Scratch Art

Posted on January 22, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….brown craft paper, oil pastels, and black acrylic paint

Last week I discovered that I was running out of some basic materials, like glue sticks and my supply order that I made weeks before the holidays still hadn’t arrived. After rummaging through the supply cupboard I found enough brown paper for two classes. I had plenty of oil pastels and 2 jars of black acrylic paint.

Some of the students were still finishing their Hundertwasser style landscapes using chalk pastel, so it was interesting for them to experience a new medium, oil pastels. Everyone was busy, either finishing projects or starting a new one. I set up one table for painting to limit the mess and thank goodness for my new drying rack.

Scratch Art from Scratch

I’ve never attempted to do scratch art projects because I’ve only ever seen them done using pre-made scratch boards. As I was going through one of my many art book for children I discovered a simple way to make our own black scratch papers. I have to say that making our own papers was very satisfying and gave the children some experience using oil pastels. I loved using the brown paper and the students were encouraged to leave some of the brown edges exposed.

Students are encouraged to lay down a thick layer of pastels. No background paper should show through. Once we were satisfied with the amount of pastel on the paper we painted a thick layer of black acrylic paint. Before you do this make sure that each student has written their name on the back of their paper or you will have quite a time trying to determine who belongs to the blackened sheets when they come back a week later.

As soon as students finished painting over the the pastels they placed their papers on the drying rack. (This is not a one day project). In the remaining time students can start sketching on copy paper a rough copy of what they would like to draw. I have numerous drawing books available for them to look through and be inspired.

In the following class each student was given a paper clip that I bent open and that was their scratching tool. It works fairly well, especially if you hold it like a pencil and gently rub away the black paint. The assignment was to draw some animals but some of them chose to create a landscape or they did a combination of both. I mounted the finished pieces on two pieces of different coloured construction paper so that it looked like it was matted. Again I think that the grade 2/3 class did a great job.

Tissue Collage Landscape

Posted on January 12, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….I introduced four different art projects this week

I had to think quickly this week as to what I was going to teach in art. I ordered some supplies before Christmas and they hadn’t come in yet so I scrambled to find a project(s) that required the materials I had on hand. Of all the projects that I assigned I think the one I introduced to my grade 3 class is my favourite so far.

We talked about landscapes and reviewed the components: foreground, background and horizon line. I demonstrated how to tear the tissue and overlap the colours to give the picture more depth. I then explained that once the tissue layer was complete we were going to cut out shapes from construction paper, magazines and art papers that we had created last year to create a foreground of flowers.

In the first class most of the students only finished gluing down the tissue paper. In the next class they will cut out their shapes from different materials, glue them into place and then using a fine tip black marker they will add detail to their cut outs and add some line drawings behind their collaged flowers.

I had lots of art books and posters to demonstrate the technique and show a variety of flowers that they could draw. I didn’t want everyone to gravitate to the blue tissue for their sky so I read them Peter Reynolds new book Sky Colour. It’s a wonderful book that every teacher who teaches art should have in their library. All my classes loved the book and took the message to heart. Very few chose a solid blue for their sky colour.

I started a sample with the children as they worked so that they could visualize what I had in mind. I think that the process is more important than the product and I find giving them a sample to look at helps them better understand the process. No two pictures are ever the same.

Today I finished my sample at home. The first picture shows the tissue in the background and the simple cut outs that are glued on top. In the second picture you can see a close-up of the detail that I drew in after with a fine tip black Sharpie and the third picture is the entire finished piece.

I’m looking forward to seeing what my grade 3s come up with.

Cheers!

Daily Prompt: Quirk of Habit

Posted on January 12, 2014 by Mama Cormier

Which quirky habit annoys you the most, and what quirky habit do you love — in yourself, or others.

As a teacher I am painfully aware of overused expressions and words that people tack onto the end of their sentences. When I went to teachers college, eons ago, we were asked to do a lesson while being filmed. It was suppose to help us with our teaching style, voice projection and class management. The one thing that I was made aware of was my overuse of the the word ‘okay’. I was appalled at how often I used it. To this day I avoid using the word ‘okay’ at the end of my sentences whenever possible.

When I have student teachers in my classroom and I notice that they overuse a word, I will actually count how many times they’ve used that word in a 10 minute period. I’ve counted as high as 50 for some of my students when they’re in front of the class teaching. Trust me, students pick up on these quirky habits and can use them against you.

Sometimes it’s the quirky habits of our siblings that annoy us the most. A few years ago my middle sister constantly added the word ‘right?’ to the end of every other sentence. One day I just couldn’t take it any more and when she said ‘right?’, I immediately answered back and said, “Wrong!”. She looked at me puzzled, completely unaware of her quirky habit. When I told her what she was doing she tried very hard not to do it but she found it difficult and even cursed me when she’d catch herself falling back into that pattern.

The habit that I hate about myself is the one where I pick up on other people’s expressions even when I don’t like them. I find if I hear something too often I catch myself doing or saying the same thing. When I worked in Germany as a young adult the only English I heard all summer was from an American couple from New York. When I returned home I discovered that I had a bit of a New York accent. Bizarre!

Thinking of a quirky habit that I love is a little more difficult. I guess the little things that babies and very young children do when they first learn to speak and walk are very endearing to me. Unfortunately and I guess fortunately for them they do outgrow them.

Special thanks to http://www.someecards.com and http://www.jantoo.com

From Zero to Hero – Day 8

Posted on January 9, 2014 by Mama Cormier

DAY 8: MAKE YOUR “ABOUT” PAGE IRRESISTIBLE

I have to admit that it’s been awhile since I’ve updated my About page. When I saw today’s assignment I thought “why not?’.

The first week back at school has been a tough one. Everyone is exhausted. It’s been extraordinarily long and I thought Friday would never come. Today I went out for recess duty when it wasn’t my turn. I simply forgot that I had a made a change with one of my colleagues weeks ago. I went back inside because I did have a scheduled duty later in the afternoon.

I started my day with a 7:45 basketball tryout session with 32 grade 4 and 5 boys and I ended the day staying late, trying to figure out how to open up the report card system so that teachers could start recording their marks and comments. Normally it’s a pretty straight forward procedure but we had a few changes in staff recently and we had to call the help desk for some assistance. Of course the help desk was very busy as well so there was some waiting on the phone before we could talk to someone. Our problem wasn’t as easy to resolve as one might think but after a half hour on the phone, some running back and forth and paging a few staff members most of the glitches were fixed and one last problem, we were assured, would be resolved by the morning.

I have to admit that I am extraordinarily tired today. After cleaning up after dinner I have no energy for any extra jobs today, although I did pack up one more box of Christmas stuff. I got a little bit of exercise on yard duty today. I don’t like just standing around so I walk for the full 15 minutes when I’m outside, especially when it’s cold.

Check out my ‘new and improved’ About page.

Cheers!

From Zero to Hero – Day 6 – Cold Weather

Posted on January 7, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..today’s theme is publish a post that has a new-to-you element

I’ve used many forms of media in my posts, including Youtube videos, Vimeo videos, photographs and URL links but I’ve never had any success with Sound Cloud. So here goes another attempt to insert music that isn’t attached to a video.

It’s been bitterly cold for the last two days. Today the windchill factor brought the temperatures down to – 40 degrees celsius. We had indoor recess all day. If that wasn’t bad enough, school buses were cancelled and the heating system in the kindergarten classes and two of the portables didn’t work. All day the library became a temporary home for several classes and tomorrow looks like there may be more of the same.

I didn’t mind sharing the space today but at the end of the day, right after 3:00 the heat in the library and several classes at my end of the hall ceased to exist. I thought at first it was just my imagination but other teachers who walked into the library immediately noticed the drop in temperature. My colleagues across the hall also complained about the chill in their rooms. The thermostat in V’s room registered a 15 degree drop and her hands were literally turning blue by 3:30.

Is it possible when they fixed the heating problem at the other end of the school they messed with the controls at my end? I guess we’ll find out tomorrow morning. In the meantime we left a note for our day time caretaker who arrives super early in the morning.

Day 6 – New Task

Today I debated whether to pack up the Christmas ornaments or clean out the kitchen junk drawer, you know the one. I decided on the junk drawer because I could barely open it and I couldn’t find what I needed when I did get it open. The Christmas ornaments, which are off the tree and the tree is by the curb side, will have to wait for another day.

It turns out that I have too many utensils and knives and I really can’t afford to have a junk drawer. I ended up throwing away things I haven’t used in years and will probably never use. I also found a number of things that I thought I had lost for ever.

I took all the hardware and tools to the work bench in the basement and I put all the warrantees and appliance manuals in a special accordion file that I keep in my office.

Another job done. I’m really liking this ‘task a day’ challenge that I’ve created for myself. I’m hoping that the temperatures warm up a bit so that I can start walking again.

I think Sound Cloud worked. Yahoo!

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/zero-to-hero/

Cheers!

Can Barely Keep My Eyes Open

Posted on December 19, 2013 by Mama Cormier

……last day of school before the holidays

Today, Thursday, was our last day of school. Normally we go till Friday but the government wants to save some money so they made Friday an unpaid PD day. Now most teachers were happy to be off one day early but today when our pay checks arrived we received an unwelcome surprise. Our net pay reflected the day off that we haven’t even taken yet. Ughhhh!!!!!!! Why our board couldn’t spread it out over the year is beyond me. The difference was significant. The timing couldn’t be worse.

That aside, the atmosphere at school was electric today. The kids were crazy and the teachers were barely hanging in there. Last night we had our staff party and even though most of us didn’t stay late some of us went out shopping after we left the party. The party by the way was one of the best in all my years at this school. It was exceptionally well attended and everyone had a great time. Lots of laughter, fun and games, good food and great company.

When I got home, after doing last minute shopping for my library helpers and the support staff at school, I stayed up to wrap the gifts. I think I went to bed after 1:00 am. This morning we had an assembly, where we recognized outstanding students for the month of December, listened and watched some outstanding student talent and sang a few Carols. There wasn’t a lot of teaching going on in the morning or in the afternoon for that matter. I did have an art class in the afternoon and one library class.

At the end of the day, I stayed in the library for awhile to clean-up and organize some of my art supplies and my library office. I didn’t leave till after 4:30 but it felt good to leave my space tidy and organized. When I got home I checked my emails and my husband heated up some soup for dinner. It’s not even 8:30 and I’m already falling asleep at the computer. I have a feeling it’s going to be an early night for me. I’ll need all the rest I can get. Even though I’ve done a lot of my shopping, I now need to spend some time on my house to get it ready for my son and his girlfriend and for family and friends who will be here for Christmas Eve.

Good night!

Cheers!

Simple Christmas Cards and Tags

Posted on December 18, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….using fabric crayons and cotton swatches

During the last week of school before the Christmas holidays I needed a quick and easy project for the boys and girls to work on when they finished their art projects. For years I had fabric crayons sitting in my cupboard with no plans on how to use them. Last year I experimented with them and loved how they worked.

I gave each child a piece of photocopy paper and instructed them to fold it into four rectangles. On each rectangle the students had free reign to create any design they wanted. Many chose Christmas symbols, winter scenes or their names (the mirror image). The only thing they needed to do was fill in their design with lots of fabric crayon and sometimes they could get two or three prints from the same picture. They loved it when I ironed their designs onto a piece of cotton fabric. It was like magic.

The Christmas Spirit at School

Posted on December 11, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….what a perfect topic for my 500th post

For weeks the boys and girls in the junior choir have been learning and fine tuning the songs that they performed at last night’s concert. For several years now the choir has paired up with a local men’s choir, The Queensmen, at Christmas time to put on a joint concert. One of their favourite songs is Santa Fever and this year and last year the Dads or a significant male figure in the children’s lives were invited to join the choir for this show stopper tune. This year “Santa” joined in on the fun. The concert was one of the best I’ve ever experienced with this choir.

The next day most of the girls from the basketball team arrived for the early morning practice. The girls have learned so much and are really starting to apply what they’ve learned to their game. It’s a joy watching them play. They’re having so much fun.

Tomorrow is Craft Night at our school. The kids and the parents love this evening. All the teachers pair up and come up with a craft that families can work on together and complete in about 15 minutes. Every year there’s a different theme. This year the committee decided on Winter Wonderland.

Each teacher is given enough money from the parent council so that about 50 to 100 projects can be produced in each class. Most families can complete about 4 crafts in one evening. I’ve paired up with my friend L and we’re making wire stars with a snowflake garland. For a while we couldn’t find the garland so we came up with a few other options, like creating a beaded garland or using gold wire to embellish the star.

All week I’ve been cutting wire, making samples, measuring out the garlands and bagging the materials into individual baggies. I was exhausted after putting together about 60 kits. Tomorrow when I’m at the basketball game, L will take over and complete the remaining 40 kits and cutting 60 more wires.

: Individual bags of wire, beads and ribbon

: The frames used to wrap the wire into stars

: A close-up of the nails

: The beads and snowflake garland

: Star with gold wire and glass beads

: Star with snowflake garland

: Star with coloured beads

: Star wrapped in gold wire

Weekly Writing Challenge: Multimedia Storytelling

Daily Prompt: Learning Styles

Posted on December 8, 2013 by Mama Cormier

Results from a teachers’ hands-on workshop.

What’s your learning style? Do you prefer learning in a group and in an interactive setting? Or one-on-one? Do you retain information best through lectures, or visuals, or simply by reading books?

I learn best through visuals and hands on activities. Long before I learned about different learning styles, I knew that I needed to be shown how to do something or at least have a visual that explained the process.

Many years ago my parents invested in knitting machines to be sold in their wool and fabric store. They asked me to learn how to use the machines so that I could give demonstrations to some of their customers. They handed me a cassette tape. I just laughed. Even then I knew that I couldn’t learn how to operate this piece of machinery by simply listening to a tape. My middle sister, however, jumped at the chance and became very proficient with the machines. She was also a lot better at learning languages than I was. My friend, L, teaches children to memorize words to songs by simply making them repeat the words. I’ve tried but I need that piece of paper in front of me to help me with the process.

Over the years I’ve learned to use a variety of teaching techniques to accommodate different learning styles. What works for one child may not work for another. This week in one of my art classes, I had students come to me individually when they were ready to start a new project. I had pictures and samples in front of me and I explained the process when they arrived at my desk. After showing several students what to do I asked one student if they could see from the examples what needed to be done. He had no clue. He needed to hear the instructions. He was clearly an auditory learner.

As for me, give me a demonstration, a video tutorial or a hands-on workshop. I’ll come away inspired and ready to try something new.

Learning by doing

Rewarded by success!

Our Urban Rural Drawings

Posted on December 4, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….in the Hundertwasser style

This week the grade 3 students have been working on their urban rural landscapes using vibrant chalk pastels.

We started the lesson discussing the components of a landscape; foreground, middle ground, background and horizon line. We talked about how objects in the foreground were larger and smaller in the background. I then showed the class images of Hundertwasser’s whimsical houses and lollipop trees.

The assignment was to draw city buildings in the foreground and a rural setting in the background. After drawing their rough copies, each student was allowed to choose a sheet of coloured construction paper and then redraw their landscape lines using first pencil and then black or silver marker.

Starting at the top of their paper they then started to add colour using chalk pastels. I showed them how to blend colours using their fingers and pieces of tissue paper. Once all the colour was in place, the black lines were redrawn as the last step. The final results have been stunning. You be the judge. Enjoy!