things my students say...

"Ms Brownlie, you're white, right?"


oooooohhhhh boyyyyy.


not really sure when I get a question like that, where the conversation is going to go.


that conversation turned into one of if it's okay to date someone who is black, if you are white...oh man.  these kids live in such a different world then I grew up in...and the fact that they have to ask these questions makes me feel for them...but of course, I told her that 10 was too young to date anyway...but when she was old enough, that it didn't matter if you were black, white, blue or polka dotted...hopefully that was the right answer...


I also got told by a 1st grader today that I looked like a hippopotamus...which I was offended by, until the clarified that it was because my coat was gray, like a hippopotamus.  either way, I'm running an extra mile tomorrow at the gym...


aside from the sometimes awkward conversations...we had a 2 hour delay for "snow" this morning...so most of my classes were on the small side again...and because of that I didn't want to start our new projects with so many kids out.


so what did we do you ask?


well my 2nd graders made this awesome banner for the Ravens!  because if you ask them what is happening this weekend, it's not the Super Bowl...its just the Raven's game :)

Snowflakes for Sandy Hook, Peace on Earth & ArtSonia!

that is a long title!  but I haven't posted anything in a few days...and I am OFFICIALLY on vacation until January 2nd :)


today wasn't the smoothest day, and for some reason, the migraine of all migraines decided today was a great day to visit me...but, I don't have to go into work until January!  wooooooohoooo!



it was kind of a rough week, coming back to school after the events of last week, thinking what I would do in that situation, listening to the students talk about what they thought happened...it's amazing how many kids thought that everyone at the entire school was killed...more then one child told me that they were sad that only one person survived.  I tried to correct them, without getting into too much detail...how do you really talk to kids about something like that?



so my principal asked if I'd design a banner for the whole school to sign, and a parent who was traveling to Connecticut was going to deliver it.

we are also starting to create a stockpile of snowflakes to send to the school

this week my students talked about why they wished for Peace on Earth...since it's commonly talked about at Christmas- well and at Miss America pageants...haha- here are a few of their responses:

and last but not least in Art room news...I FINALLY...yes finally, have our ArtSonia site up and running...I wish I had got my act together sooner...and it is definitely time consuming to photograph, crop, rename and upload...but I was really impressed how many permission slips I got back so quickly, and how many parents went online and granted access themselves!

so go check out our site...it will only show the students whose parents have given access to publish...so it's small for now...but hopefully it will be a great gallery soon!!

December Art Room happenings!

it's hard to post this work today without thinking about those poor families, whose children will never bring home any more art work from school...to think, how safe is my school...or is any school for that matter?


but I won't get into it further than that...unless you want to just see blubbery mess on this screen...



so instead, I'll give you some of the art my kids at school have been making...we are getting into a great rhythm, and I'm so impressed with the amount of work we've done this year compared to last year...




5th grade worked on perspective and points of view- they drew a "winter character" of their choice from three different view points

4th grade worked on these cute 'melted' snowmen...with a writing incorporation

3rd grade made winter landscapes in cool colors with geometric shapes

Kindergarten-2nd grade made these adorable 'peek-a-boo' polar bears...so cute I couldn't help myself!

PK-1st grade made colorful snowmen

2nd grade made winter scenes in snowglobes

and heres another penguin :)  this one is from a 1st grader :)

whew!  and that was all since Thanksgiving!

we have been really busy...and in the next week, we'll finish up some small stuff before we get back into the swing of things in 2013 :)

grad school coma

Saturday, 8:30am...first final project is turned in.


Saturday, 12 noon...final test taken.


by 3pm on Saturday I'll officially be two classes into my certification/masters program.  but until then, I will be typing, reading, editing, retyping, and obsessing over my final unit plan that I have to turn in.

the cats are doing their best to help motivate me...

in case you were wondering, these are two different times...top one is Jack, bottom one is Kevin...



when I was in college, I think I might have pulled one all-nighter.  I am not good at working late hours into the night.  so here it is, 9:30, and I'm calling it a night.


but I'll be up by 7am, partly because I can't sleep in that much anymore, and partly because I'll be panicking that I haven't left myself enough time to finish my work...but...I have 6 of the 9 sections totally done, typed up, printed out, just ready to put into the page protectors in my binder.



so until 3pm on Saturday...I might be a little distracted...which means I might write a few more blog posts when I am procrastinating tomorrow...



I'll leave you with a cute penguin one of my 1st graders drew this week :)  more art coming...we are doing lots of cute winter projects!!

student art from November

man, it takes FOREVER to get the photos taken and organized from my students work...I feel like I've gotten myself pretty organized in other aspects of my teaching...and last year I hardly took any photos until I realized how important it was to document the work that my students were making...so for now, I just have lots of files on my computer, waiting to be sorted into folders, and uploaded to my ArtSonia site (one of these days)...


but here is some of the awesome things my kiddos did before Thanksgiving break...

Pre-K made hand turkeys :)

Kindergarten made a mixed media turkey with the feathers as handprints


1st Grade made "Save a Turkey" posters- 4th grade did too...I like seeing the difference in the grades :)

2nd and 3rd Grades made Turkeys with patterned feathers

and 5th grade had trouble finishing their work...so I'll get those up when I can :)





 since not all classes met last week, I had some "extra" quick projects...Pre-K and K made fall trees- ask any one of those kids what the fall colors are...and they can tell you :)

and then the older kids made these owl pictures- they LOVED them!  keeping that kind of activity in my back pocket for days when classes come late or schedules get messy with testing...it's nice to know I have some things the kids really like to do...

just like the Day of the Dead skulls- another big winner with the kids...here are a few of my favorites from that activity

I also had a day when a bunch of classes were late in arriving and being picked up because of meetings happening in the building...so I threw this idea together after searching on Pinterest while I waited for the students to arrive...they made positive word "explosions"...thought these turned out really cool!

now we are into winter art...so stay tuned for that...maybe it will be up by January ;)

decisions about education

yup.  just yup.



because if the people who made decisions about education actually knew anything...there wouldn't be such a thing as a part-time Art teacher.


end of rant.


:)

student work!

yup, it's almost November...so I suppose I should post what my students have been doing in the Art room this year...


I know any veteran teacher will agree with this statement...but year two has been so much better than year one...so much more organization, order, and just productivity...


so in the spirit of that...here are a few of the things my kiddoes have done this year...I am definitely thinking of creating a second blog that would just be for Art teaching related things...but until then...enjoy!!


Pre-K pumpkins

Kindergarten Ghosts

 

1st Grade pumpkin patches

2nd Grade Candy Corn

3rd Grade Starry Night Pumpkin patch

4th Grade Secondary Color Spider Webs

5th Grade Cursive Name Skeletons

 

fun times at the MAEA

woohoo!  conference!


who has ever said that?  well...I guess there are some situations that conferences can be fun...and this was actually one of them!  even if it meant getting up earlier then I usually would on a Friday- considering it's one of my days off from school each week...but I gladly got up after only 5 hours of sleep...and drove down to the Maryland Art Education Association's fall conference in Silver Spring, to a really nice High School and along with at least 500 other teachers got our Professional Development on!

our keynote speaker was Olivia Gude, and I went to mini workshops on how to get students to create creative visual journals with the Journal Fodder Junkies, and one about how to not feel so alone as the only Art teacher in your building, in a great workshop by the lovely Kristen Dudley- who's blog I already was a follower of!  that and her Pinterest boards...so it was so so nice to put a (real) face- not just a photograph- to her name!

and on top of all of that...the AMAZING work that was posted by students all over the state

not so bad for what was supposed to be a day off :)