Woven "Blankets"

Totally stole this from Pinterest, so if you are the awesome art teacher who thought this up, thanks so much!  It was a perfect end of the school year activity.  My first graders had to learn to weave with paper.  I'm sure we're all up to "here" with the rectangle checkerboard placemat.  I've made them into houses, We've drawn designs on them.  I've even seen them turned into a picnic basket picture (maybe next year).  But this year, after completing the weaving, I turned the kids loose with my scrap box and let them create their little heads poking out of the top of the "blanket".  What personality.  They really enjoyed this.  We had discussions regarding the way we sleep, that we don't always fall right asleep, not everyone sleeps on their back, etc.

Art Show

Our Showcasae- filled with 4th Grade Acrylics

More 4th grade acrylics

More 4th grade Acrylics and the start of the Jungle Banners

3rd grade Jungles (I used banners to display.  Fresh paint/ less tape.

Kindergarten Waterlilies/Bridges

2nd Grade Yarn Paintings

1st Grade woven houses.

We tried something different this year- a combo Art Show/Music Show- a sort of festival of the arts.  Then, the PTO tacked on their Spaghetti Supper/Silent Auction/Bake Sale.  Was not sure how I felt about this- on the one hand, it would bring in lots of people.  On the other- I was hoping for the opportunity for the arts to shine.  Now that it's done, I gotta say, Meh.  It went well, don't get me wrong, but I missed showing off my program.  I missed having a night dedicated completely to the arts.  In some ways, it seemed as if people stumbled across the art show, on their way to the spaghetti supper. And, I spent a lot of time trying to gracefully "shoo" people from leaning on the artwork, because I'm not sure some families realized they were in the midst of an art show.  I am glad we tried it- but, I think in the future, I'll stick with an arts night. Anyway, now that I've ranted- here are some great pics of the wonderful work of my kiddos- I am very pleased with our "Garden" theme, and I did, despite my rant, have some really great conversations with parents. And, I did take the opportunity to set up a laptop outside my room, and had the browser set to our Artsonia- this was a way to show off the work from this year, and perhaps involve families that have yet to jump into Artsonia.