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A GALLERY WALK & ARTISTIC JOURNEY...

PreK-3rd grade created amazing energy and artworks in our 2025 Lunar New Year Lantern Parade!

Special thanks to Mr. Raman and Ms. Claire for your festive drumming leading our revelers:)!

Many thanks to 4th-8th grade students for all of your cheers!

Thanks to our COMMUNITY for coming out to support us:)!

FINALLY, Thank you SO MUCH to our ALT Parent Support Team:))!

WOW! WOW! WOW!

Critter Club, GrrL Scouts and Wavemakers have been working nonstop on creating artworks to symbolize and call for peace and mindfulness in the world throughout February. We have worked with Students ReBuild throughout February to make paper cranes based on Sadako Sasaki's story of her struggle and resilience and also Pablo Picasso's peace doves---calling for peaceful ends to conflict around the globe.

We have also looked at how WE MAKE PEACE in our daily lives and for our friends and loved ones by practicing kindness, encouraging community and building relationships across grade levels.

And we are just getting started:)! We will be continuing our good work and will be reaching out to all classrooms K-8 to build artworks and community change that promote mindfulness, kindness and conflict resolution throughout the rest of the school year. We will earn $5 for global peace partners until June 2025. Global organizations that will benefit from Spark Peace donations include 100Cameras, Kids for Peace, Ceeds of Peace, CARE, Choose Love, Earth Tones, Green Horizon Ventures, 4H, Maui United Way, Architecture for Humanity, Global Nomads Group, Unicef USA, Wecloming America, Aegis: Preventing Crimes Against Humanity and Ripples of Hope. If you'd like to help out---let me know:).

We challenged ourselves to make 1,001 paper cranes (based on the Japanese folk legend that this number would grant our wish and make peace come true:)). Many thanks to all of the 5th and 6th grade teachers who let students work on cranes when they finished their assignments throughout the month! What a difference we made:)!

We met and exceeded our challenge---1,142 paper cranes:))! Along with our K-4 grade partners---we raised $12,320 for world-wide peace efforts this month! (*February was a Students ReBuild special incentive---$10 per artwork symbolizing peace.*)

Thanks so much Waters kids---<3!!! YOU ARE EXTRAORDINARY!

-bell hooks

Hello Everyone!

Happy Women's History Month! I'm taking this important moment to thank the women of all sorts who have supported me, mentored me, nurtured me and befriended me this month--- as we remember bell hooks' powerful statement---"Feminism is for everybody." Let's take a moment to thank all the mothers, of all sorts, who have mothered us across the world and throughout time---most of all I'd like to thank Mother Earth--- as we embark on new beginnings in Spring 2025. I am truly grateful.

We are looking forward to continuing our study of Pablo Picasso this month by delving deeper into his work as a peace advocate and innovator throughout his lifetime. We will be studying the Picasso: Peace & Freedom exhibit (Tate Liverpool, 2010), focusing on his Dove of Peace and his constant transformation of materials in order to look at the world through a variety of lenses. Each artwork will be submitted to Students ReBuild as a part of our Arcadia Peace Project and will earn $5 for current peace-making efforts around the globe.

Throughout February, we utilized a concept of visual note taking as a memory tool as we introduced Picasso's most famous art stages---his Blue Period, Rose Period, Africa-inspired Period and Cubism. We talked about his use of line, color and symbol to transform the way art was perceived in the Western canon. Our emphasis was that if you make something---you remember it and make it your own. Students created four-square note boxes using crayon resist and watercolor to identify each key moment in Picasso's artistic transformation.

Artists in 4th-8th grades created Mother Nature inspired haikus and notans (visual haikus that focus on the balance of life-giving forces) for the Harold Washington Library's March 2025 Haiku Festival. Students had the opportunity to enter the festival's contest to win prizes and share their artistry across Chicago and added their haikus and notans in their visual journals. This activity reinforced our expanded definition of self portrait in the Art Lab. We also completed "I come from...Poems" to act as a text self portrait addition to our visual journals. We will be moving onto Found Poetry, acrostic poetry and stencil work this month as we finish our self portraits.

Our Genius Hour projects in MS AS2 are up and running at great speed:). We have cardboard constructions, felt stuffies, wooden bird houses, mosaic sunrises and "combustion engine" cars in the works in addition to a variety of drawing and painting explorations. I look forward to seeing where all these projects will take our students this spring! Look for our installation of all of our Genius Hour projects at our upcoming Spring Art Show---May 2025!

Pablo Picasso never stopped...and neither do we:))!

With Kindness,

Mrs. Vecchioni

The #1 Personality Quiz for Kids Based on Jungian Psychology That Helps Kids Discover Their Inner Genius & Unique Strengths...

We are an ensemble of parents, students, teachers and staff that are excited about fine arts programming---exhibits, performances, showcases, arts festivals and literary salon events. We need your ideas and enthusiastic spirit to help us give Waters kids the BEST arts education we can...

THIS SPRING we are working on the Students ReBuild & Waters' Arcadia Peace Project as a May Maker Month experience for our community. We will be adding new garden features to our Secret Garden's Outdoor Maker Lab by making sensory garden plots, freestanding art installations, outdoor community looms and clayworks wind chimes. All artworks and classroom experiences will be rooted in mindfulness as a self-help practice and personal peace-making. If you can help out---please let us know!

If you can donate any of the following---please drop off in the Main Office or email me at alvecchioni@cps.edu.

• yarn
• ribbon
• shells
• pine cones
• driftwood
• twine
• fishing line
• Mexican beach pebbles
• S-hooks
• garden plants

Thanks in advance:))!

ALL ARE WELCOME! We build community together and have a lot of FUN:)!

Our NEXT PLANNING MEETING is March 19, 2025! (3:00-4:00PM)

Otsaliheliga:)!

🌀ALL STUDENT Wavemaker Art Clubs are on THURSDAYS in March:)! Please note meeting dates on our calendar below: If no school, no meeting. Thanks in advance! 🌀

2024-2025 Wavemaker ART-IN-ACTION Clubs include:

KIDS Arts Leadership Team (ALT) & CRITTER CLUB (5-8)

FIRST THURSDAY & THIRD THURSDAY EACH MONTH (3PM - 5PM)

SEMESTER 2 MEET DATES

• 🐰 3/20 🐰
• 🐰 4/3, 4/17 🐰
• 🐰 5/1, 5/15 🐰
• 🐰 6/5 🐰

Wavemakers Arts Advocacy & Grrl Scout Troupe #27333 (1-4)

SECOND & FOURTH THURSDAY EACH MONTH (3PM - 5PM)

SEMESTER 2 MEET DATES

• 🌎3/13 🌎
• 🌎 4/10, 4/24 🌎
• 🌎 5/8, 5/22 🌎

*LUNCH CREW LITERARY SALON LIBRARIANS (2 & 3 grades) will be each Wednesday this year! Let Mrs. Vecchioni know if you are interested in joining us:)!*

From CPSArts:

"As a Fine & Performing Arts School with Demonstration Site Status, your school will receive the following:

Badge Certification
Feel free to use this official badge on all school print and virtual documents.

Innovation Grant
Your school will receive a $10,000.00 innovation grant to support the expansion of your arts and arts integration curricula into contemporary and innovative spaces. We encourage you to consider emerging technologies in artistic disciplines and arts integration. We will release further guidance on how to spend these funds as we approach the start of the school year.

Increased Visibility
Your school will become a beacon of inspiration, hosting visits from teachers and administrators at other Fine & Performing Arts Schools who want to learn from your strengths.

Teacher Leadership Opportunities
Your teachers will join a pool of presenters for Fine & Performing Arts Schools professional development, and they will have opportunities to share their successes and experiences with their peers.

Lending Library Early Adopters
Your school will have the opportunity to be an early adopter of the Fine & Performing Arts Schools Lending Library, which will include advanced and specialized art-making equipment. We will issue guidance for how to access this library around the start of the school year."

*This great news and more was cited from The FULL REPORT below. Check it out:)!