Starry Starry Night

I came across this on pinterest and I fell in love (SHOCKING, because I fall in love with a lot of things on this site).

(To access the original link of this picture, just click)

My idea is to make a bulletin board dedicated to the ArTiSt in every student.  I made this printable for my board.

This also reminded me of some of my art lessons that I have taught in the past.  One of my favorite things to do is to introduce a different "Featured Artist" each month.  I review their artistic style, examples of their work, and then we create our own version.

One of the best lessons is Vincent Van Gogh, he is a great artist to use to teach texture and line.  I found this really good you tube video tribute to Vincent and it shows a lot of his famous work.

I then simplify the lesson by having the students practice making small lines with pastel crayons.  Once they master this technique I have the students try blending colors (I did this step in Grade 5, not with the lower kiddos).

When they are ready I have the kiddos create their own starry night (I left the image of Vincents on the Smart Board for a reminder).

Lastly, I had the students create a night time scene by using black paper. 

Here are some of my Grade 2's artistic creations.

I am so impressed with the amount of patience many of my kiddos used.  I have taught this lesson to a Grade 1-2-3 combined class as well as a Grade 5 class and something clicked when I taught it to these Grade 2's! They took this assignment so seriously.  I even joked that I should only hear their pastels tapping the papers (not thinking these chatty cathies could ever do that) but they did! So much commitment to their art.

I was AM a very proud teacher.

Pi Linky Party!!

Yes I know I am a little bit of a nerd when I say this but I heart Pi Day! I have memorized some of pi.. 3.141592.. that's all I got.  In university we used to have competitions to see who could memorize the most (yes I have a big L on my forehead right now, and I am fine with it).  So I have decided to participate in this linky party from A Middle School Survival Guide.  I just love this blog!  The objective of this linky is to come up with an activity for pi day.









 This is what I came up with...

Students can use paper plates to design and draw their own flavor of pie.  Then you can assign each student a number from pi and they will put this number on top of their pie drawing.

The students can then find their position in pi and line up and take a class picture, maybe sing a little song.. whatever you want.  I would also decorate my classroom with the plates in the order of pi.

It is simple, but SWEET and DELICIOUS.

I would also bring mini pies in for the class, but I also love making apple pie (I warned you that I was a nerd).  

Its a GOLD star day!!

I am giving myself a gold star today! Yep I did some super duper work, and if I had a honeydew punch card it would be full! I finally went into my closet and organized my clothes.  It was a desperate situation, some articles of clothing I have had since high school and they had to go.  I always envision Stacy and Clinton showing up at my house and forcing me to wear these awful items in the 360 mirror.  I could not let that happen.  So I was ruthless... I made 3 piles; keep, toss, and donate.  I even donated more than I kept, YAY! 

Here is my pile of donated items... I still have some more to add but I think it is a great start.  The number of jeans is a little shocking... I am not only addicted to quotes but jeans as well (blushing face).  Last summer I lost over 20 pounds and so most of these jeans are far too big for me now but I am sure someone else will love them.  Happy Dance!

I also have to admit that this was my RAK from last months currently.... I am sure Farley wont mind that I am a little late (THOO THORY).  

This blog was not at all teaching related but I have a good excuse, we are still on strike.  One of the things that the government is trying to remove from our collective agreement is class size limits (among other things).  I really feel that class size can impact the learning environment substantially.  Can you imagine having a class of 30 kinders! I cant imagine... and the possibility of no learning aids to help.  EEEEK! I did write my MLA, and I voiced my concerns, as well as referencing a few journal articles that have evidence regarding class size.  Now I am curious about your views.

- do you have class size limits at your school?

- do you think it impacts the learning environment? 

Please don't let my opinion persuade you, I like a good debate :) 

MaRcH CuRrEnTlY!

Wow, I am a little shocked that it is already March! Where has the time gone.. but one of my favorite things about the beginning of each month is participating in Farley's Currently Linky Party.  I just love her blog.

I think loving was my favorite to fill out! I have been so pumped lately because I get to have a VaCaTiOn over spring break!!!! This Friday I get to fly to Vegas and then go on a road trip to Palm Springs.  i am so excited to take in all of the scenery and soak in some much needed vitamin D.  We also booked a vacation for Belize.. I cant even start my count down because it is too far away... but I will soon!

I also had some troubles with my 3 words FARLEY!!!! Tehe.  I did use Google, and this is what I came up with/desperately made work.  Maternal because I feel like a mother to sooo many kiddos, and  I also think I am an A+ Auntie.  Mindful because I care about everyone's feelings and opinion.  Lastly Merry, I am a very happy, smiley lady.  Wooooot! Now I no longer have to sweat about that tricky one.

Thanks to my Mom taking the time to cut my fabric I was able to plan out my "Classy Redneck" quilt.  I posted some pictures and my plans for this quilt on my brand spankin new blog The Crazy Adventures of Two Quilters. This blog is going to have all of my quilting/crafty adventures.  I also teamed up with my Mom, and she will be contributing to this blog as well.  She has a similar background to me... graduated with a science and education degree, she taught Grade 7&8 Math and Science.  Now she has her own Long Arm Quilting business and I love bugging her for tips and tricks.  I am hoping she will share some of her amazing organizational ideas that she uses in her quilting studio, as well as tips for preparing your quilt for long arm quilting.

If you are interested come check us out.

Also I just have to share this quote I found on pinterest.  It would be perfect for my bulletin board.

Awards Squared!

I have to say I am a pretty lucky lady because I have been given not one, but two awards this week!  I am very thankful for my followers and everything that I am learning through the use of my blog.  This also reminded me of a Dr. Seuss quote that I never got to share this week (I did warn you that I am a quote addict).  I am happy that I am who I am and you can still love me anyways. 





First off I have to thank Mrs. Poland at Think, Wonder, & Teach for giving my blog the "Top Ten" award.  If you haven't checked out her blog yet I suggest you hop on over there.  She is also in a similar situation as me and will soon have her own classroom so I love reading about her fabulous ideas.

My second award was from Rebecca at The Teacher's Chatterbox and she gave me the "One Lovely Blog" award.  Rebecca is a 3rd Grade teacher and has an adorable blog with TONS of amazing ideas. 

So here are the rules:
1. Link back to the person that gave you the award - Done and done
2. Pass the award on to 10 other lovely bloggers - this was easy peasy (yes I only did 10 for both but who's counting....)
3.  Follow the person who sent it to you - already following squared


There are soo many awesome blogs out there so I had fun finding my favs.. although soo many of you have already received this award (because you are so special already).

Here are my TOP TEN blog winners:

 1.  Rebecca at The Teacher's Chatterbox. I have just recently started following Rebecca and I love her adorable clip art creations!

2.  Mrs. Ann Greene at Mrs.Greene's Kindergarten Korner.  She has an adorable blog and lately I have loved reading about her organization techniques as she follows along with the CFC linky parties. 

3.  Emmy at Daydreams of a Student Teacher.  I love reading about her practicum adventures.. it wasn't too long ago that I was in her shoes and she has some great stories.  

4. Tammy at Forever in First.  Have you seen her beautiful blog yet?  I absolutely love it.  She just posted the cutest spelling video where she shows how her students use kinesthetic tricks to help them spell.  LOVE.  

5. Molly at Lessons with Laughter.  I am not going to lie to you, I fell in love with her classroom!  It has inspired me to make my own themed pillows for my reading corner.

One Lovely Blog Award Winners

1. Miss. T at Journey of a Substitute Teacher.  I am addicted to reading about her substituting adventures because I can laugh and cry along with her. 

2.  Mrs. Poland at Think, Wonder, & Teach.  As I said earlier, she has a wonderful blog that I stalk regularly!  

3.  Miss Ice at 3rd Grade Sprinkles.  Have you seen her blog!! It looks so delicious that every time I visit I have a major craving for cupcakes.  

4. Mrs. Durbin at 3rd Grade's a Hoot.  I really enjoy reading about her Daily 5 adventures and how she has organized her bulletin boards. 

5. Kimberlee at Teacher Time Savers. She has some great resources on this blog and guess what.. they are free!

Now I am going to pitter patter and start my classy redneck quilt.. I really need to cut the fabric today... but because of a rotary cutting accident (only 3 stitches, not a big deal), my Mom is terrified when I pick up the blade.  Because I am visiting my parents this weekend I am going to have her help me cut all of my fabric while I supervise.  I am also going to work on my CV and cover letter for some new job postings!! Yay JOBS.

 

I want to say a BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the DOCTOR!  Without him I wouldn't have my classic book treasures, comic movies, and inspirational quotes.  

My all time favorite Dr. Seuss quote is HERE!!!  I fell in love with this quote recently because it is so fitting for my life right now... and I find myself rereading it daily to give myself strength.

So without further ado  (there is a drum roll playing in my head right now):

"I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind.

Some come from ahead and some come from behind.

But I've bought a big bat.  I'm all ready you see. 

Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!

I was having a bad day months ago and my mom sent me this quote in a text.  She said "so just find your big bat!", well after having a good laugh I did find my "bat" and my troubles have had troubles with me ever sense.  

I also posted this quote on facebook the same day and this was the response I got from my brother...

 Typical brotherly love... I would have tried to explain that my bat is a metaphor... but I decided to leave it at that.

Hope everyone had a wonderful day at school.  I have another Friday off so I am taking it easy.  I also have Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off next week due to BC teachers being on strike (you see why I need a big bat lol).

If you're not from the....

One of my favorite teaching books is "If you're not from the Prairie..." written by David Bouchard.  It has some amazing illustrations and David describes the prairies perfectly.  I read this to my Grade 2 class last year and we made our own "If you're not from the...." books.  In the social studies curriculum we studied Inuit, Prairie, Ukrainian, and our own culture.  As a class we made a book for each place we studied. I started with their hometown and used a simple template for the students to fill in (the one on the left I used for Iqaluit, when we studied Inuit culture).  They would pick one thing that was special about that place and write it in the blanks and then describe that thing using three or more descriptive sentences.

For example:  If you're not from Iqaluit, you don't know the inuksuks, you can't know the inuksuks.  The inuksuks are made from rocks and stone.  They can act as a landmark to help people find their way.  The inuksuk is the symbol on the Nunavut flag.   If you're not from Iqaluit, you don't know the inuksuks. 

I had the class type their final draft on the computer and as an art assignment we created the picture that goes along with their work.  Each time I used a different medium (water color pencils, water color paints, pencil crayons).  These turned out fantastic!  Then I put the book together and we read it as a class. Each student would smile from ear to ear when I would read their section of the book.

This is two of our book covers.  I just picked some of my students research images that they used for their art as decoration for the page.

This is the example we made as a class.  I demonstrated the use of water color pencils and paints in this Inuksuk. 

As a class we created this wordle (http://www.wordle.net/) with all of the things that are special about Iqaluit. 

A students example of the snow bunting.  I am so proud with how it turned out!

I am really happy with how this project turned out, and I am thinking about other ways of incorporating this idea into different subjects.

Thursday Quote #4:

Yes my mountain is waiting!!

The more time I am spent searching for quotes the more I find that I just LOVE Dr. Seuss.