Category Archives: Art Gallery

Despite the difficulties….

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…. the children produced beautiful pieces of art

After last Thursday’s disaster with my art cart I spread out the latest finished pieces of art and took joy in the freedom and beauty of my students’ ‘masterpieces’.

My inspiration came from the book The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. I love the message in this simply but beautifully illustrated picture book. The main character Vashti laments over the fact that she can’t draw and her teacher encourages her to make a mark on her paper and see where it takes her. She jabs the paper with her marker and makes one small dot. Her teacher makes her sign it and when she arrives for the next art class she discovers that her dot has been framed. She is moved to improve on her dot and she begins to experiment with dots of all sizes.

I knew that I wanted to share this story with my students to encourage them to take pride in their work and take ownership for it by signing it.

While browsing the web I’ve come across some great art blogs and I found one that gave me the idea for this next project. Pamela Holderman’s blog has a great project where the children paint circles using lots of colour. They can add collage, stamps, and add detail with marker. When each child has finished their piece it is cut into 4 equal squares and they keep one and share the other 3 squares with their classmates. Then they put the 4 pieces together to create a new piece of art and they continue adding more personal touches.

When I wanted to start this project I discovered that I didn’t have enough sheets of large paper for painting but I did have small squares of watercolour paper. I cut them all to 7 x 7 and I had each child make one circle piece of art that they could keep. It was a great way for them to experiment with the paints, markers and stamps. When we’re ready to do the larger piece for our cooperative art piece they will be more confident and less reluctant to share their work (hopefully).

Every piece is different and when put together they make a beautiful wall quilt. I think that’s how I’m going to display them outside the classroom.

These were done by my grade 3 class.

I Got My 25 Year Pin Today

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…..after 31 years of service

The day started out well. I ran 2.1 k with the kids this morning. My friend P, timed me today. It took me 19:29 minutes to run that distance. I know that it’s not fast but I didn’t stop to walk and I passed 3 students who started with me.

At lunch in the staffroom my principal called on me and one other teacher to stand before the staff where she presented us with our 25 year pins of service for the TDSB. The irony is that I’ve actually worked 31 years for this board. The days of honouring teachers with 25 years of service at a special dinner and a gold watch haven’t existed for a long time. In fact getting the dates right doesn’t seem to matter anymore either. Another teacher on staff who’s been with the board for 27 years hasn’t received her pin either.

In art today my first class finished up their colour wheels. The grade 3s created a their wheels using an outline of their hand and painting the 6 primary and secondary colours around their fingers. Then we had a quick lesson on ‘lines’ and the kids filled in the hand shape with a line design. I think they turned out remarkably well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After school I had a great yoga session. My yoga partner told me that she thought I was wasting away (in a good way) and she couldn’t believe it when I told her that I’ve only lost one extra pound since starting back to school. Maybe the scale in the morning will show otherwise.

Tomorrow the school is having their Terry Fox run and I’m planning to actually run the course this year. I can’t believe how excited I am about running. I used to hate it.

Life is good. I look forward to each new day.

Art on a Cart

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….doing this everyday will help keep my weight down

Loading this up, keeping it stocked and pushing it back and forth from the library to the class I teach is a bit of a challenge, especially when I have to go outside to the portables and lug buckets of water with me. Should be interesting in the winter.

I love teaching art but this year it’s been a bit of a challenge because I don’t have my own space to teach in and I have to transport all my supplies to the students. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to store some of the supplies in teachers’ classrooms so I’ll have less to move around everyday. In the meantime it’s “art on a cart” and because I’m in other people’s classrooms I have no place to sit so I’m on my feet most of the time going back and forth assisting students. I forgot how tiring art can be but it’s a good kind of tired.

The portables are doubly challenging because they have no water so when we’re painting I’m also lugging water buckets to the classroom and using the caretaker’s room to wash out paint buckets and palettes. Luckily I always have a few students who volunteer to help with the clean-up but I work through the entire recess to leave teachers’ classrooms neat and tidy.

The portable classrooms don’t have wall space to hang art work so I have a gallery wall outside the library where I can display work from all five classrooms. Last spring I hung rope from the ceiling for our Forest of Reading display and it’s come in handy for hanging up art work.

Gallery Wall outside the Library

The first project I did with the students this year is one I call “I’m a star because….” or in French, “Je suis une etoile parce que….”. I ask the students to think of one thing that they are especially good at and then pose for a picture doing something that relates to their skill. 

Everyone writes why they’re a star in the middle of a star that I’ve provided and then they decorate it with lots of colour. In the second class, after their photos have been printed the students cut out their bodies and glue them and their stars onto a piece of card stock. The final step is to draw a scene behind the photo demonstrating what they’re good at.

The students love this project. Students who don’t have me for art are asking their teachers when they’re going to do the same project. I’ve posted a couple pictures where the student isn’t recognizable or their name is absent.

“You’re an artist, Mrs. Cormier!”

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…why do I have such a difficult time seeing myself as an artist?

I love art, I teach art, I appreciate many styles of art and I occasionally create art. I’ve even sold my art; however I find it difficult to describe myself as an artist.

Today during one of my art classes with grade 3s and 4s I showed them some examples of work I had done to demonstrate an art technique that they might want to use in their first art project. The children oohed and awed over my examples and insisted that I was this amazing artist.

I showed them how easy the technique was and with practise they could produce their own amazing pieces. I feel all children have artistic ability. Some of them just need more encouragement than others.

I believe that children should be given a certain amount of artistic freedom but I also believe that it’s okay to show them how they could improve on what they’ve done. I give them suggestions and demonstrate techniques that they can choose to use or not. Often they come up with even better ideas.

Today I wanted to make the lesson about them and what they could do and were capable of. I didn’t want it to be about me. I think that I provided some inspiration for many of them today and much of the work that they produced was exceptional for 8 and 9 year olds.

The children used photographs of themselves in their art work today so I am unable to post them on the internet. The theme was “I’m a star because…..” and the children posed in positions that demonstrated what they were good at. They wrote, in a pre-made star, why they were a star and then filled it in with colour. The star and the photograph (trimmed around the student’s body) were glued onto a 8 1/2 x 11 piece of white card stock. The last step was to create a scene around the pictures. Some of the scenes included performing a dance on stage, meditating while sitting on the floor, slaying a dragon. doing the splits at a gymnastic competition and playing golf on a putting green.

Am I an artist? My students think so. My colleagues and friends think I am. Aren’t we all artists at some level? Here are a few of my pieces. I will try to capture some work done by my students without revealing their identity for another post.

16 x 16 acrylic, “Fern”

8 x 10 acrylic monoprint, “Autumn Grass”

5 x 7 acrylic on yupo paper, “Abstract Landscape”

8 x 10 mono print, acrylic, “untitled”

My Computer is Sick

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….. we have an appointment to see the computer doctor tomorrow morning

Today was K’s last chemo treatment. The girls and I decided to surprise him and join him for lunch at a nice restaurant on Roncesvales. He was really pleased to see us walk through the door. While we were in the restaurant an old friend of ours walked through the door. I don’t think he recognized us right away but we invited him to join us. It was nice to catch up with him. He told us that he had an art show next to the restaurant and invited us to look at his paintings.

In the coffee shop, next door, there were about a dozen small colourful abstract paintings done by Sam. After admiring his work the strangest thing happened. He asked us which ones were our favourites and then he pulled them off the wall and gave them to us. I tried to pay for them but he wouldn’t take any money. When I get back on my own computer I will post a picture of the painting he gifted me.

I might have to take a break from posting stories for a few days until I get my computer problems sorted. Hopefully it will be sooner rather than later. I also need my computer to work on my report cards. I miss it already. Stay tuned.

10 Pounds Down!!

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….. hooray!!!!!!

After my last post I did go for a nap and slept for 2 1/2 hours. I guess I was really tired.

On Saturday I got out for a walk with the dog. It was shorter than normal because they’re doing work on the rugby pitch and two laps of that is at least 1 km. I’ll have to find a new route for awhile.

I also got to the farmers’ market at the Brick Works and I was really looking forward to taking some great shots of fresh produce and anything else that might present itself. It was very busy but there was very little there in the way of produce. I really wanted to buy some rhubarb but there was none to be found. There were vendors there selling baked goods, gardening supplies, juices, honey, sausages and prepared foods but very little in the way of greens. I guess it’s still a little early in the season in Ontario.

My daughter and I also stopped at a cute little flower shop on Dundas St. West, near Trinity Bellwoods, called Sweet Woodruff.  She had great “air-plants” that don’t need soil or water to survive. Well actually you do have to soak them about once a week but  you can put them anywhere. I bought 3 and gave one away to my oldest daughter because she has always wanted one.

Sweet Woodruff

Air-plants

When I got back home I also got some gardening done but I have a lot left to do and when I finish here I’ll be out there pulling more weeds and planting a few flowers.

So everything that I set out to do on Saturday happened, plus I got some more school work done.

I haven’t shared the readings on my scale with you in almost a week. I knew that being away for 3 days would have a somewhat negative effect on my weight, even though I was incredibly active and I avoided all the desserts, bread, and fries. Thursday morning I was up 1/2 a pound and on Friday, another 1/2 pound. Today I lost that weight plus an additional 1/2  so that my total loss to date is an even 10 pounds.

This morning, my husband and I met up with two of our life long friends at the AGO and saw the Picasso show. If you’re in Toronto you should really check it out. It’s quite amazing and awe inspiring. Afterwards we went to the member’s lounge, had a nice lunch and then went our separate ways.

Picasso at the AGO

TTFN

When it Rains, it Pours

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… I’m talking about the never ending list of things to be done


The week I’ve been dreading most has just ended. Every year I tell myself that I’m not going to let myself get burdened down with too many extracurricular activities. “Let someone else do it.” However in a moment of weakness I volunteer my services. Don’t get me wrong, I actually enjoy most of the activities I get involved with but “why do they all have to occur at the same time?”  With Girls on the Run, early morning soccer practices, organizing the Jump Rope for Heart assembly, filling in pages and pages of paperwork for our 3 day stay at Mono Cliffs with 56 students, preparing for the activity day for the Forest of Reading program and  staying after school for 5 hours to create next year’s timetable, I was physically and mentally exhausted. All of this took place in the space of 5 days.

I was asked to go to the Track and Field meet but I actually declined the offer and suggested that a younger teacher on staff take on that responsibility.  I love going to these meets but I needed to be at school to prepare for the open house.

On top of all of this I still had to prepare lessons for my grade 5s, finish the class project for the Education Week open house and at least try to maintain and keep 2 classrooms organized (not very well I might add).

… not everything was bad

A lot of positive things happened this week as well. The Jump Rope for Heart assembly took place, the timetable for next year is finished, the paperwork for the Mono Cliffs field trip is finished and all the details have been organized, and the activity day and open house were hugely successful. We also had a Teacher Appreciation Lunch served to us, compliments of the parents and my sister from Chatham came for a visit on Wednesday evening.

The Forest of Reading

Our Forest of Reading program came to an end this week with a culminating activity that every class took part in. I wrote about this in an earlier post. We combined this activity with Education Week and invited the parents to an Open House on Friday. The book club also had their activity day on the same day and the parents were invited to come into the classroom and observe some of the activities that were taking place.

I’m pleased that 30 students met the goal of reading a minimum of 10 Forest of Reading books and were able to participate in the planned activities for the day. Arts Express came in and did 2 drama/literacy workshops for the students and I ran a book making class. My only regret is that I didn’t get any pictures of the final projects. They were quite amazing. After treating the students to a pizza lunch we spent another hour together and made thank-you cards for the staff that were ‘expert readers’, honoured 3 students who read more than anyone else and had a draw for prizes (books of course). We also started painting a large banner that will be displayed permanently in the hall. Each student placed a painted hand on the tree and will later sign their names right on the tree.

The following pictures are some of the presentations that classes displayed around the school. I think they’re very creative. I only wish that I had been able to take pictures of all the great work but because I was so busy with the book club activities I didn’t get to some of the displays before they were taken down.

Enjoy!

“Wordle” pictures of Rm. 14’s favourite books.

Room 13’s essays on how they made the “moose” out of life.

Room 8’s giraffe paintings from the the book “Giraffe and Bird”.

Room 11’s favourite pizza toppings written in French.

Room 11’s book flags of their favourite books.

The frog from the book “Kiss Me!”

Our “Forest of Reading” wall.