From the Creator of Choose Art

This newsletter should find you closing in on the last lessons of your Choose Art course for the year. Those of you who added Where Eagles Soar to your program this season will have already had the "Sistine Chapel ceiling" experience, modelled the clay faces and recreated the scene from The Last Supper. The class in our local school had The Last Supper photographs reproduced so that each student could have one to keep.

As you may know, we now have four courses available. They are Flowers and Bulrushes, Peaceful Pastels, and Butterfly Wings for 7- to 9-year olds, and Where Eagles Soar for 10- to 12- year olds. A fifth course (for 10- to 12- year olds) is currently being developed.

In addition to offering these programs in their current format, which includes a teacher's manual and a student booklet for every student, we are also preparing the student booklets as blackline masters. That means that a school may purchase a set of student booklet masters along with the rights to reproduce the student booklet pages for the students. Therefore, instead of buying a student booklet for every child, the school may choose to make a onetime purchase of blackline masters so that the pages can be reproduced again and again. We hope this option will make the programs more affordable for everyone.

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Students Recreate "The Last Supper"

Students at Christian Centre Academy in Saskatoon are seen posing in their own reproduction of The Last Supper, taken from a unit in Where Eagles Soar. In the unit, the students study the original painting done by Leonardo da Vinci - its location, the medium used, the problems that have led to its gradual deterioration, the compositional elements, as well as the seating arrangement of the disciples in the painting.

To recreate the painting, the students paint the background as though the table and the figures are not a part of the composition and then add a real table and bread, as well as cups and dishes - some modelled in class from clay. Then, with each one playing the part of one of the disciples or of Jesus, the students stand in front of the background, adopting a pose taken from Leonardo's painting.

Student reproduction of The Last Supper

The photographs were reproduced and each students was given one to take home. You might want to enlarge a copy to frame for your show case at school.

"This project was definitely one of the highlights of our year. The students had been looking forward to it weeks ahead of time! They loved dressing up and playing the roles of Jesus and his disciples. The end result far exceeded my expectations!"

Avril Ehnisz, Art Teacher, Christian Centre Academy

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Question & Answer

Question? - If we purchased blackline masters for our school next fall, how would we use them with the students?

Answer! - Purchasing a set of blackline masters for Choose Art simply means that you can reproduce the student booklets yourself. Therefore, instead of buying every child in your class his or her own student booklet, you will have the rights to reproduce the student booklet yourself, right at the school. Of course you will not have the binders that come with the purchase of individual student booklets. For those using blackline masters, economical Choose Art folders will be available for purchase. Having the blackline masters allows you to photocopy every page for every lesson, as well as giving you the freedom to choose not to photocopy certain pages, if you wish. For example, sometimes there will be a story in the student booklet that is to be read aloud and then used in the lesson as a picture-starter. Although students who have had their own student booklet and binder have enjoyed rereading these stories from time to time, they can complete the lesson without actually having the story in front of them. Therefore, if you are looking for ways of economizing, you might choose to read the story to the children without reproducing the pages of the story for the children. Although the programs will continue to be available in individual student booklet and binder format, all of the programs will also become available in the blackline master format over a period of time. Contact your distributor for information on what is available. For now, at least one program in each of Series I and II will be offered for this coming fall

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