Artist~Teacher... tishalou

I have been fighting off the usual change of season crud which has resulted in a long bout of laryngitis. It makes it pretty interesting for someone whose job it is to talk all day. We had last Monday off then a rather odd 'snow day' on Tuesday so I was getting some good rest - but when we went back to school on Wednesday, by lunchtime I was getting scratchy and by the end of the day any sign of my voice was gone!

Thurday came and I got a sub after my first class and stayed around to take yearbook photos while the sub took my classes. It was great because I could be there to make sure she was doing what I needed without leaving 'sub' plans. She was still basically keeping me on schedule with what I would have been doing with my classses. Since I see every grade each day she was now well trained to take my Friday too so I stayed home.

So I whispered my way through the weekend and Monday was still horse. Here it is Tuesday and still not back to normal.

I have however learned some interesting management techniques to try to save my voice. Like:

It was just enough of a change in the norm to force me to find some new ways of doing things.

I was inspired by the portfolios on Teach Kids Art this year. For 2nd grade we read Matthew's Dream by Leo Lionni. We looked at the paintings that Matthew did and discussed the difference between geometric and organic shapes. After students wrote their name and code in the right corner, they were to draw a large rectangle right inside the edges of the portfolio. This was their frame and they decorated it to look like a gold frame you'd find in a museum. Then they made a few swirly lines going through the frame. This made lots of organic shapes which they filled in with crayon. We talked about different ways to use the crayon to get textures and other effects. Using pressure to get light and dark colors, using the non point side of the crayon to rock back and forth and make circles, using the side of a crayon with no paper. They were to try using the crayons in a new way.

  

I was inspired by the portfolios on Teach Kids Art this year. For 3rd grade we read Ish by Peter Reynolds. His books are SOOO great!  

After students wrote their name and code in the right corner, they were to create 6 drawings on the front of their portfolio. Four of the drawings had to be nouns (we talked about what a noun was). And the other two had to be feelings or emotions. We talked about how to make the drawings look 3D by shading on two sides of each drawing.