Craft corner

I think it's now safe to show you.....

The children have been busy block printing cards in a sunny corner of our room.  I love what the
children are able to create with a simple piece of styrofoam and some ink.

Color Your World

This post comes to you from guest authors L.O., 2nd grade and S.A., 3rd grade

Yesterday we finished a painting in the style of Piet Mondrian for our finished work pocket.  You need a folder, black, white, and primary colors paint, and some masking tape.


The first step is that you need to paint the envelope black.

After the envelope dries, you need to put the masking tape on it to make designs.

You now need to paint the squares primary colors and white.

Then take off the tape and there will be straight black lines.

"This was fun because I never thought of artwork like this and it was fun to try something new."  S.A., 3rd grade

"It felt like a new adventure because I was learning something new."  L.O., 2nd grade

Día de Muertos

Around the start of October, a new activity appears on our art shelf: a cardboard skull template to trace, black construction paper, oil pastels, a pair of scissors, and a few laminated examples of calaveras created for Día de Muertos.  

Here's a sample of what the children created:

There's a Book for That!

Calavera Abecedario by Jeanette Winter

Day of the Dead by Tony Johnston

The Spirit of Tio Fernando by Janice Levy

Gift for Abuelita by Nancy Luenn

A few places/events in Houston where you can learn more about this beautiful holiday: 

Casa Ramirez (241 W. 19th St., Houston, TX 77008)

MECA (Multicultural Education and Counseling through the Arts)

Lawndale Art Center

What Do Scientists Do?

GM, 2nd grade

For the first entries in their science notebooks, each child drew a scientist and brainstormed, "What do scientists do?"

SA, 3rd grade

CN, 2nd grade

CH, 1st grade

The children came up with: 

• ask questions and wonder
• write in a science notebook
• use tools such as a microscope or hand lens to look closely
• research (study) a subject
• use tools to measure
• travel to other places to get information
• do experiments
• perform tests
• share what they’ve learned with other scientists in a presentation or meeting
• take risks 
• wear protection
• plan what they’re going to do before they do it
• use technology
• think about safety
• write reports and articles to share new information
• gather quantitative and qualitative data
• use charts and graphs
• make predictions
• work well alone and in a group

EG, 3rd grade

While some drawings depicted a stereotypical "mad scientist" in a white lab coat, mixing "potions," it was wonderful to see illustrations of a great variety of scientists, both male and female.  Even more gratifying, just about every girl drew a female scientist!  All of the children envision science as a possibility for them, regardless of gender.  Hooray!

BD, 3rd grade

LM, 2nd grade

NC, 2nd grade

There's a Book for That!
Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beaty

Happy Mother's Day!

Little elves have been busy in Room 15, creating beautiful magnet gifts for the important women in their lives.












This is a great re-use project to do on the heels of Earth Day, but I didn't plan far enough in advance to collect enough Altoids tins without asking parents.  So I had to send out a last-minute e-mail plea (well, 2 weeks ahead).  A very generous friend worried that the children would not bring in enough tins and someone (or more than one someone) would be without.  So he purchased a case of Altoids at Costco. With those, along with what the children did bring in and the ones I found squirreled away in my "children's crafts" box, we had plenty!

I spent a Friday night visiting two Walmarts, a Jo-Ann, and a Michael's to gather the necessary supplies:
* Clear gel glue
* Glass marbles (One big bag from Walmart for ~$4.70 was more than enough for our class of 24!)
* Lovely printed craft papers (On sale at Jo-Ann)
* Magnets (This year, I sprang for the peel-and-stick dot magnets from Walmart)--4 for each student

To reduce waste, I cut the papers into 4x3" rectangles (to line and cover the tins) and inch-wide strips (to be cut into circles for the magnets).
The children selected their papers,

and began to cut and craft.

They were angelically peaceful, absorbed in their work!

The results are just gorgeous!  Every child is so very proud of the gift s/he created.

Celebrating Earth Day with Artist Boat

In honor of Earth Day, Artist Boat offered a sampling of their programs today for free to teachers.  I couldn't pass up an opportunity to spend a beautiful morning kayaking and creating art along the Coastal Heritage Preserve in Galveston.  We were rewarded with sightings of Roseate Spoonbills, Brown Pelicans (a conservation success story), a Great Blue Heron, a Great Egret (catching a fish!), and a Cormorant.

Artist Boat is a fantastic non-profit that educates the public about our coastal ecology by combining kayak exploration with watercolor artwork.  It's a brilliant combination!  Strapped to each tandem kayak is a plastic box containing two sets of non-toxic watercolors and two boards taped off with watercolor paper.  Sometime during the trip, we stop our kayaks for a brief art lesson and then pull out the art supplies to create a watercolor right in the kayak.  Making art pushes us to slow down and look at nature more closely, to pay attention in a different way.

Through grants, Artist Boat has also acquired land along the coast, which they are working to restore by planting native coastal grasses and removing fire ants, red ants, and other invasive species.  In addition to their kayak adventures, Artist Boat also does some land-based hikes, habitat restoration, and field labs that include water quality testing and seining to identify the wildlife in the shallow coastal waters.

I've had several opportunities to participate in trips with this amazing organization over the years: A "Headwaters to Baywaters" professional development series on our watershed, a professional development and team-building day organized by my school, and a birthday celebration I organized with my family.

Just two weeks ago, I participated in another Educator Kayak Adventure offered free to teachers in collaboration with FotoFest.  For this adventure, we kayaked across Lake Charlotte (in Cedar Hill Park) and through the Cypress Swamp of the lower Trinity River region.

Consider taking a public Artist Boat kayak adventure with your family!  It's a great way to get outside and learn about our local coastal habitats!
Then, visit the new Hall of Texas Coastal Ecology at the Houston Museum of Natural Science to learn more!

Twisted

Do you ever have one of those moments when you somehow manage to channel someone wiser than yourself and creatively solve a problem--with amazing results?  In my case, I think it was some magical combination of Maria Montessori and Donna Bryant Goertz, author of Children Who are Not Yet Peaceful. 

Discarded weapon-like bent paperclips were appearing in little nooks and crannies around the room . . . and our paperclip basket had a parasite.  Finally, I wised up and took my concern to our class meeting.  "I keep finding paperclips like this.  Paperclips are specially designed to fasten papers together.  When they are bent, they become dangerous and no longer serve their purpose.  Why is this happening to them?"  One brave, honest voice quietly volunteered, "It's fun to bend them." And my mind said, "Well, duh.  It kinda is."

Sooo . . . (and this is when the wisdom channeling happened) I proposed that if we agreed to save paperclips for their intended purpose, I would put a tray of wire with pliers and wire-cutting tools on the art shelf for sculpture. 

I think this is what Dr. Montessori meant when she advised us to "follow the child."  Pay attention to what the child's choices/behaviors are telling you about their needs.  In this case, I had to quite literally hear it.  "It's fun to bend them."  When you recognize a child's need, provide appropriate, constructive ways for the child to meet those needs.

Tada!  The paperclip parasite was instantly eliminated,

creative cat

and fantastic sculpture took its place!

More amazingly, this fostered such an affinity for sculpture that not long after, a student brought in a gift for the class--a container of brightly colored flat, rigid plastic organic shapes that can be fastened together to create sculpture. 












The end-of-year timing could not have been more perfect.  Having something new and engaging on the art shelf was perfect as testing dragged on for over a week in May and we were nearing the last weeks of school.  One child even created "a dimetrodon eating a shark" (and me without my camera!)  Ahhh.  Art.