Monday, May 25, 2009
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
First Week of School
In August of 2007 when I began my first blog on Word Press, I wrote the blog post below. I enjoy looking at it and thinking about all of the external forces at work at the beginning of the school. It has been 2 years since that interesting week. The first week of school in 2008 was equally interesting when the street widening project closed both of our entrances into the school parking lot. We had to walk our students from Portage Middle School to Lindley since the buses could not get into the parking lot and parents had a difficult time coming to kindergarten orientation when the police officers closed the street in front of the school.
2007-The first week of school has come to a close and it was an interesting week. Being a special area teacher can be even more interesting than you might think. The first week of school is like the replay of a day over and over again. You must explain the rules and expectations to every class and most art teachers meet with 20 to 30 different classes.
I am very blessed with 60 minute classes. It is like a precious gift to be able to spend the entire 60 minutes with one class. We actually have a reasonable amount of time to complete projects. This week was a good time to share expectations, rules, and begin a project.
The weather made our week even more interesting than normal. Monday it was raining, a continuation of the previous day's down-pour, so hard in the morning that the children and staff got to school in sopping wet clothing. One of the major streets to my school was closed because of flooding. It continued to rain throughout the day. We had indoor recess at lunch time. At dismissal time there were no buses on time. All of students who ride the buses had to come to the gym to wait on their late buses. We have a few new teachers who help with dismissal and they got to be introduced to the process with less than favorable conditions. Most of us like to ease into a job. Not Monday. It was a bit challenging to say the least. With the street closed, the buses who normally come from that direction had to re-route around the school. Tuesday was a little more normal. A few buses where able to arrive more timely.
Wednesday was stiflingly hot in our building. It is a two-story brick building; it heats up and stays that way. The outside temperature was in the mid-90s with high humidity. I was surprised to hear that some of the schools in Indianapolis dismissed early because of the heat.
By Thursday, someone above decided it was time for a new test. About 2:30 pm in the afternoon our power went out. No, there wasn't a storm, thank goodness. We could have been dismissing in pouring rain without electricity. I never found out what caused the power outage but, it was not just our school. Several other buildings were without electricity too. We continued conduct school in the 90 degree + heat and humidity in the dark for another 40 minutes. Oh, did I mention that we do NOT have air-conditioning? For some reason, the community is not concerned that it is so hot in our buildings. We have fans but, of course, they did not work at this point. The PA system uses electricity too. We dismissed our 430 students in the dark without the PA system. Thank goodness that we have a few battery operated radios for communication. It was most interesting too. After most of our students had left, the power was restored. We still had some students waiting in the gym for their buses when the lights came back on.
Thursday was the beginning of the National College Soccer Tournament down the street our school. The traffic just wrapped itself around our building. We are located on the corner of the block. The intersection was pretty well grid locked at dismissal time by the parents who pick up their car riders, the soccer traffic, and the buses.
I am looking forward to next week. I think it may be a little more normal, if I remember what normal should be.
2007-The first week of school has come to a close and it was an interesting week. Being a special area teacher can be even more interesting than you might think. The first week of school is like the replay of a day over and over again. You must explain the rules and expectations to every class and most art teachers meet with 20 to 30 different classes.
I am very blessed with 60 minute classes. It is like a precious gift to be able to spend the entire 60 minutes with one class. We actually have a reasonable amount of time to complete projects. This week was a good time to share expectations, rules, and begin a project.
The weather made our week even more interesting than normal. Monday it was raining, a continuation of the previous day's down-pour, so hard in the morning that the children and staff got to school in sopping wet clothing. One of the major streets to my school was closed because of flooding. It continued to rain throughout the day. We had indoor recess at lunch time. At dismissal time there were no buses on time. All of students who ride the buses had to come to the gym to wait on their late buses. We have a few new teachers who help with dismissal and they got to be introduced to the process with less than favorable conditions. Most of us like to ease into a job. Not Monday. It was a bit challenging to say the least. With the street closed, the buses who normally come from that direction had to re-route around the school. Tuesday was a little more normal. A few buses where able to arrive more timely.
Wednesday was stiflingly hot in our building. It is a two-story brick building; it heats up and stays that way. The outside temperature was in the mid-90s with high humidity. I was surprised to hear that some of the schools in Indianapolis dismissed early because of the heat.
By Thursday, someone above decided it was time for a new test. About 2:30 pm in the afternoon our power went out. No, there wasn't a storm, thank goodness. We could have been dismissing in pouring rain without electricity. I never found out what caused the power outage but, it was not just our school. Several other buildings were without electricity too. We continued conduct school in the 90 degree + heat and humidity in the dark for another 40 minutes. Oh, did I mention that we do NOT have air-conditioning? For some reason, the community is not concerned that it is so hot in our buildings. We have fans but, of course, they did not work at this point. The PA system uses electricity too. We dismissed our 430 students in the dark without the PA system. Thank goodness that we have a few battery operated radios for communication. It was most interesting too. After most of our students had left, the power was restored. We still had some students waiting in the gym for their buses when the lights came back on.
Thursday was the beginning of the National College Soccer Tournament down the street our school. The traffic just wrapped itself around our building. We are located on the corner of the block. The intersection was pretty well grid locked at dismissal time by the parents who pick up their car riders, the soccer traffic, and the buses.
I am looking forward to next week. I think it may be a little more normal, if I remember what normal should be.
FAME Visiting Artist, Sandi Brothers
Students from four elementary schools in FWCS had the privilege to explore quilting with expert quilter, Sandi Brothers, without leaving their buildings. The presentation by Sandi Brothers was funded by FAME, the Foundation of Art and Music in Elementary Education. The four FWCS schools, Lindley, Brentwood, St. Joseph Central, and Study Elementaries were connected via video conferencing equipment and bridge provided by ACELINK. My fourth grade students engaged in an exciting experience that integrated historical facts, music, technology, visual arts, and practical application skills. As you can see from the photographs, it was a rare treat to host a contemporary artist at our school. We spent the next few art classes completing our quilt squares. The students gained a plithera of knowledge and had a great time doing it. Check out the photos on flickr !
2007 National Writing Project Conference
The 2007 National Writing Project Conference was held in New York City, New York this year. It was a feast for the eyes and ears. We, the Appleseed Writing Project leadership team, had a great time seeing all of the neon lights in Times Square. Although the stage hands were on strike during our visit, the others were able to find a Broadway play to attend. I rode on the upper desk of the sight-seeing bus (in late November). It was sunny but, quite cold upstairs on that bus. I got several great photos of New York City and gathered plenty of inspiration for writing as I toured the city. I was creating my own writer's marathon for later as I reminisce about this fabulous experience. It was a great experience! The best part of my trip to the “big apple” was the professional development opportunities. Meeting with other National Writing Project technology liaisons from around the United States was extremely beneficial. It is always accelerating and inspiring to rub elbows with the experts in the fields of writing and technology. I have learned about Web 2.0 tools like wikis, blogs, twitter, collaborative on-line documents, social bookmarking, social networking, digital storytelling, and video conferencing as a direct result of being a member of the National Writing Project. The NWP has been the most beneficial professional training I have received as a teacher of art, writing, and technology.
Stitching with First Graders
Directions for tree stitching begin with
cutting a tree from 12" x 12" square of green paper
*fold paper in half
*cut top corner to bottom corner at diagonal
*keeping the paper folded, punch holes around the edges
*open the tree and glue down on another 12" x 12" square background paper
*using a yarn needle, punch holes in the background paper
*thread the needle and stitch symmetrical shapes
For more photos click here
Teachers Take a LOOK
If you have ever wondered how important creativity is to a child's education, this video is a keen reminder to promote creative play, exploration, and role playing. You will be amazed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
