Ms. Gerrard's  Classroom

Today we had our global warming paper circuit painting critique.  We would turn off all the classroom lights and see the painting light up when the button was pressed and the LEDs were activated, and then we would turn the lights on and see it in daylight, and there were lots of ooohs and ahhhs.  I was really impressed with my art students' willingness to problem solve and engineer different circuits and designs in order to pull of their artworks.  Some students had to try upwards of 3 different wires and redo their circuits, but the overall feeling was that it was worth it in the end.  Here are some of their paintings by daylight in contrast with their paintings glowing in the dark.  I've also included a few shots of the various circuits that back their paintings.

Today our Art 20 class had a guest speaker - Mr. Brandt.  We are learning about global warming because it relates to our next artwork, and I want students to have some background knowledge about the topic before they start creating art about it.  Mr. Brandt explained that while our planet has always gone through various phases of warming and cooling, it has never done so at such a fast rate.  Historically, the earth has all kinds of ways that it seeks to balance change in its biosphere; but in today's fast-paced modern world, it can't keep up to the changes at play.  One of the effects of global warming is the melting of the polar ice caps.  They are deteriorating at a much faster rate than they ever have before.  Mr. Brandt shared how he was one of five teachers selected to go to the arctic this summer and saw the polar ice caps up close - you can read more about that program here.  Thanks to the smart board in my room, we zoomed in on some of the places he was talking about via Google Earth and then turned on the document camera so that he could walk students through photographs he had taken on his trip.  Finally, Mr. Brandt took students' questions - they were fascinated by all things arctic.  It was an engaging, informative, lesson and I loved how both of our subjects are interconnected through this topic.