It's been too long since I last posted... not a day has gone by that I didn't think about coming back to post here on my blog. Things happen, you know? Life, and living it, sometimes... often.... most often, takes me away from doing what I love to do more than anything, and that is to write about my observations and experiences.

Facebook was another thing that happened to me, and if you are on Facebook, then you know what I mean!

In the past I've had many followers who encouraged and supported me and my efforts to do this, and without going into all the details about where I've been and what I've been doing, I'd like to just start with where I am now. My apologies to those who have come here to see what I've been doing only to find I haven't been posting.                

I continue (most gratefully) to teach art in an elementary school in North Carolina. What amazes me about teaching art is that I prefer to do new art projects from year to year, just to satisfy my own need for new experiences and new images, yet often I come upon an art project that is so satisfying and beautiful that it can be done again and again, year after year without producing any semblance of boring repetition in the classroom.

I've linked the text from where I got the following project for art teachers who may be interested in getting their own copy: Dynamic Art Projects for Children by Denise Logan. If the link does not work, here is the URL for you to paste into your address bar: http://www.amazon.com/Dynamic-Projects-Children-Step-step/dp/1562903500

Okay, onto the pictures and narrative... my favorite part. The project book mentioned above is filled with project ideas, not lesson plans, but they can easily be rewritten into lesson plans that suit your schedule and grade level. I found the large color photographs of finished projects helpful for my own use, so I could create my own finished pieces to use as examples to show the students. I've never been disappointed when using this book for project ideas.

One project I've repeated over the past few years is the Abstract Animal Relief. The book includes several black and white masters of Reptiles for teachers to copy, which was very thoughtful of the author to provide. However, I was working with fourth graders, and they already have a good skill: copying and tracing. I gave them access to hundreds of pictures from various nature magazines (Ranger Rick, Your Big Backyard, Nature, Wildlife in North Carolina, National Geographic for Kids, etc).

But even before any drawing took place, I had to introduce the project, so I created a powerpoint of animals that lived in North Carolina... they are studying North Carolina history in their regular classroom, and animal behaviors and adaptations in their science curriculum. (As the art integration teacher, I integrate grade level curriculum with art.). 

After viewing the powerpoint and selecting a North Carolina animal (that was one session alone), they had to find a picture to copy. It took a couple of sessions just for them to find the animal picture they wanted, or felt comfortable trying to copy it. If the picture was a large two-page spread, they could easily trace the outline of the animal using tracing paper (9x12"). But if it was a smaller picture, they had to trace it, then enlarge  the outline using their own copying skills. If a student had trouble copying/enlarging (as some are inclined not to copy well), I let them ask another student who had finished their drawing to help them. This prevented anyone from asking ME to copy it for them. Besides, every class has 3 or 4 students who are highly respected by their peers for their drawing skills... I like to give them the opportunity to help each other as much as possible.

After the drawing was made (the final drawing had to be done on white bond paper, at least on a 9"x12" and up to a 12"x18" paper because I wanted the animals to be large), the next step was to transfer the outline from the white paper to the black construction paper. I don't have pictures of that step. The student places the white paper outline on top of the black paper and traces over their pencil outline with a ballpoint pen. Pressing a bit hard, but not too hard as to tear the paper, they trace the entire outline, which leaves an easily visible track/outline of the animal on the black paper. Then, I gave them each a white watercolor pencil to draw over that track just so they could see it better for the painting step. It took them only a few brief minutes to complete the white pencil tracing.

In the photo below, students are working on the next step: painting the outline with white tempera using a flat brush (I forget the number of the brush, but it made about 1/4" wide line).

Each student has their own cup of white tempera paint and a flat brush. They have already drawn the animal on white paper, transferred it to the black paper in white watercolor pencil.

This student is painting the outline of a wolf. From what I saw, they enjoyed this part the most, especially if they had a good tracing. They were impressed with the realistic shape of the animal, although in the next step, they would be abstracting it with inside lines, shapes, and color.

Outlining continues here in white tempera. Tip: don't dilute the tempera with water... you want a solid, thick white line against the black paper. Most had to repaint the lines at least twice to get that bright white outline.

Students are working on the background piece... it's non-objective, oil pastel. They had to create an abstract by painting white tempera lines directly on the blank black construction paper. They painted this step directly, with no guidelines... using what they knew about line types, they included straight, curvy, zig-zag, diagonal, horizontal, vertical, etc... but I told them to make the lines a single thickness, which is why they used a flat 1/4" brush.

Prior to teaching this step, I briefly taught them about abstract (expressing a quality or idea of the subject, in this case, the animal) and non-objective art (easily identified by not having any recognizable objects: no person, place, or thing) by showing examples. The emphasis is on line, shape, and color in this project. The background is the non-objective piece, the animal is the abstract piece.

After they drew the animal, and colored in with oil pastels, they cut out the animal shape, leaving a black construction paper outline around it. Then they glued cardboard squares onto the back... this gives the relief effect as the animal piece lays just above the background.

Students are at various stages as we work... some are working on the backgrounds, others are working on the animals, and still others are putting it all together. Early finishers are working on another activity (weather picture for newspaper publication).

Here are two more finished examples. I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I do!

                                                                                         

New Bridge and Our First Winter Snow

Wooooo-Hooo! It's been a long wait but overnight it began to snow. At five thirty a.m. I looked out the window, and there appeared to be over an inch of snow. By 7:00 a.m., there was at least two inches. It's continues to snow... our area could get as much as three or four inches... another big wooo-hooo~!



It's below freezing temperatures, so I'm expecting that even by tomorrow, the snow will still be with us. I'm more excited for the kids in our area than myself. The last significant snowfall we had was years ago... and an overnight dusting a couple of months ago.
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This month, kindergartners are painting a snowman scene with tempera paint, and first graders are painting a polar bear scene... also using white tempera paint. This is a convenient arrangement, as I have the kinders before the first graders, so I can leave out the plastic disposable cups with white paint out for the next class. Here's a tip to save money in the classroom: I get the disposable cups from the cafeteria... before the kids can toss them in the trash I collect them in a dish basin. Then, with about 150-200 cups, I carry them to my classroom, and as soon as students leave the building, I wash them. It's my contribution to reusing and recycling of plastic.
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When I asked a group of kindergartners to raise their hands if they had ever built a snowman, nearly all of them raised their hands... an unexpected response as we really haven't had much snow during the past five or six years. How could they have built a snowman, I wondered.
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When I repeated this story to my friend and her daughter, they reminded me that we'd had enough snow to build a snowman the last time it snowed, but it had to be done late at night because it was gone by end of the next day. Okay, so I missed that one. I don't build snowmen in the dark anymore.
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Things have been warming up pretty good in my classroom, though. Second grade students have finished their warm hues painting... actually, an oil pastel and watercolor resist. The various suns and star-like images are hung throughout the school.


Some kids added facial features to their sun image, as this student (above) is doing here. Oil pastels are not tricky to work with... they are a leap above crayons when comparing quality of color and blend-ability. Oh, but I do love crayons, the marks they can make on a paper, as well as their clean convenience, however, oil pastels can spread like butter. Despite that oil pastels can be messy, they certainly do leave vibrant colors on the paper, and allow for a variety of applications. You can draw with oil pastels in much the same manner as with crayons, but you can also develop a painting style with them by blending the colors with your finger or with a paper towel or wax paper.


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After they drew their sun/star image, they had to continue radiation-like lines or shapes that filled their paper, all the way to the edges. Only warm hues were used because that was our focus in this lesson. Black watercolor was the final treatment. The reds, oranges, and yellows just popped right off the page!



Sometimes art teachers will model a painting or drawing before students paint to show them how it's done. There are times when we don't like to model a particular drawing or design because we don't want to encourage copying... we'd like them to rely on their own imaginations. In this case, I did model a sun image to show them the steps of watercolor resist. However, the results of their own work surpass the one I did by a long shot. The one above and this one below are two examples that stand out as being spectacular!


Yesterday, though it was cold at 48 degrees, Alyson, Marlene and I walked to the new bridge. We are now calling it "Our New Bridge"... we walked across it for the first time since the road/bridge crew started working on it in August of 2008. It's less than half of a mile from our homes, but it's a very hilly walk... good for the legs and heart.


You can see in this photo (above) that the concrete 'floor' is completed, as well as one metal rail (on the right). Close-up below, and the only construction vehicle is this great shovel at one end of the bridge. Further back is a port-a-potty, a huge box, and a few odds and ends of materials. For the most part, the bridge looks completed. The bridge builder happened to be there, and he answered our questions. He told us our bridge cost a million dollars...! That's taxpayer's money at work. I'm not even going to get into the discussion the three of us had about that. I have no idea why we needed such a grand bridge out here in the country, but it may have something to do with future expectations for the area. I'll have to look into that.


We love our new bridge, and plan to continue taking walks from time to time for our own good health and friendship. Can't wait for it to open up to traffic, possibly by early May.

Speaking of new bridges, I am so excited that it snowed today for one reason: it's Inauguration Day! That means I can watch the event on TV... had we been in school I would probably have missed it because I had my tv removed back in December. I didn't feel that I needed a tv when I much rather would have the space it occupied for other more practical things, like storage space. So it was removed.

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I know some of you are chuckling about our miniscule snow fall, especially if you live up north and east, and you Canada folks... but here in North Carolina, we love our little snowfalls. It feels like a real winter when we get snow, unlike those fake winters where it just gets cold and rainy.

Kaleidoscope

My fifth grade students had been happily creating Kaleidoscope designs. Drawing the design posed a problem for some. Those who drew in only two or three lines in each section had the least difficulty transferring the design to each of the eight sections.


The Kaleidoscope design is a crayon and watercolor resist. Black lines are drawn with black crayon, then watercolors are added. Since wax crayon resists the watercolor, you can paint right over the crayon. The dark, bold crayon lines define the shapes of the design, and contain the color similar to a stained glass effect.


It was a first time project for me. I wasn't sure which way to go with the instruction. Should they make reflections of the design, or rotations? To find out, I had two classes do reflections of their initial design, and two classes made rotations of their designs. I don't think one was any easier than the other. Some kids found the reflections easy, while others had no trouble doing the rotation version.

Not everyone followed my directions when it came to painting the colors, though. The instructions were to paint each section using the same color pattern they started with. This piece below shows a student who had made a reflection for their kaleidoscope design, but didn't follow the initial color pattern. Sometimes it happens and you just got to keep going forward with the artwork. Sometimes starting over is not an option.

Other students in the lower grades were working on the Holiday Candles. One lesson I learned is worth mentioning. I added to my routine a means to aid cleaning up at the end of their classtime: the styrofoam meat trays. I had been saving them for a couple of months for some project... nothing particular in mind. As I prepared for the candle project, I realized the kids would need many materials at their desk. Giving them out as they are needed would take up too much class time; asking them to get out of their seats to come get their materials is also asking for trouble when time is a factor. Having at their desks several supplies all at once means things rolling off the table and fidgety hands playing with the items. The meat trays solved that problem!

I had all the materials laid out on a table as they filed into the room. Students picked up the styrofoam tray first, walked by the materials, picking up each supply and material needed and laying it in the tray... kind of like when they get their food at the cafeteria. It went smoothly... and clean up was done in reverse. Students carried their materials back to the table at the end of their class time and returned everything, each to its own basket.

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Special Note to teachers: Just make sure you wash the meat trays in hot soapy water before you give them to students, much as you would any dish you plan to eat from. A good rinse isn't enough to clean a tray that has had raw meat on it. Hot soapy water and nothing less than a good scrub will do!

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The kids loved the tray idea as well, especially the youngest ones. There was a bonus feature to having the tray on the students' desks as they worked... it provided a place to hold all the supplies they weren't using at the moment. Crayons and pens weren't rolling off the desk; scraps and small pieces didn't fall on the floor; etc.

Organization is the key to success! Yes, indeed!

Juggling Pumpkins, hues, and Obama

It's been a beautiful week... in many ways! On Monday I was able to attend my weekly Bible study group... something that I'd missed for several weeks. I had even been thinking that I should just drop out altogether. After all, I had missed at least three chapters of reading, all three discussions. How could I catch up with all the things I had still to finish for school? But one of the group members approached me and said that it wasn't ALL about content study...that we were each of us part of this group, and each giving to the group. When one is missing, it's noticeable. My pastor reminded me that I wasn't so far behind, and that all I had to do was show up. Another member said she'd missed me. Another asked if I was ever coming back. Okay, I had promised, I would try to make it Monday night.
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So glad I went back. Our pastor didn't have to, but, like the good teacher that he is, he reviewed the past few weeks to catch me up. I felt welcomed again, I knew that no matter how busy my weeks are, there's always a friend or group of friends who will miss me if I don't show up for the commitments I have made. I feel the same way about them when they don't show up. I know they have busy lives too, with their work and families. Mine is no fuller than theirs. Time management is a big issue with me. And biting off more than I can chew at times.

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Juggling is probably an apt way to describe what I do. When one of my commitments becomes too heavy, I toss it into the air so I can attend to another one. And when a prior obligation becomes more urgent, I will toss something else into the air so I can take care of what seems more important at the moment. Hmm, I really don't care for that analogy. Tossing things into the air seems a bit irresponsible somehow. Even though my hands will be on all these things at one time and another, they're still getting tossed when I have too much for my hands, heart, and mind to attend to at any given time.

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I'd rather adopt the image of one who carries her load to the end, and who helps others when her load becomes lighter. And maybe even accepting help from others who offer. The dilemma, though, is determining what that load will be. As one journeys, the load doesn't stay the same. Challenges arise, barriers appear out of nowhere, and endurance levels fluctuate. You shift the load. Life has a way of teaching us to be strong, to endure, to be faithful, and trustworthy. We gain knowledge of ourselves through the challenges we accept, as well as through the failure of them or the success of them. The good news is that even the failures contribute, in a beautiful way, to our development. We do become stronger, we can endure, and we can change. Yes, we can!

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I can say this assuredly because I did get to sleep late this morning and I feel completely rested and well. I write this because I want to remember this beautiful day, weeks from now, when I might well be tired and exhausted, or even sick with the flu. (A flu shot next week should remedy that, though).

Here are some of the pumpkins first graders have been working on these past couple of weeks. Oil pastel pumpkins, cut out, glued with cardboard tabs under them so that they stand out from the black paper. Then the kids draw leaves, weeds, vines, etc on the black paper. We've been calling them 3D pumpkins.

Second graders worked on an oil pastel piece called The Sun... they are learning about warm hues... and the fact that they now understand the difference between hues and colors impresses me and the other teachers. The question I posed to them was "How can we express a warm object in a piece of art?" After I had shown them several examples of art works that did express warmth through use of color, they were able to answer that question easily.

Each student created their own sun-like image using only red, orange, and yellow. Oil pastels blend so easily. When they are through with the drawing, they will paint black tempera or water color over it... resulting in a resist.



And then there were the elections on Tuesday ... I was thrilled that I had voted early because it meant that when I got the email at school telling me that I could hang some student art work at the local Starbuck's, I was totally free! I carried the stack of mounted pieces in a large plastic pouch through the parking lot in the dark and drizzling rain. Two hours later, voila!

Kindergarten through fourth grades were well represented. My only complaint was that the room I was directed to was very small... in fact, it was a vault. The place used to be a bank. Vaults make for tiny coffee shop rooms. Cozy and private, yes... but not roomy in the wall space. I made good use of it, though.

I was pleased with the look of the display. The next day, I typed up a sheet with all the names of the students whose work is on display. Parents will be told so they can visit and admire.

The best day of the week had to be Wednesday morning when kids walked proudly into my room, telling me who had won the elections. Had they thought I hadn't heard? Or were they letting me know that they already knew?

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"Hey Mrs. G, did you know that Obama won President?" one boy announced to me.

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I smiled and said, "Yes, he did!"

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The rest of the week the sun did shine! And today is a beautiful day.

Student Art: Overlapping

Sometimes I'm at school until 6:00 or later, but I still can't help feeling like I'm the luckiest teacher alive!... fortunate... blessed. Whatever you want to call this feeling, I am happy in my classroom, with or without the students. I stay late some days because I'm hanging up the students' work. It's my gift back to the school.

The above photo shows the second Fall Trees display I've hung in a week... this one is missing the apple pictures. The paintings and drawings were done by kindergarteners (the single tree) and second graders (three trees reflection). This display I hung right outside my classroom... I had been returning the work to the teachers when the students finished their art. Then I started thinking, I should have something to show what's going on in my room out in the hall. I never get tired of looking at their work!

Third graders have just completed a project featuring a new skill and concept they've been learning: overlapping. This is their introduction to the idea of how and why artists use overlapping. In this lesson, they learned how to show overlapping. They were given nearly free choice regarding the colors they chose to color their picture. Most of them chose to use bold broad tip markers. I taught them how to make the strokes with the marker so their lines would be smooth. They used common household plastic lids (and other 'circle makers' that I've been saving just for this purpose) to make circles of various sizes.

The most difficult skill these third graders had to learn was drawing a straight line with the ruler. At the introduction to the project, I asked them how many knew how to draw a straight line with a ruler. Nearly all raised their hand. When it came time to draw the lines, I discovered that maybe a handful could indeed wield the ruler and pencil properly. It's a lot more difficult than you'd think, and for a third grader, it was definitely a skill they honed while drawing their lines. They are developing and strengthening fine motor skills with this one!

This student got around the ruler problem by not drawing so many straight lines. Clever little kid!

When you see the results, you'll see why I wanted to hang these in the first grade hallway... that's where my class is. I want to see the paintings and drawings when I walk down my hall... I'm not going to be greedy! There are five third grade classes... I just want the work of one of them near my room.



The colors are unretouched... I took the pictures with no flash... see how bright they are! Our next project is to make 3D glasses. Nothing gets their attention and makes them go "WOW!" like seeing their own work with 3-D glasses... each will make their own pair. I got the idea at last month's art teacher meeting.

This one above truly captures my interest. The student actually did not follow the rules I gave at the outset of the assignment, but look how balanced it all is. She demonstrates overlapping, but adds her own sense of line and color. I didn't make her do it over... she proves she understands overlapping. It looks great. This is natural talent sprouting in my room! I'm just providing the tools, a little motivation, and teaching the skills... and the rest comes from them.

Below is the display in its entirety. It looks so good, I'm thinking of staying late again tomorrow night to hang another!

A Fall Display: Student art, and Visual Journaling

It took me a couple of afternoons to get the pieces up, but it was worth it.

The single tree drawings are from a kindergarten class (a combination of oil pastel and crayon drawing). The apple drawings are from a first grade class (oil pastel). The three tree reflection (watercolor) is from a 2nd grade class.

At first I was just going to hang the kindergarten tree drawings in one of the main halls of our school, but then I remembered that one of the first grade teachers had not yet hung up her students' work, the apple pictures. I asked her if she had sent them home. She said no, but she wasn't sure where she'd hang them. I suggested she let me hang them with the other drawings I wanted to display, and she was thrilled.

When I hang a display, I don't just tape them to the wall... I mount them on poster board first... to give them that framed effect.

Well, while I was hanging the K's and the 1st grade drawings, I thought about the 2nd grade watercolors that were finished a few days earlier. I had not sent them back to their classroom yet. So I asked their teacher would she mind if I hung them with this other display, and of course, she was more than glad to let me do it.

As I hung them, and I hung them all from all three classes... I did not leave anyone out... I heard many positive comments from the teachers and parents that walked by. Many were surprised that the drawings and paintings were from the younger students. A couple of people shared their childhood memories of when they loved to draw and paint, and how they wished they hadn't stopped.

I hear that a lot now that I'm out. I say I'm 'out' because there was a time I didn't tell people of my interests and talents. I kept it hid from most people. Only my closest friends and my family knew that I could and would draw. I didn't tell people, I think, because when some people find out about one's talent for drawing, they will either ask you to draw something for them, or they will tell you what you should be doing with your talent rather than what you already are doing with it. I learned the hard way. Just keep it to myself.

But that was me when I was younger. Younger meaning under 40 years old. I've got a better handle on it now. People know, and if they do try to tell me what I should be or could be doing other than what I already am doing, I don't hear them. I do it with a genuine smile, and nod my head, but I don't hear them.

The other people, the one's I enjoy speaking to the most about what I do, are the ones who confess that they always wanted to draw, but quit. And they don't remember why they quit.

The conversation then opens up for me and I offer my ideas about why some people let their interest in art go the way of childhood toys. Probably someone (close to them, a parent, a teacher) deflected their aspirations with well-intended criticism which did more harm than good. In high school other more demanding interests took over, like dating, sports, and hanging out with friends who didn't like being reflective. Or their parents couldn't afford to buy the materials and supplies they needed or wanted. As adults, they became overwhelmed with the process of getting degrees (serious degrees... "not many people make good money as an artist, you see"), finding jobs, earning incomes, paying bills, and raising families... too much to do, not enough time to pursue something as trivial as art. Who were they trying to kid??? They weren't good enough... they remembered when someone long ago told them they'd never be an artist because they weren't good enough.

Inevitably, somewhere in that monologue, my words strike a familiar chord, and they start sharing their experiences with art. And their desire to pursue it now that they're older, with more time, less bills, kids are grown and moved away, and they even can spare a few dollars to buy the supplies they need, maybe take an art class.

Yesterday that happened. I was speaking to a woman who stopped to express her amazement with the children's art, and a conversation soon followed, it wasn't long before I discovered that she wanted to draw and paint. I suggested she get back into it... she could join an artist group or take classes at the local community college.

I talked to her about visual journaling, how it helps an artist get in touch with her dreams and express her ideas and images... her creativity... even..., no, especially her spirituality. The inner seeking we often turn away from when facing worldly problems. I showed her one of my visual journals... not many people get to see inside them, but I do open up for those who seem (to me) to be coming awake to their own inner seeking. She said it was something she would like to do... the visual journal... and after I talked with her, I thought to myself, I would like to get back into visual journaling myself. I haven't done it in six or seven years.

There are many ways to approach visual journaling. My first experiences began w ith Julia Cameron's book, The Artist's Way. Here's an excerpt of her book if you are not familiar with her work. I didn't have time to write all about her, or the book, but I think I provided enough links to get you started, at least to find out if you'd be interested.

You might also consider illuminating your paper journal. Often the journal entry will inspire you to create a page of art. Other times, something you paint or draw on your journal page will allow you to access deeper thoughts, and lead to a totally unexpected journal entry. Here's another link for some ideas on how to get started.

This is definitely a topic I could write about extensively, but that's enough for tonight. Have any of you taken up visual journaling? How did you use it? Are you doing it now? Let me know.

Fall in the classroom, and Dixie Classic Fair

Fall is in the air. It's not quite as fall-ish looking as the watercolors the second graders worked on this week, but it's getting there. Temps are cooler... the skies are blue and clear.

Steve and I took advantage of the pleasant weather and a Saturday with both of us home. What to do? We haven't visited family living in the foot hills of North Carolina since Christmas. It was time to pay one of his brothers a visit. We drove to King, NC to visit with my brother-in-law and his wife.

Saturday evening the four of us drove to Winston Salem for the annual Dixie Classic Fair. It's been over 30 years since we attended the Dixie Classic... I think we were dating the last time we walked the fairways, rode the rides, and played a few games. The Dixie Classic is huge (they get about 325,000 visitors each year during the ten days it's in town)... the second largest agricultural fair (I imagine the Raleigh State Fair takes the first position) in North Carolina.

It was late afternoon when we got there, and we stayed until almost closing time... the sights and smells can't be beat. I enjoyed checking out the gourd entries by the kids. This photo to the right shows what some kids made out of apples. Check out that buffalo apple! Cool.

Food... the big draw at the fair for me. I love the smell of country food... the barbecue, the sausage, pepper, and onions,... the cotton candy, popcorn, and peanuts... then there was this vendor who sold apples covered with everything sweet and salty. I didn't buy one, but I did take a few pictures. To share with y'all.

I don't know how I resisted, but I did. I made up for it on Sunday, though, when we stopped at some candy making shoppe in the mountains, and I bought six chocolate truffles. Six, and I haven't eaten a single one as of this evening. I'm saving them for a moment I can savor them... as a treat for not eating a lot of junk food all week!

I don't plan on eating the truffles all at once... maybe one each week!

A young man was stacking cards in the vendor hall... he was in the middle of building the skyline of Winston Salem... not a house of cards, but a city of cards! His name is Bryan Berg.

I found a YouTube video of Bryan working on the Rhode Island State Capitol.

I enjoyed walking around the fair, taking in the sights, sampling the fare, and spending time with family.

My BIL and SIL live closer to the mountains than we do, and they're about a ten minute drive from Pilot Mountain. On a clear day, Pilot Mountain beckons the hiker in me. But we didn't go hiking on Sunday.

Instead, we embarked on an old fashioned Sunday drive for Mabry Mill on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Floyd County, Virginia. The day was perfect to visit this old mill. It used to be a gristmill and sawmill, owned by Ed and Lizzie Mabry.

Something else I've noticed about this blog... the spaces between paragraphs keep growing with every added photo...editing takes a very long time here at blogger. Much longer than it ever took at aol journals. And I don't see any features allowing us to embed a YouTube video, so I'm going to check into that... one day.

I like to begin and end my entries with photos of students working on their art, or at least a sampling of what they've done. That's how I'm going to end this entry.

Do you find it hard to believe that the artist is a second grader?

Even if the reflection doesn't line up with the trees, it's still a nice painting! I found that the most difficult concept for them was to paint the tree reflection directly under the tree. That may be a perceptual development thing... I'm going to look into it.