Five for Friday- Happy Valentine's Day!

I am linking up with Kacey from Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday. Thank you Kacey, for hosting!

 

This week, all 3 1/2 days of it, I have very random, sweet moments to share, since it is Valentine's Day.   Here we go with Sweet #1.



Yesterday, we had the fastest Valentine Party on record.  It was sad, though, because Valentine's Day is my favorite party- always. Hands down.  Favorite.  The children are just so precious, carefully opening each card and thanking friends, playing some fun games, and eating a special snack.  It is usually calm, peaceful, easy, and so much fun. 

Well, thanks to Pax, or whatever the storm's name is this time, our school let out early.  We are low on snow days, so we went in and dismissed, basically.  Meanwhile, THE PARTY! That was the only thing on every little mind, as it should be.  Don't you remember reading into every Valentine that said, "Be mine," or "Cute as a button,"  as...  "He loves me and thinks I am beautiful!!!" ? Maybe it was just me.   

As soon as we were told that we were dismissing early, we had exactly 20 minutes to "party" which consisted of  setting up for and eating our special Valentine snack, opening and enjoying  the Valentines, packing up for home, and washing up for lunch.  :(  I felt like I was in fast motion trying to run around and help the children read their cards and make each one special. 

Meanwhile, the snow was coming down hard and steady outside, and everyone was thinking of the hill they needed to drive up to get home.  Well, not everyone. The kids were wondering if they could eat every single piece of candy they found in their Valentine bag. 

We all got home safe and sound.  The children were thrilled with their Valentines, and all is well.

This little "Valentine" made me laugh, because all year, six children have been sitting at each table, except for one table which has five.  So, the kids started calling the spot at that table where nobody sat "Elmer's spot" after we read Elmer the Elephant, and the kids fell in love with him.  Every day during attendance, someone says, "Elmer isn't here," or "Elmer didn't finish his paper," if I accidentally put a paper at that spot. It is funny every. single. time. when you are five.   So, when Leah was handing out her Valentine candy, I found this one:

We taped it up on the wall for him, in case he ever shows up. 

It is really funny, because  last year we got all ready for a new little girl to come to our class, and she never ended up coming. I will call her "Sarah."  So, all year, the kids kept saying "Sarah isn't here," or "Sarah didn't finish..."  just to be funny.  So in the beginning of THIS year, one of my little girls from last year came running into my room and said, "Guess what?! Sarah is finally  here and she is in my class!"  She really, actually was!   If Elmer the Elephant shows up, I will be sure to let you all know.

 

After we finished reading  Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch (my favorite Valentine story to read), we had a wonderful discussion about what love is- or what the children thought love is.   I printed out the verse from 1 Corinthians 13 (from my favorite book!), and read part of it to introduce some new vocabulary words about love.  We talked about what it meant to be patient, kind, envious, jealous, and forgiving. I shared some mistakes that I have made-which the children LOVED to hear- and how Mr. Kisloski forgives me, and says, "That's ok!" (Like when I backed into the snow bank trying to back out of our driveway, and he had to shovel me out... and he didn't yell, "YOU ARE THE WORST BACKER OUTER EVER!" but he just said, "OK. Maybe you could try to use your mirrors." Aww. I stink at backing up for some reason.) and finally at the end, I said to the children, "Love never gives up."  To which one of my little guys said, "WELLLL... sometimes love gives up."  Oh my gosh- he said it so knowingly.  (His parents are happily married, by the way, so I am wondering where this deep knowledge is coming from.) So then, one of my little girls said, "NO- Love always keeps trying."   It was one of those sweet, precious moments.

It sounds like a wonderful movie line, but I think it comes from this part of our Writing Prezi that I use a lot as a reminder, because I have a couple little ones who are very quick to say, "I can't do this," and try to give up.

There will be no giving up in my room, apparently!

If you would like my Primary Writing Prezi , just click on the picture below.

Morning glory update: 

This was the morning that it was -19 outside.  It feels a tiny bit more like spring in my classroom with these happy little sprouts!



Do you think my mother is loved in my classroom?  She reads with one or two children at a time during our center time, and as my group was busy working, I glanced over and saw this:

He was reading one second, then snuggling right in the next.  

 

Finally, the artist that we learned about this week was Georges Seurat.
I found these great pictures from Therapy Fun Zone  that worked perfectly for our Seurat paintings to show the children what pointillism is.  You can download the pdf  at the site.

 

 

 Our little poem to remember Seurat is, "Seurat, Seurat, he painted with a dot."

 

  (I know he is French, so it isn't a hard "t"- but I also know that I never forget that he painted with a dot because I remember it this way. )

The children can mix colors or have the dots close to each other, so they see how the primary colors blend to create secondary colors.  

Anyway, as the children were painting I heard, "Seurat, Seurat, he painted with a q-tip."  So...  whatever.   They finally did get it, though, and then did not stop saying it all day long. Now they will remember him!

 

My Discovering Great Artists Prezi at my TPT store.  Here is the post I wrote all about Great Artists at PreK and K Sharing if you would like to see some other simple artwork to help children learn about great artists. 

Tomorrow we are off to watch my daughter Emily swim in her last college swim competition ever.  Wow- did that time fly!  We need to do some shoveling before then if we think we are going anywhere.

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day! Thank you for stopping by!

Five For Friday

I am linking up with Kacey from Doodle Bugs Teaching my favorite linky party...

Here we go!  

I just finished updating and organizing my Primary Writing Prezi so I like it better.  It is free at my TPT store if you would like it!   I love to have it up on the Smartboard during Writer's Workshop (or is it Writers' Workshop?  Or just  Writers Workshop?) writing.  I use it to review editing, letter formation, story starter ideas, lots of things. 

YEARS ago when my children were little, one of them got a Doodle a Day Daily Calendar for Christmas.  I saved the Valentine doodles for years.

This year, I enlarged them and made a simple drawing book for my class, which they have loved.  Plus, they get to use the glitter crayons- so... 

If you would like a copy of my little drawing book, click on the picture below!

We planted morning glories in our classroom this week. I look forward to planting these all year long and could not wait another day. 

Here is my post about my morning glories.  Apparently, the groundhog was angry that I was rushing spring, and thought it would be funny to send a foot of snow day after we planted these. Luckily, the seeds are warm inside the classroom and don't care one bit about the snow. I, however, am pretty much DONE with the snow. (This was first thing in the morning... it snowed more during the day!)

 

The happy side of the foot of snow was a FABULOUS snow day! I even exercised. :) I know!  I was so excited about that, that I made cookies.  I know. :(  It was sort of my husbands fault idea, because we were smelling this candle that is on the stove, and talking about how it didn't really smell like chocolate chip cookies, and then he felt like chocolate chip cookies, and I am such a good wife, so...

I caught up on my Joyce Meyer Enjoying Everyday Life, which I LOVE- and we watched Swamp People and Gold Rush, in cozy sweatpants, with a blanket, on the couch.  Oh yeah, and Jeff and Matt shoveled. I offered, but we only have two shovels, so...that was another reason for the cookies.

Finally, I am so excited to share my Discovering Great Artists Prezi with you.
I put together a simple biography, samples of artwork, and links/videos if available for ten different artists.

       

I posted all about the art activities that I do with my class to teach them about different artists at my post on Pre-K and K Sharing.  The children love learning about the different artists.  My activities are very simple- and are either independent centers or a rotation during Free Choice time, so they don't take one moment away from the "Common Core,"  but instead give the children a glimpse into a new world of art, provide new experiences, and add yet another layer to their world.

Have a cozy, sunny, wonderful weekend!  Thank you for stopping by!

                             

Discovering Great Artists

Today I posted all about Discovering Great Artists at Pre-K and K Sharing.

 I shared the simple art activities that I use to teach children about the eight artists below, as well as these little information sheets to go with each artist.

I am so excited that I finished my new Discovering Great Artists Prezi, and I want to share it with you!

You can click on the button below to go to my post at PreK and K Sharing! 

 

Have a FABULOUS day!



Discovering Great Artists

Every year I love to teach my class about different artists with this book:

The book introduces each artist and provides an activity for children to imitate that artist's work.
It is s.i.m.p.l.e.   and SO much fun.  I started WAY back with my own children.  At that time, we studied an artist and listened to different classical music as we did our project.

 In second grade, I modeled the lesson and then had the art lesson as an independent center. The children loved it and did such great work!  One of my favorite memories in second grade after studying the artists was when we went to a theater for a play at a University near our school.  The ceiling was of course very high. One of  my little boys said, "WOW- Michaelangelo would LOVE this place!"  Then, another little boy described a friend from the playground (Let's forget the part where he was trying to get his 'friend' in trouble...), and he said, "His shirt looks like Stella."  WHO says that?! ha!  The little friend's shirt was striped with different designs in each stripe, by the way.  In spite of the tattling, I was so proud. 

In Kindergarten, I introduce each artist, show different samples of his work, share our little poem about the artist, and demonstrate the lesson.  I have the children rotate through the art center during free choice time a couple days of the week. It usually takes two days, which is good, because if someone is absent they can make it up the next day. They really do NOT like to miss the artist.  :)


In my book, I found this paper that I made when I was using it for my own kids!  I sketched out  my lessons and what I would need for each one .  I thought I would just put it on here- and show you- simple stuff and easy to prepare ahead of time. :) (No- I am not THAT old... typewriters had been invented... I just love writing things out- still.  Plus, I wanted to remember Botticelli painted in a circle, and Picasso was all over the place. :)

 

 

Here is my art center box, all ready to go for 8 artists! (I didn't do Magritte or Giotto for my Kinders last year.) I have all my supplies together for all the artists- ready to go- and it only takes up one bin of space. Each week, I will just change my artist and information, put up samples of his work, and pull out what I need for the center. 

 

 This is my box for my VanGogh project.  I read those two books, put up and talk about the different art work- and have the "real" sunflowers and some pictures of real sunflowers up for the children to paint. 



I save all of the kids' artwork in a little portfolio, so I send it all home together after the 8 weeks.  This way, we go back and review the artists to help remember them- and when they take home their work to show everyone, it is all in one place.

I made these informational sheets with our little memory reminder for each artist that I put in their portfolio before their artwork:

(The children look at themselves in mirrors and practice drawing their different expressions for Rembrandt.  I also have out my Ed Emberly drawing faces books.)

 (The children make lines with rulers on their paper and then fill each space in with different textures and designs for Stella.)

 (I do two activities for Michaelangelo.  I tape paper to the bottom of the table and the children paint on their backs under the table. They LOVE this!  I also let them paint in wet plaster of paris- fresco- like he did.)

 (The children make pictures with ... dots!  I have them draw outlines of something- like a tree- and fill it in with dots-paint on cotton swabs.)

 (I print out a picture of each child and let him/her cut it up and glue it onto another paper for an original Picasso-like masterpiece!)

 (I cut large construction paper into circles for the children to make their Botticelli piece.)

 (I cut lots of pieces of shiny paper- and aluminum foil- for the children to create artwork like Angelico.  Rainbow Fish is a good book that could be used to go along with him. )

 This year, Susanna, at Whimsy Workshop bundled together her NO PREP Art History for Little Ones. 
She makes it so easy to teach art to children- everything you need to say and use for projects is RIGHT THERE!  It is fabulous. The artist above can fit right into the timeline so easily. 

Children LOVE to learn something "grown-up."  When I tell them that they are learning something they can teach their parents, they puff right up.  When I hear them compare something they see to an artist we have studied, I puff up, too- because it expands their world and their thinking in such a creative way.   Have fun!