Art show collage picture attempt number 2 as well! ahhh!

Here is my second attempt at posting the picture of the quilt I made with my grade 2 students! Hope it works.

Remembrance Day quilt

I made this quilt project with my grade 2 students the week or so before our Remembrance Day assembly. As a class we had been talking about what Remembrance Day meant to us and there was quite a lot of confusion. They were confused at why they were being talked to about behaviour at this assembly and why it was a solemn event. Some commented that no one in their family fought in a war and why is it sad? There was no connection for them and they were not sure what the was meant when people would talk to them about freedom. I decided to get a copy of the book "Why We Remember". It was written and illustrated by a grade one class in Manitoba. The students were quite shocked that kids younger than them made this work of art. The book did a great job at putting the holiday into a perspective understandable for children of this age. They defined what freedom was in ways that made sense to them. After reading this we decided that we wanted to share our ideas of why we remember with other students in out class and that is where the quilt idea came up. I felt that illustrating our thoughts and feelings would be more effective. The P.L.O's covered in a project like this range from : using writing and representing to express personal responses and opinions to developing voice by showing how they think and feel about a topic. This was really an integrated project covering topics in visual arts, language arts, social studies and social responsibilities.

Just a few of the amazing projects featured!

Art Show Success!!

It was so amazing to see everyone's hard work come to fruition last night. There were so many awesome projects to see!! I loved seeing the different themes- from fall scenes, to Remembrance Day tributes, Canadian symbols and Halloween Day of the Dead skulls!! This was such a great way to share our experiences and gather ideas for our future classrooms. It made such a difference to actually SEE the projects made rather than just seeing/reading a lesson plan outlining the details of HOW to create the projects.  It was so cool to see students from all the schools come and bring their families to see their art displayed!! You could see their excitement from the moment they walked through the door. Grabbing their mom or dads hands and pulling them in as they frantically search for their teacher and their art work. It was heartwarming to see the smiles on their faces as they saw their art displayed in a REAL art show. Overall I thought it went so well and everyone's hard work payed off in a big way!!!:) 

Close up of one students FABULOUS 3-D tree art:) Fall 2013

This was a project that I was sooo excited to try out with my practicum class. I had originally found the project idea on Pinterest. There was a link to an art blog created by two mothers at Pikadilly Charm. They had created fabulous step by step instructions that really helped with the planning process for this lesson. According to the P.L.O's in British Columbia students need to be able to
  create 2-D and 3-D images 
 -to illustrate a point in time.
Creating 3-D art was something these particular students have never had the opportunity to do an they were BEYOND excited to try it out!! To really enhance their 3-D scene I decided to incorporate elements of nature. This gave me the opportunity to get the kids outside and use their senses to make observations about their surroundings and collect things that particularly represented the fall season to use in this art project. ( Science P.L.O's- processes: use their senses to interpret observations).
I was so happy with how the lesson went and how engaged the students were. They were really able to understand the concept of 3-D versus 2-D and had a great time creating these cool works of art. They all received so many compliments on their creations and were quite proud of themselves. It made my teacher heart happy to see them take pride in their work. :)

LOVE the colours in this beautiful shot.  I took this picture not too long ago at a house just down the street. Pure, natural beauty! It is important to take these moments to appreciate God's wonderful creation. We become so consumed by the complexities of everyday life sometimes we forget to appreciate the little things. It is hard to not feel joy when looking at beautiful pictures like this.

Beautiful moments in life:)
This special little foot belongs to my niece who just celebrated her first birthday this past summer. There are moments like this that we will remember for the rest of our lives. Perfectly perfect little feet in all of their beauty.

My daily dose of wearable art:) I may have a slight obsession with these fun little pieces of art work. My mission is to always be on the hunt for these little treasures. They add an element of fun and sparkle and can complete an outfit for the day. Life needs a little sparkle now and then and this is a fun way for me to do that. These particular pieces are a great addition to my always growing collection. The detail that is put into each little piece is fascinating. The textures and colours are so unique to each that its hard to find two that are identical.

Maui, Hawaii 

It is exactly 9 weeks today that I will be on my way to this beautiful place:) Rainy, cold days filled with homework and laundry require reminders of things we are looking forward to. The warm days of laying on the beach are so close I can feel it.

Art and expression can be amazing ways of clearing your mind and relieving stress. To help clear my mind of all the stress that comes around this time of year I not only have my outlet at the dance studio but I also like to try other forms of art. Baking is something I like to do when I have enough time (which is not often enough lately). I enjoy making something that will not only be visually appealing for others but also that will appeal to their taste buds. This past weekend I had the opportunity for one of these moments and this is the artwork that was created. I took this brief moment while it was cooling to admire its beauty...it did not last long:)

Ness Lake pic attempt #2!!!

Natural art right outside my window!! This is the beauty that I get to wake up to and fall asleep to every night now that I live at the lake:) It is amazing to just sit down there for about an hour around sunset and just watch how fast the colours change. It is like getting to watch the artist develop their work right before your own eyes.  Moments like this make me feel extremely blessed to live in beautiful B.C.

Inspiration for movement can come from a wide variety of places. Different events, emotions, people or places can inspire songs choices, costumes and the feeling of movement selected. I work with students every week creating pieces for them in all genres of dance. I come to each class with something in mind for them based on their individual talents. A lot of the time I seek inspiration from my students. It amazes me just how creative each individual is. I learn something new from them everyday. Each one of them is so extremely talented and I am fortunate enough to see examples of them expressing their own creativity through movement and photographs. This particular shot was taken by a young lady in my classes of one of her peers. Moments like this inspire me to move beyond my comfort zone and experiment with movement in all capacities. I hope to be the one who can push each of them to express themselves in a variety of ways and to always allow their individuality to show through.