Well it's the end of another term and this will be my last blog entry. I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed creating my blog and experimenting with different media on my own. From shaving cream to watercolour... I had a blast! I wanted to add these two pictures because they play tricks on the eye. If you look at the picture on top, you will see little black dots 'popping' out at you that aren't actually on the picture. If you look at the picture on the bottom, the wheels appear to be turning, but they actually aren't! I took these pictures at Science World and was surprised to see that the effect showed up in a photograph. I think this is a neat 'spin' on art and I am sure there are art activities that you could do with your students. I know of one activity where students can create an image using orange, blue and black construction paper. Once the image is complete, students look at the picture for about 30 seconds and then close their eyes. The trick is that when students close their eyes, they will see different colours of the image than those of the construction paper.

Anyway, have a Merry Christmas everyone and I will see you in the new year! One more term and we will all be TEACHERS!!!!!!

Cartoon Art

Two years ago, Mark and I went to West Edmonton mall for a vacation getaway. There was a cartoon artist there so we decided to be models for him. The artist charged $20 for the picture. Many of his cartoon drawings were of surfing dudes and of a princess and prince charming. The artist sketched our bodies and then went back through with watercolour paint and added in more detail. I love this picture... however, I wish my waste really was that skinny :)

Strangers

When I got home last night, there were two strangers in my living room. When I opened the front door, I was startled because I was not expecting guests! These are two of my mom's nutcrackers. She absolutely loves them. I wanted to share them with you because a great deal of detail has gone into carving and crafting them. The Santa nutcracker is my favourite of the two, working in his toyshop. Christmas is underway at my house.

Art Gallery

I really enjoyed my time at the art gallery yesterday and especially appreciated both of the art activities we did. I know that there are differing opinions about whether people would take their students to the present exhibits, and I would have to say that I would not take primary or early intermediate. The reason for my concern, especially for primary, is that some of the photos in the first exhibit were not appropriate and I did not appreciate that there was art of child next to art of a naked woman. I also would not have my students look at the second exhibit. While art is interpretative, I can foresee students seeing the same things as I did. I agree with Shyla, the images reminded me of the movie I am Legend and found many of them to be disturbing. Younger children can have adverse reactions, such as nightmares when they watch a scary movie and I could not help but think they would have the same reaction to this art. While I do not want to shelter my students, I feel it is important that we consider all the possible things that students could experience from this viewing.

The art that I especially liked were the images created by Peter George. I love Aboriginal art and I enjoyed the Aboriginal legends there were told for two of his pieces of work... pesky mosquitoes! I loved the glow in the dark paint. I created a monster on my hand with several eyes, sharp teeth, and a tongue that drools. The black light was really neat and added a different touch to the art work. The art under the black light did not look the same under natural light. The second piece of artwork we did was definitely creative. I pictured myself going on my honeymoon to Alaska, so I drew a mountain landscape in the background with water. My hope is to go on a cruise and combine it with a railway adventure! For my picture, I illustrated the landscape so that my head would overlap the mountains. I thought because I was imaging my trip with my fiancé, I would make myself appearing to 'dream.' The mountains are 'flowing' out of my mind. My sun did not turn out all the beautiful but overall, I am very proud of my picture and would use this art in the classroom. You could have a lesson about landscapes and ask students, "If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?" Then, students could draw the landscape on the frosted mylar paper and layer it with a picture of him or herself. This would be neat to use for light catchers too using tissue paper.

Christmas Potluck!

Well, we did it! What an amazing day and performance. I am very pleased with the outcome and believe that we have set the bar for EY/08 next year! I just wanted to thank everyone for taking part, whether you were singing, presenting, playing, or organizing the presentation. We worked as a team and without that team work the performance would have been a disaster. I think we did ourselves and our professors proud. Shayla, you are awesome - you know all the words to every Christmas song!... I needed the lyrics :) The performance was definitely entertaining and we had everyone laughing at one point or another. Laughter can go a long way.

While the performance was good, just some suggestions for future consideration and maybe Willow can use this information for next year. I could not see the lyrics from where we were standing and as such, began humming! Next time, we should make sure the words are big enough to see. Also, maybe two projectors would be better. One that performers can see and one that the audience can see. The projector was behind the audience and many of them wanted to keep eye contact with us. This might account for why many people were not singing along? Some people brought paper copies of the songs... ingenious!

While we were singing, I was thinking about how much fun it would be to take students caroling through the school. I would have my students decide what songs they would want to sing (a minimum of 3) and have them sing one song per classroom. I think they would find it enjoyable and would allow them to perform without too much preparation.

Overall, I am glad that we decided to participate in this activity and have fun as a group. It was a bit of stress relief for me and allowed me to forget about some of my worries about my e-portfolio. Thanks again to everyone, you have the voices of angels!

Remembrance Day

This is a picture of my father carrying a flag representative of the United Nations during the Remembrance Day parade. He served in the Canadian Military for 21 years and was posted in Cyprus, Germany, and Norway.

It is important to teach students to take a moment on November 11th, to remember those who fought in wars. These men died so that their children and families and future generations could live in a free country. On this day, we acknowledge their courage and sacrifice and should always remember that our freedom came with a price.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.

- John McCrae

Art Show

I really enjoyed my time at the art show. I thought it was a huge success and was extremely happy when two of my students were able to attend. I really appreciated the parents for bringing the kids because they live 30 - 40 minutes outside of town. Can you tell how proud they are of their art work and how proud I am of them!?!

I think the art show was a wonderful experience and gave me the opportunity to see how much planning needs to go into putting a function like this together. I would definitely do this in the future on my own time as a teacher and would encourage other teachers to participate as well.

One thing that I learned at the event is to make sure you know what ingredients are in the food you provide. One of my students has a nut allergry and there is an almond ingredient in icing (so I'm told). Luckily, the allergy is only to peanuts and almonds do not cause a reaction!

I would like to congratulate everyone for a job well done! Your art is beautiful and I am going to use a lot of your ideas in the future! I especially liked the marshmallow spiders and the vanishing point!

Farewell to Autumn

This is the second art lesson that I did with my students. It was a farewell to Autumn as the weather was so cold in the last couple of weeks. To begin the lesson, we talked about warm colours and then discussed the colours we see in Autumn and what type of weather we experience. One of the students asked about dead pine trees so we also had a short discussion about the pine beetle epidemic.

The lesson was done in three parts. After the teaching, students began making their birch trees with masking tape. They cut and ripped stips for trunks and branches. This took one hour. The next day durig math, I pulled out groups of students to paint the background over top of the tape which only took about a minute for each student. Students could use any colour for the background as long as it was a warm colour (yellow, red, orange). The second day, students carefully lifted the tape and then bgan using warm colour pastels to add shading to the image to create more of a textured forest look. Students were told that if the tape tore the paper, that it would be okay because it would provide more of a textured bark look! Students used block watercolour paint and q-tips for the leaves, and used black pencil crayons to etch the bark onto the trees. The students were instructed not to rush any step and to take their time, especially during the taping section.

The lesson was a great success and all students were able to participate and complete it. If you would like to try this art lesson, make sure you use watercolour paper! You can also do this lesson for winter scenes. The trees will be white and you can create round dots from the tape to create falling snow. For the background, use blue to create a beautiful winter's day!

Halloween Art

My cooperating teacher asked me to create an art lesson for Halloween so I decided to teach students a technique called "Relief" which esstentially teaches them about foreground and background. I had students think of different objects/figures they could create and how they would illustrate their foregrounds against a solid background. I also encouraged students to add texture to their artwork. After students created their backgrounds and the plasticine was spread out, they put the first piece on the floor, put a piece of paper down on top of the background, and then stomped and jumped on their backgrounds. This created different textures in the pictures.Other students simply used their fingers to create texture. The backgrounds took an hour to complete so we finished the foregrounds the next day which also took an hour. They did a wonderful job!

Paper Marbling

I came across an art idea for paper marbling using shaving cream. I decided to be adventerous and give it a try! While the process is messy, it is extremely fun and I would recommend that you give it a try. The materials you will need for this project include shaving cream, liguid tempera paint, tools to mix in the paint such as tooth picks, combs, or your fingers, paper, cardboard, and a tray.

I really enjoyed my time experimenting with this art. If and when you try it, make sure that you 'push' the paint into the shaving cream. If you leave the paint on top and then scrape the shaving cream off, the paint runs and ruins the design. The paint should almost look creamy. Once the paint is in the shaving cream, take a piece of paper and push it down. When you lift the paper, you should be lifting the paint and shaving cream. Lay the paper down flat and then use cardboard to scrape the shaving cream off. Some of the paint will still be in the tray of shaving cream. You can reuse the layer or add more shaving cream on top and do another design. You will have beautiful marbled paper and it smells good too!

I decided not to this art project in my class this practicum but I would like to try it one day. I would ask for at least 2 parent volunteers to come in one afternoon to help. The possibilities for this art is endless. Students can make art folders, cards, and/or can frame their work as an abstract piece. Paper marbling can also be done with paint and water, but do to management and time constraints, shaving cream is a wonderful media for students to experiment with.

Anger, Passion, Expression

Students can watch dance to see how people can express themselves through music and dance. I love this dance that Kattee and Twitch have done. I can feel the emotions as I watch them. It is my favorite dance from the 2008 season.

While this clip is clearly not appropriate for students, I wanted to share a dance that has meaning to me and made me feel.

Alien Song

This a song that was sent to me. I think it is very cute and fun and children love it. Music integrated with technology.

Art with the Computer

A while ago I was playing on the computer and decided to draw an ocean scene. So I drew a sail boat, a fish, and a very scary shark!

Poetry

Poetry can be a way to heal! I wrote this...

At night I lie awake alone in my room in the midst of the darkness,
I pray for angels to surround my bed with one hovering over my head.
Four angels to keep me safe and one to guide my thoughts,
Free from nightmares, stress and toil, a peaceful and restful sleep.

Art Is In The Eye Of The Beholder

These are pictures that I have taken. I love photography and capturing the beauty of nature, the fun of being creative, and an expression of what art means to me. Someone can walk by a rock and just see a rock, while I can walk by a rock and see it's beauty and all it's wonders.