Photography Club: Positive and Negative Space

Space and shape, two of the elements of design, work together to form a finished work of art. There are two kinds of space: positive and negative. Positive spaces are those occupied by the main subjects of the work. The Negative spaces are the areas around and behind the positive spaces. Negative space can also be referred to as the background.

It is no mystery that the shapes of positive spaces are determined by the shapes of the main subjects of the work. However, negative spaces have shapes as well. If one removes the subjects from a work, the negative spaces are left with a blank in the shapes of the parts removed. Therefore, the shapes of the negative spaces are determined by the shapes of the positive spaces.

1st Grade: Corn Mosaics

First graders in Mrs. Flowers' class made a corn mosaic.  Mosaic is art consisting of a design made of small pieces of colored stone or glass.  We used a variety of dried vegetables.

1st Grade: Puppet Show

Mrs. Flowers' first grade class read their reading story, Todd's Box, using puppets. Students focused on  changing their voice to be Todd or Mom.

3rd Grade: Camouflaged Animals (Mrs. Moses)

Mrs. Moses thrid grade class made pictures of animals in camouflage.  The class looked at art work. of Henri Rousseau.  The students drew pictures of animals, colored them, and glued them to a background.  They made stencils of various colors of leaves to partially cover their animal.

Photography Workshop

Mrs. Cathy Mumford, a teaching artist from the Renaissance Center, is conducting a photography workshop on Wednesday afternoons. Mrs. Cathy will explore photography as a form of communication, from basic theory to practical application. Please be sure students who plan to stay for photography workshop have a note each time.

Library: 4th and 5th Graders Rapping

Mrs. Smiley and Mrs. Wanda took pictures in the library of 4th and 5th grades rapping their original poems to the theme of "D is for Dickson."  Topics included such greats as F is for Fair, B is for Baseball, B is for Books, D is for Dickson Donuts, and of course, D is for DES!

2nd Grade: "Little Red Hen"

"Little Red Hen" is the name of the play second grade students just put on. Student made their on masks using paper plates.

Michael Shoulders

Michael Shoulders showing teacher how to rap!!

(Picture could not be turned)

Books, books, and more books was the topic under discussion at Dickson Elementary on September 8, 2009. Michael Shoulders, former teacher, elementary supervisor, and Title I supervisor for Montgomery County Schools, now author, conducted staff development for DES staff. In addition to reading some of his own books, V is for Volunteer and Say Daddy, Mr. Shoulders also shared other books from some of his favorite authors. He stressed the importance of reading to children from a very early age as well as the importance of reading aloud to students in the classroom.