An Art Blog Journey Comes to an End

So . . . be your name Buxbaum or Bixby

or Bray or Mordecai Ali Allen O'Shea,

you're off to Great Places! Today is your day!

Your moutain is waiting. So . . . get on your way!

My art blog journey has come to an end, but I hope to continue to explore the arts in my future classrooms. Yesturday in class we were asked to make a commitment for the future. I said that I commit to teaching my students that art is about the process and not the product. This way everyone is an artist and no one is better then anyone else.

I think Dr. Seuss will be able to help me and my students remember that we may have bumps along the way but we are all capable of moving mountains.

Excellent job everyone on their blogs. I hope we are able to able to carry out our commitments to the arts.

Christmas Potluck

Here we are singing, drumming and having fun!


Nicola and Linda playing drums for "Little Drummer boy"


Trevor our very jolly santa drinking Coke (of course)


A great picture of Elena, Sarah and Faye


Nicola, Leisbet and Meg practicing before the big performance

The Christmas potluck was a smashing success! Everyone did a great job leading their songs and spreading good cheer. The support of everyone definetely gave me the confidence to sing and perform in front of the rest of the cohorts. It was great to see the christmas flaire, lots of red and green. Thank you to Kriten and Rebecca for being excellent MC's. Mike and Rob your videos were great, definetely a highlight of the event. To top it all off the food was yummy! Well done everyone.

Art Gallery

I had lots of fun at the Two Rivers Art gallery yesturday. Our whole cohort visited the art gallery last year, where we mostly pretended we were students. This time we talked as teachers. It was great to hear the different activity suggestions, I would never have thought to use the art exhibition to make creatures or use a felt board. I loved the art activity with the black lights and neon paint. Everyones creativity was amazing, it was great to combine different hand to make neon creatures. The picture to the left is of my hand, I loved using the paint on my hand. I enjoyed our final portrait activity. I think students would really like using their own picture to create art. I am glad we had the opportunity to go to the art gallery, it was a great way to relax and forget about last week assignments. Unfortunately I forgot my camera, so I will hopefully get pictures from others.

P.S. Thanks for the photo sherri, I copied it from your blog.

Attempt to Paint #2

I had the opportunity to try another attempt to paint. This time I think it was more successful. I collaborated with Kristen McDonald, which was fun. We used one of Ted Harrison's paitings to give us inspiration, but did not follow his painting exaclty. It was great to have an image to look to for ideas and I liked being able to choose elements that we wanted to include. I absolutely love Ted Harrison's work, he was really influenced by the Northern landscape and Aboriginal culture. He uses colour so nicely, by blending differnt shades of colour to create a certain effect. Kristen and I tried to capture some of Ted Harrison's colour technique by mixing colours and creating shades for the sky and the ocean. It was fun working together and painting again. I think if I were to have students create relicas of Ted Harrison's paitings I would emphasis the they can choose aspects to focus on, for example colour, or sky and not need to add everything. You can see below a Ted Harrison's original painting and Kristen and my version.

Christmas Potluck

I am feeling a bit nervous about the Christmas potluck sing-a-long performance on Wednesday. I do not normally enjoy standing up in front of people, the thought of everyone starring at me is very scary. I like that our class has decided to stand as one group, hopefully the peer support will help calm my nerves. I will be leading a song with three other people. Again, the peer suport will be crucial. I appreciate everyone who volunteered to help take part and organize the event. It was great to see everyone take a role, whether it be center stage or set up. I think it is important to recognize that we all have different strengths and comfort zones. I will try to ensure that I stress the same thing for the students in my classroom, in order for them to feel valued. I will post again after the performance on Wednesday to see if any of my thoughts change.

Research Platform

I just wanted to make a comment about the research platforms that were presented on Thursday. I really enjoyed seeing everyone using their creativity to present what they learned about the artist they researched. We saw interviews, powerpoint presentations, replicas of drawings and listened to music. I was extremely stressed with all the assignments and tests we had to do, but I was able to take a few moments to sit back and enjoy. I realized how calming and beautiful the fine arts can be. I think that I could bring in different multimodel representations of art in my own classroom in order to give my students the same sense of calming. The part that I love about art is that it does not feel like work. Fine arts can make the students feel like they are taking a break, but in fact they are learning so much more then they would from reading out of a textbook.
Thank you everyone who presented on Thursday, I appreciate your creativity and talent as teachers. I look forward to the other presentations next Thursday.

Remembrance Day Art Connection

I remember absolutely loving our Remembrance Day assemblies at school. I love the sound of bagpipes and the look of Mounties in Uniform. I loved the opportunity to reflect on those who faught for our freedom. I was great listening to the music and hearing stories. At my highschool usually some students put on a play, which usually made me cry. I always left sad but happy at the same time.

pictures from the art show

I really enjoyed myself yesturday at the Children's Art Show. I loved walking around and seeing how excited the students were. I'm impressed with our cohort and the inovative art activities they did. I was happy that all my students who I invited came to see the art. They were thrilled to see their artwork on display. I thought a lot about which students I wanted to invite. I chose the students who I thought deserved a boost and often go unrecognized. In the process I made 5 students extremely happy and a few students who were not chosen sad. I wish I could have invited everyone. I think next time I would celebrate everyone's art, that way everyone would feel validated. For the art show I worked on the welcome board, it was off to the side but I heard from others that it did not go unnoticed. I think if I were to have an event at my school I would involved the students in the welcome greeting.

Teaching Music

I had the opportunity to teach a music lesson during my practicum. At my school their was no music teacher, so every teacher had to have their own music program. My teacher loved to sing, so the students were use to being sung to. I played a game of "Finder and Seeker". The students used the dynamics of their voices to help one student find an object. The students sang louder as the one student got closer and closer to the object. As soon as I told them they were going to play a game, they were instantly exciting. I needed to remind the students the difference between singing and yelling a few times. Most students were engaged and reinforced their experience with dynamics.

Here is a copy of my lesson plan.

Title: Dynamics Grade: 2/3 Subject: Music

Prescribed Learning Outcome:
Elements of Melody
demonstrate changes in pitch and melodic direction

Key Concepts: Dynamics

Prior Knowledge:
Students should be familiar with music dynamics.
Students should be familiar with the song “Make New Friends”

Materials:
An object to hide

Learning Intention: I can change the tone of my voice to be loud and soft.

Instruction: (30 minutes)

Transition: (1-2 minutes)
1. Students return from gym.
2. The teacher tells the students to walk nicely to circle.

Motivational Activity: (3-5 minutes)
1. The teacher tells the students that they are going to practice using soft and loud voices by playing a game.
2. The teacher tells the students that their goal is to know when to sing softly and when to sing loudly.
3. The teacher tells the students that in order to play the game they need to remember how to sing the song “Make New Friends.”
4. The teacher will remind the students that they sang the song on Thursday with Miss Cousins.
5. The teacher will tell the students to sing along while they sing the song a few times to help remember the words.

Developmental Activity: (2-3 minutes)
1. The teacher tells the students that one person is going to hide an object somewhere in the classroom (where we can still see it) and one person will try to find the object.
2. The teacher will tell the students that the whole class will help the person find the object by singing soft when they are far away from the object and louder when they get closer and closer to the object.
3. The teacher will model hiding the object and have the students practice singing louder and softer as the teacher gets closer or further from the object.
4. The teacher will stress that everyone will get a chance to be either the hider or the finder.
5. The teacher will remind the students that singing loud is not yelling.

Culminating Activity: (15-20 minutes)
1. The teacher will ask the V.I.P. if he/she wants to be the finder or the hider and then pick a name from the popsicle stick container to be other player.
2. The teacher will then pick names from the popsicle stick container to determine which students will be the next finder or hider.
3. The game is played until every student has had a turn or it is time to move on to the next lesson.

Extension:
1. The teacher can teach students the vocabulary “piano” for soft voice and “forte” for loud voice. 2. The students can play both the finder and the hider.

Adaptations:
The teacher can point the students in the right area if they are having trouble finding the object.
Students can sing another song that is familiar to them.

Assessment: Students will be assessed based on their ability to change the tone of their voice between soft to loud.

Resources:
1. Song Lyrics

Make New Friends

Make new friends
But keep the old
One is silver
And the other’s gold

Penguin Mask Fun

During my practicum I taught many science lessons on Penguins. In my last week I decided to be brave and make penguin masks for art. My teacher said that the most important part of art is being organized, which is something that I love to do. I cut out the masks ahead of time out from white stiff cardboard, which is stiff enough to manage lots of glue and materials. The students first coloured their masks with felts, the teacher had a box of extra felts for students who needed it. Once students finished colouring, they wrote their names on the back and started to add materials. I organized the decorative materials in egg cartoons (one at each group of students). This worked really well and maintain the materials with very little mess. Each table had a paper plate with glue, the students used popsicle sticks to spread the glue. The students loved it and were very proud of their work. I put on a "Hoja" CD and very little behaviour management was needed. I would definetely teach this lesson again.

A Helpful Resource

I had the opportunity to teach about the lines during my practicum. During my first week of practicum a retiering teacher at the school gave me a number of teacher resources, one of them was "How to Teach Art to Children" published by Joy Evans and Tanya Skelton. I used the book to help me find an activity that I thought would help students understand the types and directions of lines. The pictures above show the lesson that I taught. I put the students work up on a bulletin board outside of the classroom and some inside the classroom. The book is organized into seven different concepts. Within each concept their are seven different lesson activities and worksheets for students. Each lesson has a step by step procedure, list of materials and pictures of completed work. This book was great and very helpful. I look forward to using more activities in my next practicum.

Funny First Dance

Brian & Katie's Evolution of Wedding Dance
Source: www.youtube.com
Play Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QujA8YYgTWU

I am getting married in June and came across theis video. It definetely made me laugh and I was really impressed with the dancing. I am not the greatest dancer, which makes me appreciate others who can dance. I took ballet and jazz dance lessons in my early elementary years. I often needed extra help from the instructor because I couldn't quite get the steps. I remember having fun, even if I was one of the worst dancers. My fiance and I have taken a variety of dance lessons together. He often gets mad because I like to lead, it is very hard to let him tell me where to go. This video definetely made me think of my fiance and I at our future wedding. We will need to take a few more dance lessons, but hopefully we will be able to dance and have fun. I think I will be able to teach my future students that you don't have to be the best dancer, the most important thing is that you have fun.

Haida Art

This is a book that my mom gave me. It's an awesome book because it has the picture of an animal on the left side and then the Haida version on the right side. I decided to experiment a bit and I drew one of the animals. I picked the frog because it is my mom's favourite. I think this would be a fun activity in the classroom. The students could draw their own animals then draw the Haida animal.

Music is Fun

This is a picture of my music organizer. I found this fun frog at Value Village, I thought he was a great way to encouage me to start a music collection for my future classrooms. I have a few fun and upbeat CD's now, I hope to to expand my collection to include classical and jazz. I travelled to South Africa last summer and bought a children's CD. I also hope to include other cultural music. I think music is a great way to start the day and play during independent work.

My attempt to paint

This is a painting that I did at the beginning of September. I really did not know what I was doing. I mostly explored with colours, trying to create shadows and raws of light. I used my fingers to spread the colour, which made it really fun. Next time I would like to try using different tools like, a toobrush or a comb.

Reading can take you places you never thought possible

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”- Dr Seuss

Another great quote from the amazing Dr. Seuss. I love this quote because it's a great message for kids. Reading is such a powerful tool. I plan on teaching primary and hope to use books that are visually stimulating and make them think. Dr. Seuss books have amazing illustrations and very meaningful messages. I hope to incorporate art as a way to express feelings and toughts when the words cannot be found. In primary, students are just beginning to gain language skills and learn how to connect with their feelings. I hope art provides my students with the power of knowledge.

Today is your day!

"Congratulations! Today is your day. You're off to Great Places! You're off and away!" - by Dr. Seuss

Dr. Suess says it so well in his book "Oh, the places you'll go!" I absoluetly love this book and think a lot can be learned from it's message. Sometimes we will succeed and sometimes we own't , the important thing is to pick ourselves back up and continue along our way. I don't really consider myself to be an artistic person, but I love being creative and having the opportunity to learn new things. I have always loved painting and drawing, I just was never really good at it. I am looking forward to this art class and visiting others student's blogs. I am excited for the journey and am willing to be open to learning many different ways to be creative. The most important think is to have fun along the way.

'Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So. . . get on your way!" -Dr. Seuss