First day...we paint umbrellas! Perhaps I lost my marbles?!

Today we painted umbrellas!  Yes, on the first day of school!  Have I lost my marbles?  Perhaps, but we did it anyway and the kids loved it!!!  Umbrellas for Peace parade will take place September 11 at 9am beginning on 7th & Main, up Main to 3rd and loop back up Reed Street.

It's going to be a fabulous year!  Some kinders and first graders might tell you I sometimes am their PE teacher as well.  It's true!  I wear many hats at Pecatonica Elementary!

Getting the studio ready!

Did you know your teachers spend weeks setting up their classrooms before school starts?  It's true!  This teacher is no exception!

Workday 2

I am tweaking some of the studios this year to provide easier student access and movement within the studio.  I added SLO (Student Learning Objectives) to one of the whiteboards through our "I Can" statements.

Have you tried chalkboard paint?  I LOVE IT!  I painted the back of two big metal cabinets to use as menu boards.  Next up was my dreary original 1930s slate chalkboard behind the student computers.  It had definitely seen better days, but I was concerned with the paint adhering to the slate.  After a response from Rustoleum, I went to town priming and painting.  This will be our word wall!

Before

Primed

After

I can't wait to write on it!  There are some steps to conditioning the paint after it dries, but wow!  It looks so much better!

Hope everyone is enjoying these last couple of weeks!  We are going to squeeze a last minute trip with my mom and brother to Chicago!  I have never been to Millennium Park!  What have been your favorite summer memories?

Big score at the dollar store!

I found sponges, clothespins and clean squeeze bottles for the studio today at the dollar store!  School days are just around the corner!  

Hope everyone is enjoying these unseasonably cool temperatures!  

We ordered the umbrellas!

We placed the orders for the umbrellas for the Umbrellas for Peace project today!  A huge thank you to the Pecatonica Education Foundation and Ms. Ginny Meyers of Gambino Real Estate for your generous donations to push this project forward!    The excitement continues to build!  We hope to have enough funds to purchase more paints as well!

Yes, Mom! I ate my artwork!

Kindergardeners had a great time with my annual "eat your artwork" color wheel lesson!

Students watched a 3 minute YouTube video about the color wheels before we dove into experimenting with red, blue and yellow frosting mixing on vanilla wafers.  Lots of excitement for this lesson today!  What colors can you make in between these colors?

Some kids just couldn't wait to dig in!

We even had some future kindergarten 2014-15 students visit today!  What a fun day to visit!

Now onto cleaning and packing up the studio for next school year.  Unknotting paint smocks anyone?

Guest origami artist today!

We had a very special guest origami artist today during Miss Hoffman's class. Did I mention he's a fellow student?

These children are eager to learn how to make ninja stars from another third grader!  This is what I love about TAB!  He was able to take a small group of us (me included as I am origami challenged) and teach us how to make ninja stars!  Other students were able to finish their projects while we learned a new art of paper folding.  

Last Special Group

Today was my last special 4th grade group meeting.  We finished reading From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler this past week and ended the session with soap sculptures!  I apologize I was too busy sculpting with the kids to get any pictures today.  My room smelled lovely for the afternoon.  Ivory soap is soft enough to sculpt even with basic cutlery.