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New Year's Clean Up
Or a better title: The new fire marshall will be visiting mid January. I am one of the lucky ones that my room was actually designed as an ART ROOM. I know a lot of teachers who make do with a regular classroom or a room designed as a science lab or dare I say it - no room at all.
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| from the door looking in |
I went in to school today to have some uninterrupted time to organize my storage room. I have been just collecting donations, getting in orders, throwing things in and closing the door real quick! Doing a good organization is not something you can do with a 15 minute break here or a half hour planning time there. It has to be an all out dump it out and put it back neatly. I think I got somewhere in between, something I won't be embarrassed to show to someone. There are also some gems I found that I need to come up with some good ideas on how to use.
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| in looking towards the door |
Here is a before pic - wish I got a better shot of the floor but I couldn't get back far enough!
I already know I am a hoarder and being an art teacher has made it worse. "oh, I could use that in such and such lesson"... But what I found in this clean up is that I have not thrown away a box that has come into my room since the school opened 3 years ago! I just love boxes in all sizes and shapes - they were filling up at least 3 large shelves. Now that I have more actual art supplies it was time to say goodbye to several boxes!
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| I started by getting some of the boxes out of the way and out into the classroom |
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| A whole useful shelf filled with empty boxes |
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| Some of the good ones put back for use "someday" Notice the little sample paint jars - great donation - I think I might 'steal' the little shelf in our adult bathroom and have some students artsyfy it!! |
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| I have 700 of these! Wish they were not divided. |
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| Lots of coffee filters - Want to do a Chihuly lesson with these |
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| cone water cups |
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| 200 of these plastic lined paper pillow cases - clinic miss ordered these. I am seeing some kind of watercolor, spray bottle mess with these! |
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| miracle sponges - stamping adinkra? ... stamping on the pillow cases!!! |
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| Magnet tape! |
And the finished results! It makes me breathe a little *sigh* of relief. ahhhh |
| WOW - there is a floor in there! HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!! |
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Holiday Break
Enjoying holiday break and using time to catch up. Looking to what I will be teaching in the new year and wrapping up lessons, grading and uploading to Artsonia. Boy, it is nice to have a little breather.
I had fun making recycled magazine ornaments with my 4th and 5th graders - not too many finished but it did put a little spark in them and show them what is possible from an old magazine. One student used the coils she made and added a yarn pom pom and added it to a gift ~ great idea!
I purchased the bird and sun from a fair trade booth at my school's Holiday Fundraiser. Then I made a handout of different shapes for students to follow. We used 1 inch magazine strips and folded them in half once then in half again. Pay attention to the color on the strip when folding to get the colors you want. Then I rolled that into a coil and glued the end with glue stick. Keep adding more strips to the coil until it is the right size for your design. Use a folded strip to create the outline shape when the coils are finished. When gluing the coils into the shape it is better to use liquid glue. I finished mine with a few coats of mod podge - to keep the coils from falling out in the middle and to give it some shine.
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| my finished birdie |
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| a strip before coiling and coils of different sizes. |
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the box top with my in progress work and strips and templates for the kids.    |
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Holiday Party/Construction Zone
There is much construction going on at my house. Why, you might ask? Because my husband wanted to host my school's holiday party. Great idea, yes let's have all my coworkers and their spouses over for some holiday cheer. It got my husband motivated to finish the bar he was working on in the basement. GREAT! looks wonderful. But now the madness has moved on to the main level of the house. We have one of those front living rooms - you know the one nobody goes in? Well it was storage for a long time. Now that my husband needed room for the band to practice (that is a whole other post) all the furniture got moved into the formal living room. Great - so let's make it look like a real room - get a throw rug - hang some pictures and put up some curtains.
So what is madness about this you say? My husband is now painting and putting up crown molding in the two story foyer. Today is Wednesday - the party is Saturday - THIS SATURDAY.
Here is the basement and the bar. We are going to decorate by framing our old vinyl LPs. Micheal's had the frames on sale for 4.99!
The one project I wanted to get done was a photo gallery wall. So I went and collected all the frames I had and most already had good photos. I had to decide what time frame - so I decided it would be before our son and our parents, siblings and grandparents. I think it turned out great. Here is a before picture. This one is very early in the process ~ still selecting pics...
Here are some pics of the process...
Laying it out on the floor on brown craft paper:
Took it all down and removed the paper and re-hung the pics.
Now I am waiting for the hubby to hang the curtain rods and tie backs - I was told I could not have the drill :-)
Here is a bit of the action in the foyer ~ thanks to our great friends/neighbors for the extra hands!
Oh well - the house never looks better than the day you put it on the market, right?
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving!
We had to go to school Monday and Tuesday. I had a full schedule on Monday but no Kindergarten or 1st grade on Tuesday. So I needed a simple and fun holiday lesson for K, 1st, 2nd and 3rd. 5th is still working on their Day of the Dead skulls, I know bad timing and their performance messed the timing up even more, but I am pushing through because some of them are looking really great! 4th grade is finishing up their mandalas, they should need one more class.
So in browsing my favorite blogs I used a combo of Mrs. Hahn's Countdown Turkeys and Ms. Art Teacher's post Lesson for week before thanksgiving to create a cute turkey lesson that was easy, low prep, and used up some of the MANY tp rolls I have stored.
I limited the feathers to 3 concentric circles and I cut squares of different colors and put templates for the circles on each table. They decorated the tube with the turkey face in markers and I stapled the tube to the circles so it stands up on its own.
It was fun - I tried to get more out of them than just "I am thankful for my family" I did get a few that were thankful for art class and Mrs. Burke and school.
All three of these say family. You can see the squares set up on the counter in the background.
This one has an awesome turkey drawing.
Here is a cutie leaving at bus call - he made this in his classroom.
Hope everyone has a great and relaxing holiday.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Seattle Bound
It is official! I have some funding from my school and I just officially registered to attend the National Art Education Convention in Seattle, Washington.
I am really excited about attending:
- This will be the first National Convention I have been able to attend since Grad school. I went to Boston in 05, Chicago in 06 and New York in 07. George Mason helped pay for those travels.
- I live in Virginia and my Mom, step dad and my sister and her family live in Kirkland, WA.
- My mom turns 60 on March 12th. I surprised her in Washington on her 50th 10 years ago so it is kind of a tradition!
- I miss my family (my nieces especially) and look forward to seeing them!
- I love getting new ideas and new perspectives on Art Ed.
- Signed up for a Chihuly tour!
- Will I get to meet any of my blogger buddies??
So I will have two nights in the convention hotel and the rest either at my mom or my sister's. I have already lined up a good sub and will work with him on some lessons - he already teaches a graphic design elective for me so I know he will be great and I won't have to worry about my students missing out on any learning!
So are any of you out there going?? Let me know!
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