I'm so excited to post about our first big art project...we've finally finished them!
Since September, my Grade 5/6 students have been learning about the elements and principles of art. So far, we've focused on colour theory and value. For this assignment, the students were first given a piece of black construction paper and asked to divide it into thirds. They were to fill in the top third using a combination of chalk pastel colours. Once they were happy with these, I took them and applied a Krylon spray to help keep the chalk from flying and smudging.
After this, they were asked to design 3 different city scape silhouettes on paper. I explained to them that larger shapes would work a little better than small details, and then they went to town. Once all 3 were designed, they cut them out so they had a stencil of their city scape.
Next, they were given a piece of dark denim and asked to trace their first city scape onto the back of it. Once this was done, they cut out the cityscape and set aside the first denim piece. Then, they were given 2 more pieces of denim (in decreasing colour value) and were asked to do the same thing with their other 2 city scapes.
Once all was cut out, they used white glue to glue the city scapes onto their black construction paper just above the chalk line. Once this was done, they glued the whole thing onto a piece of foam core board (to give their piece of work more structure).
Finally, once all was dry, they were given two little pots of paint (I just used the bottoms of styrofoam cups)...one white, and one heavily tinted yellow...and asked to provide detail to their art. The white was intended for the sky (moon and stars), while the yellow was intended to be used to create the looks of lights in some of the buildings. Before they completed this step I did a sample to show them what I was looking for. The tools they were given to complete this step included tooth picks, and small pointed paint brushes.
All in all, they turned out pretty well. It took a lot for me to resist the urge to rush in and "correct" the kids on their painting style - the inspiration for this project had tiny stars that looked like constellations and varied shapes for the windows, and that was what I was expecting when I started the project. But, in the end, I reminded myself that art is art, and there is no right or wrong. The kids should enjoy the process of creating and shouldn't have me breathing down their necks to conform to some idea that I had.
I'm pretty happy with this project, and I'm definitely looking forward to starting our next one in the coming week!
For my second post, I thought I'd share a big part of my language arts program...Reader's Notebooks. I know that many teachers use these, and everyone's got a different method and style. Here's mine!
At the start of the year, the kids were told that we'd be using Reader's Notebooks during our Reading Workshop time every day. They were given the option of using the notebooks that I provide or purchasing their own spiral bound notebooks. They're a collection of notes from mini-lessons, personal notes from their reading, and reading response letters (addressed to me) which are due every other week. I'd like to collect them every week but I've found it really difficult to get them all read, responded to, and returned fast enough (I teach 2 classes of language arts, so that means I'd have about 60 letters to get through every week).
This is the inside of the front cover. The first thing they see when they open their books is the rationale for the notebooks.
Next comes the proofreading page. It outlines what I'm looking for in their notes. Below that is the weekly schedule. The student who this belongs to has cut out only the schedule, but it was originally distributed with a list of the group members attached.
Next comes my Reading Notebook rubric. I believe it originally had another category for assessment, but I tweaked it to my own needs. I've got to apologize for this one...I got it from another blog and for the life of me, I can't remember which one.
Then we come to the Thinking Stems. Again, found them on another blog (perhaps Runde's Room?) and liked them so much that I borrowed them for my own use.
Then I've got my model letter. I found a letter I liked on Teaching My Friends and was inspired. So, I used that letter as a model for my own which then, in turn, was used as a model for my students. We went through it in class and discussed the issues of the friendly letter structure as well as the content. They were asked to make notes in the margins so that they could later refer back to them. I also made a point to provide it on green paper...I like being able to simply refer to the "green sheet." Makes things a little easier.
Finally, I've got my self-assessment slips. Students have to complete one for every reading response letter they submit. I think I'm going to tweak them a little bit for future use. I didn't include anything about capitalization (at least, not explicitly), and that is an area that many of my students are struggling with.
That's it for now! Check back soon as I will be posting our most recent completed art projects. I'm pretty excited about these...they were an awesome Pinterest find that I was so looking forward to recreating. If our works-in-progress are any indication of the final products, they will definitely be something to behold!
Welcome to my new online home!
My name is Gill (pronounced Jill, but with a G) and I'm a teacher. More specifically, I'm an Ontario elementary school teacher. This year I've been granted a fantastic grade 5/6 class and I've got to say...I'm lovin' it! It's my first year teaching a grade 5 group but I've had grade 6 's in the past. I wasn't sure what to expect this year. I worried that the 5's would be needy, and whiny, and generally too immature for my liking. Fortunately, the group of kids I've got are the exact opposite. My class is such a wonderful collection of personalities and so far, I've had an absolute blast.
This is my first year returning from maternity leave. My precious baby girl was born in July 2011, so I ended up with just over a full year away from work. It was wonderful to have so much time home with my daughter, but I've got to admit that I was certainly ready to get back to work. When I first found out that I would be teaching a 5/6 class this year, I immediately hit up Pinterest for some creative ideas, and did I ever hit the jackpot! My classroom is littered with ideas that I've found online, and most of those ideas came from blogs! There are so many fantastic teacher blogs out there, and I've got to credit them with providing me the inspiration to start my own. Some of my favourites are The Clutter Free Classroom, Lessons from the Middle, Teaching my Friends, and A Teachers Treasure.
I've been intending to get this blog started since early September. However, life seems to have gotten in the way. Between back to school crazyness, weddings on weekends, and chasing after a 1 year old, I haven't managed to find the time, until now! So, here' goes nothing!
I thought a good way to start off would be to post a few pictures of my classroom, and some of the things happening in there right now. Let's start with "my" areas of the classroom.
I think it's pretty easy to tell that this is my desk area. Behind my computer table I've got my "Help Wanted" bulletin board. The background is made of classified ads. Each month, students apply for "jobs" such as Clutter Controller, Distribution Director, Emissary, Substitute Liaison, etc. They fill out an application (which is formatted just like a real life job application) and get it signed by their parents, and then I "hire" employees. Each job as a salary to be earned every week and students are paid with cheques from My Classroom Economy.
This is my guided reading area. All of my guided reading texts are kept on the shelf behind the horseshoe table for easy access.
These are my fun unit binders. I saw this idea on Pinterest and thought it really jazzed up a bookshelf. My units are all in 3 ring binders (the kind with the clear pocket on the outside). Then I just put pieces of fun scrapbooking paper (mostly animal prints) in the pockets, and VOILA! Fun, animal print unit binders!
Next up are my classroom displays. The two posters below are posters I downloaded from Teachers Pay Teachers. I've got to apologize as I can't remember who created them. However, they're great. Beneath them, I've got a selection of common "Grammar Goofs." They were inspired by THIS infographic.
These are my student mailboxes. Any time they're absent, their missed work goes in here. Right now, they're using them to keep track of their in-progress art, as well.
This is my model Reading Response Letter. I found a very similar one on another blog and used it as the inspiration to create this one. Every other week, my students (both the 5/6 and 7/8 language arts classes) submit a reading response letter. The purpose is to talk about their thinking about the book they're reading. I created this model letter and then broke it down with my students. The pink post-it notes deal with structural issues, while the yellow post-it notes deal with content. I wasn't sure whether writing about Outlander was entirely appropriate (since there are some violent and fairly scandalous portions), but I figured that it would be better to write honestly about a book that I read and loved than to write a fictional letter about a book that is more grade appropriate. In the end, it didn't matter. Not a single student asked me for details or to borrow it.
These are 4 of my 6 First Day of School posters. I had these posters displayed around the classroom on Day 1 and asked each student to add a post-it note to each poster over the course of the day. I made sure to make this extra fun by getting a variety of fun colours and shapes. They turned out so well that I decided to laminate them so that we could look back at our answers over the course of the year.
This is my Fluency poster. It also came from another blog. I liked it so much that I borrowed it! This one stays on display all the time, but the students also created replicas in their reading notebooks. Every day we do read-aloud plays, so we refer to this poster frequently. So far, so good!
Last but not least, I've got to post some of our art. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I am no artist. Not even close. In fact, I hated art in school! In grades 7 and 8 I had a teacher who was really into art. He was a great artist himself, but he didn't really make it that fun. He tended to grade student artwork based on skill rather than effort, and since I had/have zero skill, I didn't do so well. So, my philosophy is that art needs to be fun! This is my first year really teaching the subject, and so far it's gone really well. From what I can tell, the kids are engaged and enjoying "my" ideas (almost all are inspirations from Pinterest). This first picture is the first art project we did. We started the year off by talking about colour. I've been using the work sheets from the ABC's of Art to teach the elements, and then we move to an activity that demonstrates understanding. This activity is a warm/cool colour grid. It was super easy, and turned out great!
Next are the Warm/Cool landscapes. We did these on black construction paper. Landscapes were drawn with pencil and then outlined with white glue. Once the glue dried, the kids used chalk pastels to shade in the foreground, middleground, and background. They turned out amazingly!
Finally, this is the project we're currently working on. We're looking at gradients and will be creating them using city scapes made of different colours of denim. However, we needed to create the background first. Each student got a piece of black construction paper and was asked to use analogous colours of chalk pastels to create a background (which will become the sky once we get going on the city scapes). Then, I took the chalk pastel work outside and sprayed it with Krylon Fixatif in order to keep the chalk from rubbing off once the denim was added. Once this was dry, they were glued onto pieces of foam core board. We will add the denim city scapes on Friday. This is an example of one of the works in progress.
That's it for now, folks. I'm hoping to stay on top of this blogging thing and get updates posted regularly. Please feel free to leave any comments or questions, and definitely check back soon!
Ta ta, for now!
Oops! Forgot to post a picture of my whole classroom! Here it is!
