"It's a scarecrow, but it's really scary, because of all his pointy fingers. They're everywhere, see?"
-first grader





















"Oh, he's just a guy. I made him for the block center, we're going to trap him inside the tower!"
-first grader




















"Okay. These are three magic horse guys. And these squares are their powers. One has water powers. One has animal powers [he can change into any animal]. And this one, um, I forget his power."
-second grader












"Well, I just started cutting out then I found the hole puncher. And the hole puncher is hard to push. And he has holes in his head but he's not hurt, you know, that's how his head is. And the yellow string is hair, plus I can hang it up by the string. It's for my mom for a decoration, only I'm gonna ask her if I can put it in my room. 'Cause I really like it."

"It's me. Made out of paper. I'm smiling because I'm happy. Next week I'm going to make my sister, too."

end of year odds and ends
School is just about over! I'm cleaning up my computer image files, and finding some images I'd meant to post. Here they are!







Fifth and sixth graders learned iris folding.

Students in all graders enjoy attribute blocks.

Painting:

The drawing center:

Collage:

The fifth graders loved weaving on homemade looms. Some used rulers as a shed holder.

This luscious painting was created by a first grader. She told me, "I'm just seeing how it looks to paint circles softly. Then sometimes I just put the brush on the paper. I'm trying different colors, too."

Here is a side by side of her two paintings. On the right is the rainbow, with a few experimental marks. I asked her if I could display the painting. She looked at both of them and handed me the rainbow. "You can keep this one," she said, "I can make other rainbows, but I don't think I'll ever be able to do one just like this [experimental painting]. My mom will really want to see it." Had I had my own classroom, I'd have shown her some work done by Kandinsky . . .

Students LOVE Keva planks !

"Look at this, it's made with spirals."

"This building is for animals, they can go in or out."

It took three students to create this butterfly.

"It's an airport shop!"

The students have fun making friends at the collage center

"These are stuffies. You just need paper and staples. And you decorate them. This is roundy and I don't know the other guy's name."

"This is me. I'm happy, and I'm thinking of something."

"I colored this with my favorite colors."

"I didn't have time to finish her, but I'll color her at home."

"This is a picture of Obama. He's the president. And this is a map of the whole U.S.! I'm drawing the map and my friend is writing the names on the map, 'cause I don't know all their names or where they go."

Some fun pieces from the collage center:

"This is a machine for our friend. It's a glue machine."

"It's my mask. I'm Iron Man! This ear thing is my protector."

Second graders learned about shadows. We did these in the morning. Kids traced each other's shadows and added details. We talked about how the shadows are different at different times of day.

These students love blocks. I enjoy seeing the different ways they are used to create. Some students make patterns:




Some students create 3 dimensional cities:


This student used it to spell out a kind thought!

The ubiquitous traced hand drawing gets a new look!

 
"It's me, my family, and my friends."

 
"This is an underground digger, it can dig into the earth!"