Lions

We are reading the Magic Treehouse books in our classroom.  I love the series.  A few years ago I made a Magic Treehouse in my classroom. It was an actual raised loft like treehouse.   It was amazing.  We just read Lions at Lunchtime.  I love attaching art and literacy.

Here are our lions that the kiddos made using scraps form our scrap box.

 This was the model I used.  I found the image on the internet so I can not take credit for the design.

 I love what young children come up with during art.  Adding the color and pre-cut shapes made this rainbow lion pretty festive.

 This is one of my special little 2nd graders.  

 So amazing.  This looks like modern art.

Look at those awesome eyebrows.  What a great expression.

Flying to Work

View over Anchorage

I don't love to fly.  I especially don't love to fly in small planes, but for the 4 years of my life I lived in the bush this was a necessity.  Last week I flew to one of our remote schools to do a preschool sight visit.  It was Cultural Heritage week so the village was hopping with cultural activities like skinning seal, canning salmon, beading, basket making, stained glass, and Native Youth Olympics.  We had amazingly clear views on the way there. 

Prince William Sound

Glaciers

Umm... aren't we too close to that mountain?

Esther Hatchery

Closing in on the village.

Tatitlek

Russian Orthodox Church

Yarn Dolls

We are down to 9 days of school, and boy did this year go fast.  Today we made yarn dolls, and the kiddos got really into it.  The boys dressed their dolls in awkward fitting clothing, and then had ninja battles with them, while the girls worked on creating accessories like belts.  Some of the girls even gave their dolls hair cuts by the end of the day.

I love working with young children.  Once you let go of the outcome of an art or craft project it is amazing what they come up with.

Drawing With Children

I am using this book to teach the Middle and High School beginning drawing.  Just can't seem to make that photo larger.  It is Drawing With Children by Mona Brookes.  This is an area I am totally not gifted in.  I love art, but drawing is just not my area of strength.

We had a great time learning about the 5 elements of shape.  I used the same activity with both classess at different levels.  Each student followed the same set of instructions and came up with unique creations. It was interesting to see the personalities come through.

We are still havign a blast with art.

Spiders and Quilting

Five busy spiders jumped across the floor.......  We have been studying spiders in our K-2 classroom.  Creepy, cool, hairy spiders are appearing all over the room.  Bendaroos are perfect to make spiders with because they are sticky.

I might be seeing spiders in my sleep tonight.

Last year I started a log cabin quilt.  I took a class, but really was just so crazy with life that I never finished it.  In fact when I took it out again this fall I laughed because some of the squares were sewn out of order.  I decided to not fix it out of lazyness and  as a testament to how crazy busy I was a year ago.  I am retaking the class, starting from where I left off.

 I think I will be able to finish it this time. I am determined, and life although still crazy is a bit calmer than last year.

So Much to Do So Little Time To Do It

Oh the times they are changing....

I have been missing in action due to lots of fun travel.  We went to a wedding celebration, to our land in Homer, and then to teaching inservice.    I found out the last week of August that I was heading back into the classroom.  We had to hustle to recreate our family schedule.  Now I have the funny combination of teaching part time in a classroom and part time as a homeschool coordinator.  I thought it would be an odd mix, but after 1 week I am really liking the combination.  They both fit well together and the in classroom time keeps me fresh and excited about how young children learn.

Our school was renovated this summer, well I should say, it is still under construction.  I was able to get into my classroom the day before school started, and had to hustle to get things moved back in.

Here is a photo of my clean slate.  The windows were not even installed yet.

The room used to be a highschool room and now it is my multiage K-2 room.  All the bulletin boards and white boards are too high for the kids to reach.  That is a bummer, and even more so since the construction crew rehung everything without asking for our opinions as to height etc... I am going to make some stepping stools so the kiddos can reach.

We are kicking off the year with a David Shannon Author Study. I love incorporating author studies into our day.  It is such a great way to learn how to analyze books.  I am amazed at the level of analysis that even the youngest child can do when they compare books by the same author.  David Shannon has some hysterical (well K-3 hysterical) books.  My students are loving them already.

This is one of my favorite books to use for author studies.