A New Year and Grandma Moses

I'm back! I didn't mean to have a month between my last post but the flu hit our house and then Christmas happened. busy. busy. busy. We are slowly getting back in to the routine of school. I always start to feel panicked after the new year with lots of plans and ideas to cram in before the "end of the year rush" hits. I will share some art that my second graders recently finished. They learned about the landscape art of Grandma Moses. They colored them with oil pastels and went back into them with a wash of watercolor. I think Ol' Grandma would be proud.

Empty Bowls Dinner 2012

Our Empty Bowls Dinner was a HUGE success. All of the students and teachers work really paid off. We tripled the amount of money we raised at $4,400! The students made collaborative bowls as a homeroom and we sold those in a silent auction. The auction really helped us raise more money. We also had local ceramic artists donate work to be sold and it proved to be a popular part, as well. The hosts, hostesses, bus boys, and bus girls were, once again, the stars of the show. They would walk guests in to the food line, seat them at their tables, and take their drink orders. Parents were so impressed with the manners and poise these students showed. The program "Perfectly Polished" is to credit for their skills in conversation and manners. Kids can join Perfectly Polished when they are in 5th grade. They work after school to learn table manners, conversational skills, public speaking and they even learn to dance. The completed bowls turned out beautifully and were flying out the door with families as they left. I am always a little sad to see them go after working so hard with the students to get them made. We had performers from all around town. There were dance teams, chorus groups, pianists, soloists, and even dramatic performances from Oconee Youth Playhouse. I am so proud to be involved in this meaningful event and to be able to give the proceeds to "Food For Kids".

 

 Putting together center pieces

 Rolling napkins and putting on napkin rings

 All set up and ready to feed hundreds!

 Part of our silent auction with art from local ceramic artists

 

 

Let the bowl making commence!

 

I can't believe that it has already been a year since our first Empty Bowls Dinner here at High Shoals Elementary but it has! So, here I sit, exhausted from a day of bowl making with my sweet students. We will host our 2nd Annual Empty Bowls dinner on Friday, November 16th. The kids are excited to begin the preparations and with a year under their belts, they know what to do and how to help. For those of you that are unfamiliar with Empty Bowls Dinners; they are events planned to raise money for organizations that feed the hungry. When a guest comes to our dinner, they get to take a student made bowl with them as a reminder of those less fortunate. Our kids have really embraced this service project and even though they would love to keep the bowls they make for them selves, they know that this project is about helping others. It's a great lesson for all students to experience and I'm proud to be a part of it. The students are working in pairs pounding out their slab and we are draping them over plastic bowl molds to take their shape. The Athens paper wrote a nice article about the event. Thanks to Pinterest, I saw a great idea for using hot glue to make patterned rolling pins. I love Pinterest almost as much as I love my glue gun :)

Fall display and my deep love and effection for textured painted papers

It's Fall y'all! I recently created a Fall themed display in our hall way to celebrate the new season and also our upcoming Fall Fest here at High Shoals Elementary. I made the "art" part and our PTO added the flair with straw bails and pumpkins and the banner. I always use my "kid power", as one of the moms called it once, to get big jobs done. I would much rather see kid made work in the halls than my own, so we spent a Friday in my class working on all the parts to this display. All the classes that came to me on that day contributed in some way; whether is was making painted papers or using those painted papers to create leaves and kids. I used a similar technique to make this display (which is the most viewed post on my blog). Here are photos of my "kid power" at work!

        They were having just a little bit of fun.

       This paper was so gorgeous, I just wanted to keep it!

  The kids love it when I come and just squirt a big ol' glob of paint for them to spread.

   All of the characters were made by teams of students that planned and created them.

   When I think of Fall, I think of playing in a big pile of leaves, don't you?

Arty Parties!

Some of my classes just earned their first Arty Party of the year! I keep a chart with all of the homeroom names on it. When a class has a great day, they get a sticker on the chart. When they have earned eight stickers, they have an Arty Party! My students absolutely LOVE these reward days. I set up the room in centers that they can rotate and visit as they please. I try to have different centers for each of their parties so they get to experience new activities. This round of parties had an interactive smart board activity, modeling clay, a circle painting collaborative art table, fuzzoodles, connectigons, invention station, roll-a-creature drawing activity, and a free drawing station. Here are some photos of the fun. I love Pinterest and get so many great ideas from centers on there. The kids are so independent and happy on these days and will work hard to earn them.

 The Connectigons were from an educational toy company and my own kids quit playing with them so I brought them to school.

Free drawing!

Circle painting!

This was the "invention box". Otherwise known as a box of junk. They loved it more than I ever imagined!

I saw a similar idea to this on Pinterest and adapted my own hand out for the kids to create a creature by rolling dice. They were completely entertained by this center and I will probably use this as an emergency sub plan as well.

Mr. Roboto

Students in second grade were focusing on the elements of art. They used a stamping technique with scrap cardboard to create their robots and painted them with tempera. I love how quirky and fun they all turned out. Here are some of my favorites and the current hall display. Enjoy!