First Full Week!

We have had a great start to the school year in the Dragonfly Studio!  The kids are excited at the freedom to create and are eager to earn more studios to open!  I decided to have a modified choice for kindergarten classes at individual tables instead of the full studios.  

Students started making their Idea books  to travel and sketch or write artistic ideas in to bring to class and their portfolios, which will house W.O.W. projects until the art show in the spring.

We also had a wonderful Back to School

Party provided by our PTO on Tuesday evening. Our fabulous firefighters even came out and cooled off our kids on the hottest day of the year!

Hope everyone has a great 3 day weekend!

First Day of 2013-2014 school year!

Miss Erickson's class had the honor of the tinsel cutting ceremony for the Dragonfly Studio!

It was an exciting day inviting students to the new studio!  Lots of ohhs and ahhs could be heard upon entering the room.  We went over some expectations and opened the drawing studio!  Students were excited to draw what they did this summer and share.

Looking forward to a fabulous year!  Keep an eye out in next week's communicator for Artsonia permission slips and new art expectations for students.

Recycling Crayons is Fun!

Looking for a fun, easy, recycling project?  Emma spent time peeling crayons (she says it's relaxing) and collecting them in a large ziplock.  We then sprayed a mini muffin pan with cooking spray and preheated the oven to 350 degrees.  Emma and Jade had a great time breaking the crayons into smaller pieces.  I showed them how to pinch it with their thumbs to break easier.  They placed the smaller pieces in the muffin pan up to the tops.  It's fun to experiment with different colors together!  Then we "baked" our creations for 10 mins or until melted.  Let cool for about an hour until hard.  They slipped out of the pan easily and are ready to color!

I have also been working on re-staining   our deck and painting our very old, rod iron furniture in fun colors!  

Before:  

And after:

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer! What kind of fun artsy things have you been doing?  I'm excited for a TAB conference at the end of this month in Chicago!  It's so rewarding to be able to network with other art teachers!

Like my new poster for the art room?

Professional Development Today!

Today I'm spending the day embracing the first ever online conference specifically for art teachers through the Art of Education!  I've taken pages and pages of notes and have some new classroom readings to add to my summer read list.  At one point, there were over 500 art teachers from around the world logged onto this conference!  Wow!  Art teachers unite!

Spare Change Drive for OK!

In just under two weeks time, Pecatonica Elementary students and staff raised $357.65 to help aide in the recovery of Moore Public Schools in Moore, OK.  Great job everyone!

Spending the day at the Shedd Aquarium!

I knew my art students would be left in good hands with Mrs. Garcia as my substitute on Thursday.  I had the pleasure of using a personal day to visit the Shedd Aquarium with the second graders.  We had a wonderful time together! 

It was her first time to the Windy City!

Loved the jellies!

I love these kids!

Look out, Mrs. Wanke!

It's been an amazing school year!  I look forward to a new adventure this fall with TAB!

Announcing our winner from One of a Kind Gifts!

Kindergartner Breanna Huttenlocher was the lucky recipient of the art gift set from One of A Kind gifts!  Thank you to all the families that came out to vote!  Breanna couldn't wait to get home to, "make some art stuff" with her new supplies including a beautiful table-top easel!

Thank you again to One of a Kind Handcrafted Gifts for this opportunity to showcase Pecatonica Elementary students' artwork!