Monday, December 28, 2020

Vol. 5, No. 163-170, December 28, 2020

You probably noticed, this year, I have been really bad at posting work. The truth is, I wasn't enjoying writing the blogs, so I would put off posting. Therefore I decided that next year, I am only going to post to Instagram and let it do the automatic post to Facebook. That way, I only have to post once. If you want to know about my project, you will have to ask.

Before I "give up", I am going to post all of the projects that I have missed.

5163 - Squash Soup.


I was helping to make squash soup and got to run the immersion blender. When it is held at just the right height, it creates a fun woven star design.

5164 -  Quilted.


In mid-November, my mom, sister and I finally finished the baby quilt that we had started nearly 2 years ago. It was a gift for my niece. It turned out pretty well considering it was out first actual quilt.

5165 - Mixed Media Self-Portrait 12/12/09.


In college, I took a drawing class; one of the assignments was to create a self-portrait. It is labeled as mixed media, although I am not sure what I used; I am guessing chalk, colored pencil, and paint.  After the class, I filed away the project in a tube. As I was going through art supplies recently, I came across the drawing. I unrolled it thinking I would look at it quick and then put it back in storage. Unfortunately, I noticed mold spots on the paper. I decided the best course of action was to photograph it and then dispose of the artwork. 

5166 - Giving Thanks.


Thanksgiving looked a little different this year. Rather than gathering with my dad's family like we normally would, it was only my immediate family in attendance. We still had a full dinner including homemade bread and pies. We arranged this picture showing our "bounty", to share with my dad's siblings as they were all sharing pictures of their own feasts.

5167 - COVID Cardinal.


At school, we are trying to keep our curriculum the same as much as possible, while still following COVID guidelines set out by the state. Sometimes this means changing how we do certain projects and we have found that some of these changes are good and we intend to keep them. One such happy change was the addition of a cardinal to Kindergarten Paper Mache Ornaments. In the past students have been able to choose between a reindeer, a snowman, or a penguin. All three ornaments were cute, but the penguin required two colors of paint and either two brushes or water to wash the brush. I didn't want to deal with the extra setup, so I changed the project. Our school's mascot is a cardinal, so I knew that would be a great winter bird option. I love how they turned out and will be keeping cardinals next year.

5168 - Snow Globe.


The ornament project that I did with my Transitional Kindergarten class last year required a lot of prep work and it wasn't really COVID guideline friendly. Therefore, I wrote a new lesson plan, deciding on paper snow globes. Using Epsom salt "frozen" paint, we iced the background. Next we added finger print characters and decorated with markers. The plan didn't go quite how I had intended, but most of them stilled turned out cute.

5169 - Cake Construction.


It's hard to believe, but ten days ago, one of my favorite littles turned 3! I did lots of research to find the perfect cake. He is in to trucks of all kinds, so I decided to make a construction themed cake. I made a Double Chocolate Banana Cake (he loves bananas) topped with chocolate ganache and crushed Oreos. A bit of powdered peanut butter helped to create the three in the middle. The cake was finished off with some Milk Dud rocks and little toy trucks.

5170 - Quarantine.


Due to close contact, I got to spend some time in quarantine. While it may sound like a paid vacation, it's really not that fun; especially for a teacher. I still had lesson plans to prepare. I decided to use a lesson I had initially done during distance learning last spring; Guided Drawing Cardinals. As the school mascot, I figured a cardinal was something that students could benefit from knowing how to draw. I made two examples showing different backgrounds that could be added.