kids are funny

One of the best things about my job is that I get to talk to a bunch of really funny kids all day. I have one student, we'll call him Al, who is super sweet and has cracked me up pretty much every week since I started at my base school. He's not the best artist in the world but he tries hard and genuinely enjoys my class. Anyway, we've had some pretty funny discussions and this is the most recent one. The other day Al and I had a discussion about the word Au pair, which by the way I had to look up to learn how to spell, twice, darn google! Here's how it went...

Through the rows of windows in my room I noticed Al being walked into school by who looked like his older brother. I had Al in class that afternoon. The class was working on their symbol collages and I had some down time to make my rounds and talk to the kids a bit. I asked Al if that actually was his older brother who walked him in and that he they looked alike. He laughed and said, "no, that's my new Au pair!" I asked Al what happened to your old Au pair? Al replied giggling "i got him kicked out!" When I asked why he would do such a thing, he said it was because the old Au pair left the stove on for a half an hour with nothing on it and went to talk on the phone in the other room. So, Al called his mom and ratted the guy out.

That's how Al got a new Au pair.

I went on to ask Al if his new Au pair had another job besides being his babysitter. Al said no, this was his only job and that his opare is from another country. "He's not allowed to be called a babysitter if he's from another country. He is called an Au pair. If he was from the U.S. then he would be called a babysitter, " said Al still giggling. "Ah ha!" I said. "I'm learning so much from you today Al."

and we're back

So, it's been well, forever since I made a post. Lo Siento, (that's Spanish for i'm sorry) for the non-Spanish speakers : ) I was working on getting this blog linked to the domain name I bought artonacart.com but it didn't work out so well. I pretty much flubbed the whole thing up until this week when Ames's husband saved the day and fixed all. One day we will be artonacart.com but for now .blogspot at the end will just have to do : ) Anywho, it's been a surprisingly easy and great start to the school year. It's also flying by. More posts and pics to come!

Thinking Back Looking Down.

I attended undergrad in a small state school in the south. When I entered the Art program against my parents best wishes I then entered into a very bumpy 4 year ride/walk/run/crawl. The Art Education program really didn't exist. The retired professor was replaced. He and I butted heads.. a lot. I was happy to leave and didn't ask him for a reference when I left.
Yippee- off to grad school.Graduate school was amazing. I loved every minute of it. I maybe had too much fun. I recommend it to any one. The professors were so accomplished and passionate and cutting edge. I was involved in a progressive Art community and making a lot of art. I taught art classes to homeless kids with my counterpart to this blog.But all good things must come to an end.After getting my MA I moved back to the South to get a job.My fiance at the time had a year left in law school.Luckily for me- a near by county created mandatory planning time for all their faculty! This meant full time art and music teachers in every elementary school. So I was hired.Everyone tells you that your first year teaching is really hard.. and it really is. It is so hard. My kids were so poor and their parents didn't care anything about art. But it was a crucial experience for me as a teacher. I liked feeling like their fine arts savior.... A bridge to cultural enlightenment... even if I wasn't.

Over extended.. but can I complain?

This morning as I arrived to school I noticed huge boxes labeled Blick Art Supplies in the Media Center. Large boxes mostly filled with paper and tempera paints and even real water color paper... all for me.. I mean .. my students. My first school was not as fortunate. I worked on a budget of about 32 cents a student and often times found myself in the dumpster behind Michael's. (Which I think is illegal)

Looking back on it- we were able to survive just fine. My kids still made good art- just not on real watercolor paper.

Found out today that I didn't receive the Junior League Grant. Is it better to have loved and lost then to never have loved at all? I think no - not in this case.

PS. Six thirty minute kindergarten classes in a row on a "dress as your favorite book character, which really means wear your old Halloween Costume Day" Friday ..... should be illegal!

Book Fair Bucks

My school as a Winter and a Spring Book Fair. I found this out a few weeks ago when one of the mom's emailed me asking if I could decorate for this event. ..

It was a winter theme... and they needed penguins and polar bears.

;)

So- since she is a member of the PTA ( where I get most of my budget) - I said I would be happy to help....

One day after school after hanging another installation of Polar Bears with some theme like " Fall into a new book"- I asked the media specialist if there was a discount for teachers on books at the fair. This is when I found out about book bucks- Parents donate money for teachers to purchase books.

This morning I looked in my mail box to find 268$ book dollars!

Amazing.

Like most elementary art teachers I use a lot of children's literature to teach art lessons.

I purchased a lot of cool stuff- even bought a few items just for me.

One of my fav purchases was Zen Shorts. - One of those books I kept seeing at Barnes and NOble but never bought!

Very exciting! Definitely one of those days that makes it OK to work on a cart. ;)

Eric Carle at the High

I got a chance to meet Eric Carle at the High Museum of Art last week. We waited in line for over an hour to be the first in line for his book signing!

Lesson Plan 1: Eiffel Towers

Grade: K
My students created these after a discussion on architecture. We used off brand sharpies to draw our buildings and covered the negative space with watercolors.
When discussing the shape of the tower- I mentioned the letter A. This helps a great deal in drawing the structure.
The paper is cut in long strips to help guide students in creating the tall tower shape.