Donors Choose!

Hey Readers!

I am always posting about my students and projects for school and what-not. And I am posting again! This time though, I'm seeking your help! I just started a DonorsChoose project for my class, hoping to raise enough money to buy five iPads for using during math. Check out my page! If you donate by February 6th, DonorsChoose will match your donation up to $100! Holy smokes! How cool is that?!?!

Use the match code INSPIRE!!!

Thank you times a million!
-Melissa

Fun and Funky Folk Art!

I have to preface this with the fact that I have absolutely terrific projects going in the shop write now. The only problem is that they are all Christmas presents and I can't blog about them lest I spoil the holiday surprises! This is a lesson in patience for a very impatient person! 

Fortunately my students have been working on a fun art project the past couple weeks and a handful of them are complete for the world to see! 

I found this clever plan on Pinterest (of course) and couldn't wait to give it a shot! I have to say that for a person who is able to craft and create on my own, but not share and teach such things very well, Pinterest is a teacher's lifesaver! I have become a fan of an art project blog, Painted Paper, that is chalk-full of kid friendly projects. 

Material list:

8.5" by 11" white paper

Pencils

Black Sharpies

Crayons

Water color paints

Black construction paper

To start the project, we looked at the inspiring folk artist, Heather Galler (check out her Etsy shop). I then gave students the basic steps aloud, written on the board, and showed them my example pieces. Students needed to use about 2/3 of the paper to create an outline of the landscape, including any hills or curves. They then divided the land space into at least fifteen areas.  Once they had the land divided up, they added patterns including stars, hearts, stripes, checkerboards, flowers, zigzag lines, and many more creative designs.  The final piece of pencil work was to create a barn or house, one or more trees, and a festive, funky sunshine.  All of the pencil lines were then carefully traced with black Sharpie marker so they would stand out in the end.

The students then used crayon to color in the patterns, leaving the background of each area white.  If they had stripes or checkerboard patterns, many kids colored every other section so they could add color through paint to the remaining sections.  

Once the crayon work was complete, they carefully painted in the all of the white paper that was left. This gave the art pieces great dimension and texture. Once the paint was dry, art was mounted on black construction paper, and boy did the colors pop! The final products that I have received thus far are AMAZING! Absolutely phenomenal! I may be biased, but seriously... Check them out! 

LEGO Portraits!

I saw this fun activity on Pinterest, blogged by another teacher who specializes in art. I snagged the outline and enlarged it to fill and 8.5" by 11" page. Each student created their personal portrait and picked a color on which to mount the picture.  They then simply cut a color frame around their body and mounted the whole  piece on black paper so it stood out! So simple, so fun, and so cool looking! 

L.O.V.E.

Oh my goodness! I LOVE the holiday of Love, Valentine's Day! Not that you shouldn't show, give, share love throughout the year, I just appreciate a day focused solely on love. What a great reason to give my students awesome Valentine's!

 It wouldn't be appropriate to create Valentine's projects without a plethora of pink and red supplies. Pink scissors? Check. Pink ribbon? Check. Red and white baker's twine? Check. Pink and red stamping ink (in a variety of shades)? Check. Pink and red pens? Check. Stamps and punches full of hearts? Check. I think I'm ready to start!

Using the stamp seen in the picture above, I used two ink colors in order to create more play on the tags. 

Twenty-five tags later!

As usual, I packed the gifts in brown, paper lunch sacks. What can I say, they are inexpensive. Cheap version of craft wrap, but in a more convenient, mass-gifting, sort of way. 

I used the same two ink colors from the tags to stamp the heart pairs on each bag.  One color at a time to increase speed by not having to keep rewashing the stamp. 

I also own the most perfect Valentine themed punch, the one that I purchased for the bookmark and card projects from last year! I picked it up at JoAnn Fabrics with a 50% off coupon and my 15% off teachers' discount card. 

So it only made sense that when I punch the hole for tying the bags shut, the hole should be heart shaped. 

 When I finished packing the bags with novels, pencils, and Tootsie Pops, I sealed them by folding the top down once. The heart shaped punch allowed me to thread baker's twine through the tags and bag and finish with a small bow.  

All lined up and ready for anxious little (I suppose not really that little) hands to open them and create big, beaming smiles. 

How can you not LOVE Valentine's Day? For me it is a great excuse to spoil my students (They actually outdid me in that category, my desk was out of control with wonderful treasures) and remind them in a tangible way of how much I care about them.

It's not a day to think about the love you don't have, or wish for. It's about giving and sharing love with ones who are in your life at that time. And perhaps people you loved have come and gone, which exactly why you have to embrace the day and love people while they are with you. Don't let a single day pass without telling, showing, sharing, love to someone.  Your love may make all the difference. ©

Fun with Fungi!

Don't be turned away by the title! I promise this fungus was for the purpose of learning. I have to say that since I'm such an anti germ and gross things sort of person and have a sensitive nose, this was a huge deal for me as a teacher.  Normally I don't do food in the classroom because it is more of a mess than it is worth, but for the sake of experimenting I brought in food and we grew mold.

Our experiment called for slices of bread, pieces of banana, and orange slices.  We sealed samples of all three foods in our zip lock bags so they were not exposed to excess air.  Then students placed their bags in various places in the classroom, some dark hidey-holes and others in the sunlight.

After the first week of sitting, the students came back to discover some green, gray, and white spotting on the orange and bread, as well as fuzzy sections.  The banana was just a bit mushy and had brown veins running through it. 

After another week of sitting, the bags were getting extra disgusting.  The banana was barely holding it gooey shape, the bread was completely covered in fuzzy mold, and the orange had turned into a furry, white blob.  Plus, the bags were starting to smell... Not good for me or my sensitive nose! The little drawer that stored one of the bags was a bit odorous upon opening... Students and I quickly agreed that they were garbage bound after that! 

As yucky as these baggies were, they did offer some neat insight into the world of mold and fungus.  The students enjoyed observing the different types of fungus that grew, and then they created drawings of each item and its respective mold.  Each picture was then given a short description, either in paragraph form or as bullet points. They also made for great bulletin board material!

Summer Send Off!

This year I created summer gift bags for my students again. Every gift they receive from me involves books! Duh, what else do teachers give?! Thanks to Scholastic Book Clubs, I can purchase books for $0.95 each and get more for free using my bonus points! I got the kids three books, one for each summer month. These included, Old Yeller, The Lemonade War, and I Survived: The Sinking of the Titanic.

I also included summer fun items in matching colors; pencils, erasers, bubbles, and sunglasses! They looked sort of impressive and the color coordinator in me was giddy over how they matched! The pencils came in packs of 12 from Dollar Tree and the erasers came in 6 packs from the same place.  I picked up the bubbles from there too, in packs of 3.  The sunglasses came from Oriental Trading in bundles of 10. 

I used red paper gift bags that I got from Dollar Tree and then used construction paper in blue and white to add decoration.  Using the Ellison paper punch at school and the star shaped punch, I made patriotic themed bags! 

The gifts were a hit! And my students were adorable in their new shades! They were particularly awesome as we all exited to the busses! I am so proud of these kids!

Here's to a happy, sun and fun filled summer!

The Willow Pattern Story!

I saw this art project on Pinterest months ago and have been wanting to have my students participate! I ordered "The Willow Pattern Story" by Allan Drummond from Amazon so I could have a text based introduction for the project.  I try to relate all of my projects to either something we are studying or to a book that I can share with the kids to give them a bit of background.  The project was fairly inexpensive, I bought about 8 packs of variety size paintbrushes from our local dollar store, Deals Only. The plates were about $3.00 for a pack of 100! You need paper plates, not waxed covered, if you want the paint to stay! The paint came from our school supply closet, blue and white tempera.  Students were given their Willow plate and a second plate for mixing the paint for varying shades of blue. Each group also had a couple cups of rinse water and sets of the paint.  In hind sight, I should have used wax covered or plastic bowls for the paint rather than more plates, because they would be more liquid proof and would be easier to cover with saran wrap. Oh well, to remember for the future! When students completed their pieces I hung them on the bulletin board for all to see!

While they painted, I displayed a tea saucer that I borrowed from my mom featuring the Blue Willow pattern.  This helped give students a visual reference for what they heard about in the story. 

The students worked hard to imitate the original pattern by incorporating the love birds at the top of the pieces, a river, pagodas, a zigzag fence, the bridge with three people crossing, and various trees. 

I had a couple unfinished pieces at the time of the following picture, hence the awkward gap! 

Marimba Jams!

It was that time of year again! Marimba concert time! The 4th and 5th grade classes as well as the performance bands helped our Educators Association raise scholarship money by performing some rockin' marimba music! We started the evening with a chili feed and then followed with the concert.  In the end we raised over $1000 to give high school seniors! Needless to say, I'm always incredibly proud of my students for having the courage to play in front of such a large crowd, and I admire their seriousness and dedication to the project! They ROCK!

Two 5th graders that I will miss having in class next fall. 

A former student paying great attention to the instructor. 

These three were so focused during their performance, I loved watching them. 

My wonderful kiddos with their concentration going.

Watching their instruments carefully, wanting to play well! 

I have students in the JV performance band too!

This little guy has his groove on! 

Don't they look so lovely and like they desperately want to played?

Coordinated wrist action. 

Flashback to 4th grade!

Today my class and I went on a field trip to Fort Clatsop in Warrenton, Oregon. Needless to say, or maybe needful?, my students were excellent.  I grow increasingly prouder every day of these kids, I wish I didn't have to give them up in a month. Let's cut to the chase, I am fairly certain I haven't explored Ft. Clatsop since I was a 4th grader, and Mr. Wilson led me around the park as my teacher.  Many years later, I brought my students to the fort and Mr. Wilson guided us around the fort, this time as a park ranger.  It was a perfect day, my students were brilliant, I had wonderful chaperones, and the weather was beautiful.