Monday, November 18, 2013

I'm happy to be back today, feeling much healthier than I did last week.







120 I took a group to work on the NYC skyline for the Discovery of Puerto Rico Celebration.  First, we sorted the faux jewels, pulling out the yellow and gold colors.  Then, they sorted them by shape.








After this, we split into groups.  Two students put glue on the buildings and sprinkled glitter, one student drew the statue of liberty and Ellis Island and three students glued the gold and yellow jewels to the buildings like lighted windows.  Next time, we'll finish our windows and the last day will be spent painting lines for the water in the river.

Gluing the jewel windows

We still need to cut out Lady Liberty, but you get the idea.

Painting glue and sprinkling glitter for smaller windows.

112 The students continued their mural of Puerto Rico.  I think the Puerto Rico mural being pulled away as the New York mural is pulled onto the stage is going to look really fabulous. The students are proud and excited.

108 Everyone is working on this celebration, so we took a break from our clay community to make oars out of paper for the boats the students will take from Puerto Rico to New York.  I gave them paper and asked how we could make oars.  Soon, the students were rolling long sheets of paper for the handles and another pair were folding newsprint for the bottom of the oars.  The finished results were awesome and the students spent the last ten minutes "testing them out" while singing "Row, row, row your Boat" and pretending they were on a river with alligators.  They problem solved, created something and used their imaginations- I consider that a win for a forty minute exploration.

Rowing our boat around New York Harbor

118 We brainstormed ideas to help with the celebration and ended up drawing waves on cardboard boxes.  These proved to be troublesome for the students to cut, so we have to figure out a better way next time.  After we get them cut, they will paint them.

101. I brought the second half of this preschool classroom in to add marker details to their murals.  I encouraged them to draw the "scene" and add "props" and "characters."  Most of them drew people.  One girl drew a few articles of clothing next to her person, so the girl could change clothes if she wanted to.  Some drew houses and animals. This group is following the dual immersion plan, so the students are taught in English only during some parts of the day and Spanish only during other parts.  Fifty percent of the students are native English speakers and fifty percent are native Spanish speakers. When discussing the background, I said, "You can draw houses or people or animals..." One of our non-Spanish native language speakers said, "I'm drawing a casa!  Right here!" and there was her little house. 

One child finished early and I encouraged her to add more, but she was really interested in two little toy animals on my desk. She asked if she could see them.  She started making the animals walk around the mural and the animals then became part of the story they were making.  One student drew hay for the horse.  It was really fun to see how the animals brought more to the artwork.  The students were really interested in the animal sculptures, so we might have to figure out a way to explore clay animals next.

103. We painted and used papier mache in this preschool class.  The group I had last week painted and the group I didn't have were able to catch up and do the papier mache.  The masks are going to be awesome. Most students wanted a different color, so we only had one duplicate (purple) so far.  They used a base coat today and they want to decorate it next time.  They were really impressed by the use of dots on the vijigante masks, so I expect to see a lot of dots next class.