I guess we're still in the Halloween spirit, as evidenced by this ghost, created by a kindergartner at the collage station:

"It's just a ghost. Not really scary, just a regular ghost."

No photos today, sorry. Just a quick update! Things are progressing quite well. I'm excited because a sort of unofficial art group has started in my classroom. Some kids are dropped off at school very early, and if I see them lingering outside when I get there (around 7:30 or so), I invite them in with me. I've written up a list of studio chores (sharpen pencils, wash whiteboards, clean tables, stuff like that). If they do a couple chores they are invited to create some art.

This group is different than my class groups because it is small (8-10 kids, counting my own two daughters) and because there is an age range from first grade to sixth grade. I love seeing how they interact and advise each other.

Because I only teach art to the K-3 kids, the younger ones show the older ones how the room works. It's fun for them to be able to teach their "elders".

I'm stumped by this kindergartner's statement regarding his sculpture:

"It's called a balloon travel. When you go to the zoo, you can get some."

The third graders are working together on a village--a big village! They've decided to each work on different components, and then they'll put it all together when they've finished. Here's the garden:

"These snowflakes are the bricks. Those [rice] are the corn. These [buttons] are fruit. This is grass. Those [macaroni] are like the bananas. And over here [beans] is the bread. It's a pretty weird garden because it grows bananas and bread."

Here is what will be the center of the village:

I replenished our supply of pipe cleaners yesterday . . .

"The Rainbow Boa Constrictor is a snake. It's supposed to be standing on a wood. It's looking for something to eat. And that's the end of the story already."

"It's a band-aid for my finger. I have a pretend owie."

White boards are still popular:

"We're both drawing make-believe things. I did a unicorn, and look, she did a puppy. I know a puppy isn't make-believe, but it's RED! I've never seen a RED puppy, have you? Nope! That's what makes it make-believe; it isn't real."

The kindergartners enjoy the Big Papers. This girl created four self portraits during one 30 minute class.

"I did different pictures of me. They're all me, just different colors."

"It's just a guy. Not me, someone else."

When I brought out paper bags, kids rushed to them. Most colored faces on, a few glued some things on.

"All our puppets are friends. They're all girls, too!"

KIDS' ART is GOOD ART!

More beautiful pieces:

"This is an ice skater!"

Painting is in full swing. I'm thrilled that the kids are able to set up and clean up by themselves.

"Day and night. This side is daytime, the other side is nighttime."

Now, I don't have favorites, BUT if I did this piece would be in my top ten!

"This is a turntable thing, the people sit on these chairs, and it turns around. The pipe cleaners are the people."

CLAY!

I've finally conquered my kiln anxiety! Woo-hoo! I've been firing it up at least once a week, sometimes more. (Which is quite a bit, considering that I'm only working at the school two days a week, of course I'm there almost every weekday . . . ). I'm witnessing exciting things. Most of these students have never worked with clay before.

They like to paint them rather than glaze them, which is fine with me. It's much cheaper and much more immediate.

The second grader who created this sculpture chatted excitedly to her friends, "See! It's a dog! With spots. I'm going to give it to my mom or maybe my dad for Christmas."

The second grader who created this figure told me, "I don't even know why I made it. It's a person, a clay person. I think it's cool."

Here's a work in progress

"It's a lagoon, and it has a little car thing and a waterslide."

This kindergartener enjoyed exploring.

Last week, the kindergartners experimented with 3-d sculptures.

"This is a house, see? Here's the roof. It's very pretty. Can I eat my marshmallows, now?"

Another pocket has emerged at the fiber center. Kids are asked to create a pocket before they move onto the more challenging sewing projects. That way, they can learn the basics.

"I drew a design on my pocket with markers. Permanent markers."

The collage center is still popular. I do spend time hunting down new items to add to the center.

There are about five or six kindergartners that are completely ENTHRALLED with the collage center. They don't even sit down, just stand, searching through the materials, and creating art. Some just grab and glue, but several of them are more intentional. The girl that created this piece spent some time arranging and rearranging the papers several times. She cut some of them, and came up with this:

"I'm making it for my grandma. I put green on it cause she likes green. And I used this piece [black and white toile] 'cause she likes old-fashioned times. These are clouds."

The BEST thing about my job is seeing students transform mundane items into art. Often, when I look at a piece, I think, "Um . . . hmm, okay. Interesting." Here's one case. "J" was working intensely on this piece. He was thoroughly absorbed. Here's what he had to say: "It's a skateboard ramp! It's white, like the sidewalk. And, I cute this paper for the ramp part, and this paper for the holding up part. Then I'm going to make a skateboard too!"

Three students are comparing the differences in their spiderwebs.

"See? We all have lots of colors in our webs. But mine has more of these black lines."

I only teach the K-3 kids at our school, but some of the kids have gotten into the habit of coming into my classroom during lunch or recess. They help me sharpen pencils, clean tables, rinse water jars, and stuff like that. Then they are allowed to create some art. One fifth grader worked on this box for three or four lunch periods.

I don't know why, but I just love cows. They're cool. That's why I painted this like a cow. I don't know what I'll use it for, just look at it I guess."

Whiteboards are magic. Two first graders talk about patterns.

"It's a pattern, see. Line, dots, line, dots."