Drawing Outside!

Taking advantage of a rare sunny day to do some observational drawing in the courtyard.

Kindergarteners think spring!

How bright and FUN is this?


The trickiest part was figuring out how to place the flowers
and bend the fingers to make the hand hold the stems the right way....

most of us figured it out.....

and it won't be long until REAL flowers are blooming....

we hope!

Oil pastel transfer

This is actually something the second grade classes are doing, but 1J got to try it as a little bonus-


papers were folded in half, then opened and only half
of the paper colored with oil pastel....


then closed back up and a picture drawn on the outside,
pressing a little harder than usual with the pencil...
(next time I might actually have them use a ball-point pen -
no worry about lead breaking, and it would emphasize the fact
that there is really no erasing here - once you make a mark,
it stays....)

these look SO COOL!
you can color in areas more subtly by burnishing areas of the pencil
drawing with an eraser, the back of a spoon, or another
smooth object....  but, I didn't take a picture of that....

Invasion of.....second grade sculptures

Look what the second graders made!



Strange and fantastic alien creatures.....



sadly, now that my supply of 1000+ cardboard yarn-dispenser
cones is depleted, I'll have to find another base for future
alien life-forms....

I bet I can find a few empty toilet paper rolls somewhere....

3rd graders and Symmetry

Aren't these cool?

The third graders have been exploring symmetry.

These designs have multiple lines of symmetry!

Here is what we did...

fold a paper in half, corner to corner...

Then in half again... 

and in half again....  

Then write your name... I usually recommend all caps

with letters large enough to touch the edges of the triangle

then, unfold back to your largest triangle and trace....

then unfold/refold and trace again.....

until your design goes all the way around

and color...

I love these when they are all colored and hung together :)

Holton Rower

So inspired - what kid wouldn't love to be a part of a project like this?