Social Emotional Skill Building

Mini Art Show showcases the learning of what emotions look and feel like. My students learned what it means to work together in a pair, and how sometimes we mesh with our partner and how sometimes we clash. We learned how to harness the meshing and navigate the clashing. We practiced how to plan our project, organize our thoughts, and edit and revise our work. Ultimately, my students: created a piece of art that reflects both people and both chosen emotions in a partnership, titled their work, and proudly presented their masterpiece!  

Washington Drive Primary School… coming soon!

“Westgate Elementary”

Welcome to a colorful school full of incredible students from around the world. We celebrate language and culture and the importance of community. I feel so grateful to be here and to experience my first year of teaching with these students. — Danielle Cervoni

“End of the Beginning”

By Kora Bay and Randi

“I first thought about my happy place, Maine, and it made me think about whales. Maine usually has a lot of storms. I have seen a lot of thunderstorms there and it reminds me of the emotion “furious.” I chose Furious because sometimes emotions like that can help us be stronger. It makes you feel like you want to quit but you are not quitting you are just getting stronger! I let my emotions take control of me when I drew my artwork. I used light blue, dark blue, green, purple and yellow because it represents furious, the yellow is for lightening, the purple is for purple clouds, and blue is for the whales.

In this group, I learned that sometimes you have to trust your emotions to create great things.” — Kora Bay

“I started by choosing my emotion Surprised, because I really like being surprised, because all times I have been surprised it has been all good things — like Christmas morning or my birthday. At first, I was confused about what to do and then I thought about some colors. I chose the colors black, red, and yellow and that feels like Surprised to me. I put zig zags and swirls into my artwork because you feel so mixed when you are surprised, and that’s okay! I learned that when you are drawing, it doesn’t always have to be of something. Nothing can be something, sometimes.” —Randi

“The Island Of Mad Frogs”

By Thame and Hunter

“First, we started thinking about the emotions we wanted to use. I chose Mad because Thame chose Loved, and I wanted something that was the opposite. I designed my art by coloring with crayons and not coloring over Thame’s work. Our art looks like a head sticking out. I feel good about my artwork. I learned how to shake hands during this project. Now, I know how to agree.” — Hunter

“I started our project with the emotion Loved because I just love that feeling. Loved is not a “feel” it’s a “do.” That means it is not something that you feel, it is something that you are supposed to do! That’s how God made it. Loved looks like flowers and happiness and God. I chose the colors because they were the colors that seemed to make the most sense to Loved. I learned that abstract art isn’t just about how you feel, it’s also about the fun that you make along the way!” — Thame

“Multi Element City”

By MJ and Levi

“Proud is the strongest feeling I have ever felt. I am most proud of how I can do a one-foot glide on my ice skates. I was proud when my mother gave birth to my baby brother, because I had a chance to be a really great big sister. I chose to use the feeling Proud in my artwork because it reminded me of the really special times in my life. In this project, I learned that sometimes art can make you feel like you could do anything. I’ve learned that the art that you make is a good way of showing others how you feel. Sometimes, others may not know how you feel and art is way of showing that. In this class, I learned that art could make you understand what you want to do in your life. Working with my partner was awesome because now I know that when you work together, you can accomplish both people’s goals by helping each other. And when you accomplish goals, that makes people happy.” — MJ

“I started my project by thinking of my emotion. My emotion is Nervous, which makes me feel scared and I feel Nervous when I go somewhere that I don’t know, the first time doing things always make me Nervous. After I do it, I always feel good about myself. I like my artwork in a way, but it makes me kind of scared. My watercolor changes the artwork. I was not happy when MJ colored over my watercolor, I was really sad but then I realized it was just an accident. We fixed it when I painted more watercolor and put it over the work in strips. I learned that working together can make stuff faster. I kind of like working together.” — Levi

“Scammed and Angry”

By Tyler and JaQuan

“The first part of this project was the planning. We knew we had to choose an emotion and I chose Scared because it’s similar to Angry. I feel the most scared when I trip because I feel scared that I am going to fall down. I don’t like feeling pain so I get Scared. For the art, I used white-out because I wanted to create some space on our artwork. Sometimes when you are Scared, you need some space. In this project, I learned how people make abstract art and I really liked learning about the cycle, when people make abstract art and how they get inspired to make more. When my friends look at my artwork, I hope they see what it feels like to feel Scared and Angry.” — Tyler

“We started our project with our contract. Then, we chose our feelings and the colors. The feeling is chose is Angry because sometimes I am angry at people. I get Angry when people hurt my feelings. I can express my feelings when I tell people how they made me feel. My favorite part of this project is when I used watercolor, because I really like to paint. I used the color red because it really shows Anger. I learned that it’s really important to take your time when you create art.” — JaQuan

“The Three Amigos”

By Connor, Ishan, and Kameron

“First, I thought about what I like, I like the color pink, I like sword fighting. So, then I chose my feeling and I chose Excited. I chose this feeling because I like feeling Excited. It feels like I am really happy, and when someone does something for me, it makes me feel Excited because people are really nice. My favorite part of the project is when we started creating the artwork. I loved being able to see the artwork at the end, I think it looks really beautiful. I drew a happy face to show people how happy I am!” — Connor

“I chose the emotion Jealous because sometimes I feel Jealous of other people who have special Lego sets that I do not have. I want the 9 years+ Lego sets that I can’t do yet. I really want some bigger sets, I am ready for them! I chose blue colored pencil to represent Avatar: Way of the Water in my work, because I really want the Avatar Lego set. During this project, I learned that colors can show feeling. I learned about abstract art, that it’s weird but in a good way. I liked hanging the artwork so I can show my friends and they can tell me what they think!” — Ishan

“First, I started this project by me, Ishan and Connor, making our contract official by writing our initials, and shaking hands with each other. That’s important because when you don’t have a contract, you don’t know who is going work on the project. I chose the colors in my palette because my group wanted to use all different colors. I used watercolor because it helped me show what Happy feels like. Happiness is when I do something good, my mom’s cooking like macaroni and cheese, and The Mario Movie. I chose blue because blue makes me happy. In this project, I learned that making friends is Happiness.” — Kameron

“The Messed Up Double”

By Connor and Mila

“I chose the emotion Nervous because I am nervous when I get a question wrong, when I make mistakes I feel judged! It is shown in my artwork as messed up and spread out with different colors around it. It seems like the other colors are people, and when I am nervous I feel really spread out and don’t always know what to do. In this class, I learned that not everything is the wrong answer. I learned that art is never a mistake, you can always make something out of it. I never knew this before. I liked talking about art and different experiences and how other artists make different things out of their feelings. I am going to continue to make messed up art, art that spreads around and goes all over the place. Make sure you always make your art how you want to make it, don’t let anyone judge you!” — Mila

“I first thought of feelings that I like to feel, and I like to feel proud of myself and that is why I chose Proud. I am proud when I get a Pack Praise or get 10 hole punches. I am also proud of myself when I am kind to others, because I always want other people to be kind to me. I chose blue, yellow, brown because, to me, they are proud colors. I felt happy when I worked with Mila because the artwork is super cool and creative. In this class, I learned that when you talk a lot, you should let other people take a turn, and you can even ask people, “would you like a turn to talk?” It is nice hearing other people’s ideas. In this class I made friends that I really like.” — Connor

Thank you so much for viewing our masterpieces. We learned a lot of valuable lessons that we will take with us through school and beyond!