SPRING BREAK!!!

At 3:30 p.m. this afternoon, a mass exodus of teachers flowed out the doors of my school... there was no staying until 4:00 or 4:30 to catch up loose ends, grade or work on plans. No, this was the much anticipated and long awaited for moment that marked the official start of Spring Break! I finished organizing the drying 3d grade prints, put lids on the paint cups, cleaned the last of the paint brushes I had thrown in the sink, rinsed out the water containers and neatly stacked them on the shelf above my sink. I grabbed my things, locked my door, went down the hall to say, "good-bye and have a great break!" to several people and got in my car and left without looking back!
               Enjoy these pic's of flower paintings with concentric line design centers that my 1st graders are working on! ( these are still in progress, but they are turning out so awesome I wanted to share! ) If your also off this coming week, ENJOY! If not have a good week where ever you are!      Mrs."C"  :)

The First Full Week of School This February!

Sometimes you just need to go off track and just play....  :)    One of my 5th graders was having fun decorating his hand while finishing his landscape...

My Smartboard covered with directions and student examples... inspired by this pin and this pin.
4th grade is working on the 3-D cityscapes...

3d grade is working on Op Art hand forms....

They just started them this week... next week I will have them add visual texture to the background with rubbing plates.

Anyone who was done early took a circle sheet ( warm or cool color ) and designed a circle. I'm saving them all in a box to create a large collaborative piece. I will have different grades do different size circles or different shapes, haven't decided yet...

2nd grade has been fingerprinting hyacinths! We added details with oil pastel and a border from painted paper scraps.  

Sorry for the glare... I took the pictures after they were hung on the bulletin board in the front hallway at school.

Kindergarten is creating tulip fields... they are printing the tulips with the tines of a plastic fork, inspired by this pin.  I showed the classes a short video about the tulip fields in the Netherlands.
Next week they will add details with oil pastels.

They had so much fun they wanted to keep printing tulips on activity paper! This sweet Kinder worked carefully around her wet tulips to add details! It was too wet to take with her so I will give it to her tomorrow to take home. Isn't it beautiful? 

Well, that's what we have been up to this week, it is the first full week of school we have had the entire month of February!  Next week it will be March ( yeah! ) sorry February, but I'm so done with Winter this year! It's not over yet though... there may be flowers in the art room but it is going snow again here Sunday into Monday,  6 to 12 inches ( oh yeah...)  

Oh well, for now I will just have to live Spring vicariously through my students Spring flower creations! 

Hope you all have a great weekend! 

Mrs. "C"  :)

Torn Paper Hearts - 1st Grade

What do you do with a 1st grade class that is way ahead of every other 1st grade class? You make torn paper hearts!

This is my example ( on my truly disgusting, dirty white board, yuck!!! )( I hate white boards... give me a chalk board any day! )  This actually started as a sub project for a couple of kindergarten classes one afternoon when I had to leave early.  

I tore up a bunch of painted paper scraps from our "share" box in the art room. ( if we cut something from painted paper we never throw out the scraps! If the student does not want to keep their scraps for a project at home they put it into the "share " box and we ALWAYS find a use for them! )

I pre-cut some really big hearts. I gave simple directions to glue the painted paper scraps all over they paper to cover it. Pieces could be kept the way they were or torn into what ever shape/size they wanted.

This was the perfect activity for a crazy Wednesday before a huge snowstorm ( that evening and into the next couple of days on and off ).  

I also put crayons on the tables and gave the kids the option of coloring in some of the white spaces between the painted paper shapes.

Some of the kids were very meticulous where they placed their paper pieces...

Some finished pieces... they came out really cute! the kids were excited to take them home for Valentine's Day! 

Remember this snow pile outside my classroom window from the other week?

Well, this is what it looks like now...

It is the entire length of my windows and then some... there is so much snow on the roof that's  now melting that we have MANY a leaky ceiling in our classrooms! 

One of my 3d graders was looking at the ceiling on Thursday afternoon... I asked him what he was looking at and he said that something had just dripped on his head! Ok, everybody at that table was quickly moved and my recycling can was placed under the leak. Some classes have  three/four leaks they're catching! 

It has been in the 50's the past two days and today it rained ( a lot ) which although there is some minor flooding, it's awesome because it is melting the snow! ( yeah! ) 

On a different note...

I am taking my first on-line class in March at The Art of Ed.

I'm excited to start! Is any one else out there taking it? or have taken it? Have you taken any other classes from The art of Ed? Which ones? Did you like them? 

Hope every one has a great weekend! Talk to you soon!

Mrs."C"  :)