, Kyle Edelen, Brandon Glover, Brandon Carpenter, Leasia Cole and teacher Karen Becker. Back row from left is Dillon Mandley, Austin Teets, Paige Tritolla and Nick Boyles. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

By JOANY NAZDIN

The art students in Gayle Kraus' class at Piccowaxen Middle school performed the Picasso Polka.

Every month, the art students have a different artist whom they feature in their art appreciation class.

In October, because it is Spain native Pablo Picasso's birthday month, and also National Hispanic Heritage Month, Kraus chose the famous artist as her featured artist of the month.

In Kraus' class, the teacher does more then just show the students different pictures that Picasso painted in his several periods as an artist.

Earlier this month the class had to focus on reading during the class. They got a good aerobic work-out while doing the Picasso Polka. And, there was a bonus geography lesson thrown in.

To help bring the reading aspect into the classroom, Kraus has worked with reading resource specialist Amy Miller since June, working many after-school hours to brainstorm a program that would not only be instructional, but fun.

"We wanted to bring reading into the classroom," Kraus said. "To prepare students for the MSA exams, we need them to have more exposure to language arts and math in all the classrooms."

To start the lesson, the children got a good workout doing the polka.

"One eye looks straight ahead, the other to the right," the children sang while bouncing happily around the classroom. "My elbow has three bends in it, my foot looks like a chair."

The kids were having so much fun; some kept dancing, even when the polka music stopped.

Next, the teacher had the students come up to the Smart Board and play with Mr. Picasso Head, which resembled the Mr. Potato Head game except with abstract looking eyes noses and lips to complete the face.

Kenneth Schroeck, principal of Piccowaxen, came into the classroom to observe the creations.

"I think it is awesome to see the excitement in their eyes," Schroeck said. "They are learning about an artist in a nontraditional way, and also using technology."

Classical music set the stage while the students went on to the next exercise in their study of Picasso.

Some students went on to play the part of art critic, analyzing, judging and interpreting Picasso's works.

Jessie Lockhart, 11, of Bel Alton likes Picasso's cubism period the best.

"I like the way he makes everything out of cubes," Jessie said. "I also liked the fact that Picasso lived in a lot of different places."

Montez Butler, 10, of Newburg, jumped into the conversation.

"Picasso went to school in Barcelona," Montez said. "Where is Barcelona?"

Leasia Cole, 11, of Newburg knew the answer.

"Barcelona is in Spain," Leasia said.

Leasia went on to say that she really liked Picasso's rose period.

"I like the rose period because I just like it," Leasia said.

Kraus admitted that she enjoyed the art appreciation classes, too.

"Some of the things I see the kids do in my class relate towards what they learn in their math and other classes," Kraus said. "Some kids relate better with visual cues. I try to integrate curriculum and content from other classes into my classroom."

Kraus pointed to one of the many Picasso quotations she had placed around her classroom to feature the artist.

"Every child is an artist, the problem is to remain an artist once they grow up," the quote read.

Miller was walking around the class, checking out the student's progress.

"As a reading teacher, I like things like this the best," Miller said. "The students are doing research, and they don't even know it."

jnazdin@somdnews.com