Happy Birthday Roald Dahl

It's Roald Dahl Day and he would have been 96.

To introduce Roald Dahl to my year 2 class last year and then to have them just grab any opportunity to read his books was a glowing highlight!

Year 6's first lesson

I found this picture a few months back on Teacher's Pet UK facebook update.(Aaaargh...can't find it when I need it! Watch this space!) It gave me the idea to use for Year 6 in their last year...what is their vision?

I thought it would be ideal to use with Year 6 as it is their final year at Primary School. I wanted them to envisage what they see themselves doing this year but also what they want to achieve this year.

I had to step back at one point in the introduction as they had misunderstood what I was asking them. Some of them responded with what they wanted to do in Art this year. So it is essential to phrase the intention in a way that is not ambiguous - it is about what they want to become better at, what they want to achieve, what they want to try etc. We got there in the end and the results were great! We had such fun!

 
The responses varied from becoming head boy to becoming better at Maths to perfecting scooter tricks! Enjoy the pics. Apologies for the rubbish quality...zoomed right in and cropped along with rushing a little when taking them. Consider them snaps please, rather than photography!

 

Let's see if they stick to their plans!

Art from Art

First Art lesson for year 3L; still the first week so a standalone activity away from project work.

I found the idea on Pinterest (where else?!) but it sends me to the home page of the creator and I can't find the actual project description so I'm afraid it's my interpretation based on the picture alone.

This is the website link that the picture bounces back to.

Patty over on Deep Space Sparkle wrote a good outline on how to Pin correctly so that if you do click on a project picture it actually sends you to the project page itself. I should pay heed to it as well! Never quite sure if I do it right!

Anyway, today's lesson...

The aim:

This activity involved three stages. The design of their picture, the measuring of the grid on the back of the picture (slightly dubious as to year 3s measuring skills at this stage but hey, I'm there for help! :-) ) and the rearranging of the squares into a new abstract kind of feel!

The one above used felt pens with black outline which I think just pops, it's great! Trouble is, at the moment we haven't had our resource delivery yet from the UK and so not all classes have felt pens. So I decided to give them the watercolours to save what pens they had, and then outline at the final stages using one colour.

I get so carried away with wondering round the class, talking to the children about what they're doing that I forget my camera. Maybe I should just get a compact for school to keep in my apron pocket. So that's why there are only a few photos on this one. I'll get it right one day!

The girl who was working on this picture below came up to me and asked if she could start again as it wasn't turning out how she wanted. I told her to give it a chance and see what happens. So we worked a little bit together (I did not influence her at all, I made sure everything came from her) and she managed to finish it with a big smile on her face!

 

 

Latest Pin!

The latest treasure from Pinterest.

From sidebyside blog

 Here's my first attempt! I thought of all the things I love in my life. Trouble is, it doesn't fit the text to the shape really as it misses out some words. But it is still agood project if you really plan what words you want visible. Font and colour could be planned as well.

A different shape if you like!

 Click on the link under the first pictures for instructions.

X

 

I found this the day I read this email from a friend in the States!

An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck.

One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water.

At the end of the long walks from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water.

Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments.

But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream.

'I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house.'

The old woman smiled, 'Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side?'

'That's because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them.'

For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table.

Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house.'

Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding.

You've just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.

So, to all of my cracked pot friends, have a great day and remember to smell the flowers on your side of the path!

First DAAAAY!!

Well, it was Year 4's lucky day today! They were my first lessons.

Seeing as it's just a half week and it's the first few days back I thought we'd go for something wacky so I did the Crazy Hair lesson from Mrs. Brown's Art

I was incredibly nervous and felt like I was back on my first day. I think part of the problem was knowing that the class teacher would most likely be in the room during the lesson. BUT I reminded myself how excited I am about Art and teaching and aim to bring that across. As long as I stay calm and structured just like I was as a class teacher then I should be fine. Affirmation, affirmation, affirmation....!!!

Bear had a good point (she's always good to talk to, she offers great, simple and unobscured advice!):

Me: I'm a little nervous
Bear: Did you teach Art lessons to your old class in your old school as well as the other subjects?
Me: Yes, I did
Bear: It's just like that but all the time!

How perceptive! I must remember this!

I had the first Year 4 class. I made sure we had a sit-down chat about rules in Art as well as the classroom. I spoke to the new children and hopefully made them feel a bit more at ease by letting them know I was new to the school as well.

(As an aside...does the 'No Smiling before Christmas' rule apply to Art teachers? What do you think?)

I gave them the choice of paint and/oil pastels for their Crazy Hairs. Both worked well, but the pastels lost the pattern definition as they were quite thick to work with. So I decided to just use the paints with the second Year 4 and this worked much better...at least for the first lessons! Also, only a few children managed to get around to outline the patterns with felt tip pen. It did look good!

I wanted to get them on display for a week or so before the big project work starts. Any art teachers reading...what are your thoughts on displaying unfinished work?

I completely forgot to take in my camera so can't show pics of work in progress. I will take a few before I put them up.

BOY

True as this may be, my boy is full of love and affection.

Today, as we were having breakfast in the camper, the kids were offering each other their cereal. I didn’t have any to share so I offered my hand and said I’ve no cereal to give you but I have lots of love.

Pops thought for a few seconds and replied with this;

Hmmm…I won’t have cereal forever but I will have love forever.

My heart fluttered.