A Shout Out to Pollen

Thank you pollen for what you do to me every spring. Not fun. As soon as Christmas ends, I know a day will be coming when my allergies will go crazy. That day came this week. I woke up Monday coughing and sneezing and only was able to get 2 hours of sleep Monday night/Tuesday morning. I had to miss school. I hate missing, I really do...especially when we are starting new things or things I have been waiting to do with the kids for weeks (like printmaking). However, I am incredibly lucky. The teachers at my school are extremely flexible and are happy to reschedule any class that I miss. I was able to make up two of the four a couple of days ago.

I am happy to report that my allergies are now straightened out. I am feelin' good and am ready for next week! But first, here's this week's update...

K4: Before we start our new project next week on jewelry, I wanted to see what students knew about patterns. To begin our activity, I read students the book "A Pair of Socks" by Stuart J. Murphy (illustrated by Lois Ehlert). Students looked at each sock and we discussed if the patterns of the socks made a match. After we finished reading our book, I gave each student a handout I made. Since our project will be about jewelry, the handout I created displayed three pieces of string, two of which had beads. Students were asked to color their beads in such a way that it created a pattern. I will be reviewing patterns again with students next week and then we will be creating our own beads using model magic.

K5: When students were sketching their zebras last week, I asked all of them to choose two papers that will become the background of the art. We put both of those papers together when students arrived and spent the remainder of the class period creating the bodies of our zebras. They look at little more like little white horses right now, but we will be adding our rainbow stripes in a couple of weeks.

1st: Sadly, I was not able to see the 1st grade students this week. Good thing is, I will be seeing them twice this coming Tuesday!

2nd: His name is fun to say, his artworks are even more fun to look at...Hundertwasser! Students started learning about this artist/architect yesterday. After looking at many examples of both his paintings, stamps, flags and the buildings, students started sketching ideas for their own artworks. To start this project, students will be designing their own Hundertwasser inspired houses. I love how fun they are, how almost Dr. Seuss-like they are in their design. The kids had a blast making them!

3rd: Students in third grade also started a new project this week about the works of Wassily Kandinsky. There are a lot of Kandinsky inspired projects out there on the Internet, mainly those with circles. Now don't get me wrong, I think this is a great project for the little ones (K4-5) but for third graders...not so much. A little too easy, I think, just to paint some circles. So, instead of painting, we are going to be using found objects to create our circles. I have been saving marker caps, boxes, wrapping paper and several other materials since about Christmas for students to use for this project. Students also have the option of bringing in their own materials to use...of course with parent permission. To plan this week, I asked students to think about what colors they would like to use and what materials they believe will make an interesting artwork.

4th: I am also sad to report that I didn't get to see the 4th grade this week either. Next week, we will start planning out our photographs before taking them during the first week of April.

5th: Students finally got to start printmaking this week!!! Things are looking great so far! Can't wait to pull more prints on Tuesday :)

6th: Most students have finished their weather vanes now. Things have been a little interesting due to a number of absences because of events at school. Due to students missing classes, its pushing them further behind. I will be starting a new project with them next week, but those that are not finished with their weather vanes will be using half of the class period to work on finishing up. I am hoping that in a couple of weeks, I can post the finished artworks. They look so cool!

Art Club: Younger students were introduced to the works of Paul Wackers this week. His modern still life artworks display a number of objects often arranged on shelves. Really cool. If you haven't heard of him, check his work out. I love it! For our projects, students will be making a tapestry inspired by Wackers' works. As I explained to students, we will be making a self-portrait without using a picture of ourselves. We will instead use items/objects we enjoy to represent ourselves. Here are some of their sketches...

The older students have almost finished their Palissy Ware. They will be joining the younger group next week by starting their tapestries. Here are some of their finished artworks...