the kiddos are working hard!

Circle weave .... on a paper plate ... made less cheesy by taking it off the paper plate!

 My 5th graders made Dale Chihuly "glass sculptures"

And then I did the lesson with my special ones today, and they decided they made great hats.

And these first grade Andy Warhol portraits turned out pretty cool, too.

and so ends our Aug/Sept. North American artists unit.

starting next week we're moving on to art and artists

from South America (and Mexico, because I want to teach dia de los muertos)

so, I'll call it the south of america month.

the book transformers.

this year 3-5th graders have club time once a week.

My club is the "book trasformers"

and we're altering books that I bought at my favorite store (goodwill outlet, of course)

first step: create a new cover with spray paint.

yes, i handed spray cans to fifteen ten year olds.

and only a couple tried to tag the school.



cards and things

 Third graders worked on marbling paper.

it's like magic when the dye transfers from the water to the paper.

 Fifth graders are working on line drawings of their shoes.

I was so impressed when this artist came in with at least 10 shoes drawn on notebook paper.

he maybe wasn't working on his math during class, but the boy can draw!

and my cards from this week and last.

last week inspired by spending labor day walking around uptown. (on the left)

this week inspired by looking at a lot of vintage photographs.

i like how they look together.

clean, modern, with a hint of nostalgia

today we...

today we

made a huge mess making paper.

i'm talking a -third- graders- in- charge- of- a- blender

making- paper- pulp

kind of mess.

the room's a disaster,

but the paper turned out nice.

and the kiddos were happy.

so i was happy.

it was a beautiful mess.

First Project: Done!

 Made some homemade puffy paint for the special little ones:

flour, salt, and powdered tempera: painted it overtop of crayons....and then... MICROWAVED it and it totally puffed up for a cool texture. 

and by cool texture, I mean similar to a puffy cheese pizza crust.

all the kids drew a self portrait to start the year off, and then I combined them to create a rainbow of faces!

 and in random life things: I made a vegan stuffed shells : wohoo homemade fake cheese!

been drawing new tattoos on my arms each week: felt like a hypocrite last week when going over proper use of materials:

"do we write on ourselves with markers?" "NOOOOOOOO."

and back up to date with my cards!

whew!

school is here again.

and the truth is,

my classroom makes me happy.

my job makes me happy.

my little artists make me happy.

art makes me happy.

the last week.

a skinny strip of pictures.

the last week of summer before school starts again.

and i've spent it...

babysitting this cutie.
lots of good snuggle nap time.









making kale chips...
working my way through the vegan cookbook.











pretending to be hip enough to have a tattoo.










the card stack is getting smaller.







the finished card poster is filling up.







and surprise, surprise....
this weeks card is done
on time!