Vol. 4, No. 340, December 6, 2019

4340 - Purple Person.

Today my 6th graders began their self portraits. I decided to try something different and gave them each a dry erase marker to draw their rough draft out on the table. I walked them through the steps drawing on the board. They loved it! I liked my example enough to use it as today's project.

Vol. 4, No. 339, December 6, 2019

4339 - Season Of Joy.

It's exhausting, but seeing how excited students are to make holiday ornaments, makes it worth the effort. Today was day one of decorating Kindergarten paper mache ornaments. They were able to choose between a reindeer, snowman or penguin. This meant that I had to set up stations to complete each kind. This was after I removed the ornaments from the form, inserted a string for hanging and trimmed the edges.

Vol. 4, No. 338, December 4, 2019

4338 - Back In Action.

Tonight, for the first time this season, I helped the Millers with their Elf on a Shelf. I got in on the action quite a bit last year as I was living with them. This year, not so much, but as I was already going over there today, I figured I would put together an Elfie adventure...Reindeer Poop aka chocolate covered mini marshmallows. It has got to be the world's best tasting poop! As I was about to lay out the scene, I saw a dump truck toy on the table. I decided that was a pretty good way to serve up some free poop. Hopefully the Miller Littles like it as much as I do.

Vol. 4, No. 337, December 3, 2019

4337 - Eye Of The Beholder.

Tonight was pancakes for dinner. I attempted to make a giraffe pancake. Unfortunately, as I flipped it, it landed on the edge of the griddle and I amputated one leg. I put it on the plate anyways. Mom grabbed it; the amputated leg remained on the plate. She saw a flamingo. It's funny now much difference changing one thing can make.

Vol. 4, No. 336, December 2, 2019

4336 - Keep Giving Thanks.

We made a lot of turkey for Thanksgiving to ensure that there would be leftovers. Yesterday on National Pie Day, I used a small portion of the turkey to make mini turkey potpie.  I didn't haven't dough to make complete top crusts, so I settled for simple lines.

Vol. 4, No. 335, December 1, 2019

4335 - Placemat Challenge.

This morning, the Knoghts of Columbus hosted a pancake breakfast after Mass. I was sitting with some of my aunts, uncles, and cousins. When we were finished eating, people started folding up their placemats. I decided to get in on the action and asked for a suggestion as to what to make. The first suggestion, probably because it was snowing, was a snowman. I obliged and started ripping and crumpling. Viola, a snowman esque sculpture complete with a scarf!

Vol. 4, No. 334, November 30, 2019

4334 - Birch Tea.

Today most of my female relatives gathered for a tea party baby shower for my cousin. It was a fun way to celebrate on a snowy afternoon. To prepare for the party, I wrapped the shower gift from my sister's and mom, tying everything with pretty pink bows.

Vol. 4, No. 333, November 30, 2019

4333 - Cookie Colors.

Today was our traditional family Christmas cookie baking day. This year we made six different kinds of cookies. One cookie was Peanut Butter Blossoms; when we looked at the cookies at the end we noticed a large discrepancy in the well-doneness of the cookies. Someone suggested making a value chart with the cookies. I agreed that it would be cool, but sounded like a lot of work. In the end we made a chart using a sample of 5 cookies. I arranged them in a flower to make them fit better within the photo frame.

Vol. 4, No. 332, November 28, 2019

4332 - Giving Thanks.

Today my family hosted Thanksgiving. We
had a house full with about 30 people, and enough delicious food to feed an army. As part of the hosting duties, I was in charge of decorating tables. I found some fall napkins. They were new and well starched. Someone asked if I was going to make a turkey. So with the help of Eleanor, I ironed the napkins and folded one into an origami turkey. I needed to use a paperclip to hold everything together. It made a great centerpiece.

Vol. 4, No. 331, November 27, 2019

4331 - Snow Day.

I think a good portion of the state didn't have school, they either had a scheduled vacation day for Thanksgiving or they had a snow day like I did. I used my time off to help get ready to host Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, but I also made time to do a practice run for salt dough ornaments that I plan to make next week with my TK class. I used the dough to make small gift tags. I'm not sure I am loving how they are turning out, but I will wait until they are completely dry and painted to make my final judgement.

Vol. 4, No. 330, November 26, 2019

4330 - Snow Cute!

Tonight I brought Eleanor out for her first romp in the snow. By romp I mean that we bundled her up, then laid her on the deck and moved her arms and legs while she started to fuss because the snow was landing on her face. She was adorable in the process. Here is the result of her first snow angel.

Vol. 4, No. 329, November 25, 2019

4329 - Crazy Train.

Doing Paper Mache with Kinders is crazy! Yet, here I am in year two doing it again. It's really going pretty well. During the first rotation, I only had one student gone, and was only brought to tears one time! Only one more rotation (4 days and 7 classes) to go and I will be done with Paper Mache for another year! The Kinders are making Winter Ornaments. After the Paper Mache, they will get to choose between a snowman, a penguin, or a reindeer.

Vol. 4, No. 328, November 24, 2019

4328 - Teamwork.

Today, my family and I put some finishing touches on the family room remodel. We still need to hang pictures and setup the craft area, but the TV area is up and running! Now we can move on to decorating for Thanksgiving.

Vol. 4, No. 327, November 23, 2019

4327 - Snowflake Sparkle.

Today I was invited to watch Queen CeCe in the Willmar Holiday Parade. We met up with her briefly before the parade and I was able to snap a few pics. While CeCe was fixing a snowflake I tried to take an artsy picture. This was as good as I could get.

Vol. 4, No. 326, November 22, 2019

4326 - A Thousand Words.

My sixth graders are starting their Identity Color Wheels. I decided my examples were all too complex and and I needed to make a more simple, student friendly example. This circle shows some of my favorite things.

Vol. 4, No. 325, November 21, 2019

4325 - Keep Em Coming.

I added a step to my grade 1 Texture Shoe Fish lesson, which meant creating another example. Students use the texture of the bottom of their shoe to create the body of a fish and then use crayons to draw in the rest. Then they glue their fish to a background which they will with underwater things. They draw forat with pencil,  then Sharpie and finish with Construction Paper Crayons. This examples shows both the pencil and Sharpie steps.

Vol. 4, No. 324, November 20, 2019

4324 - Floral Fullness.

Now that my second quarter 6th grade classes got their flowers hung on the wall, I decided to post another pic of the Van Gogh Flower Vase. When I chose the location for this vase, there was not a TV. So we are working with it and expanding outward rather than upward.

Vol. 4, No. 323, November 19, 2019

4323 - What Happens Happens.

As I was cleaning at the Middle School, I found two oil pastel stubs. They were tiny so I decided I would just throw them away. Then I thought, what would happen if I smashed them together on a paper? I decided to try. The end result is neat. I wanted to do a black watercolor wash over the top,but I didn't get time. Maybe tomorrow.

Vol. 4, No. 322, November 18, 2019

4322 - With A Little Help.

This morning a 7th grader asked for help making her clay rose. I won't do a student's work for her, but I will make a miniature version as a demo so they can have it on hand to look at while they work. I made all 3 miniature Rose's as I was demoing. None of them were constructed well enough to save, but they were fun to make.

Vol. 4, No. 321, November 17, 2019

4321 - Funniest Home Videos.

Tonight my brother, parents, about half of my aunts and uncles, and I gathered to celebrate what would have been my Grandma’s 85th birthday. The highlight of the evening was watching home videos, most of which were recorded by my uncle. We watched some from when my dad was younger, but the ones I enjoyed the most were the videos from the early 90’s, aka when I was alive. I only made brief appearances in the videos we watched tonight, but one was Halloween of 1990 when I was dressed up like a nun. One of my favorite videos was from 1993,  it was my uncle giving a silent tour of my grandparents house shortly before they moved out and my family moved in. It was fun to see what it looked like before we lived there as I don’t really have memories of it then. The best part of this video was that every time my uncle got to a mirror, he stopped and waved for the camera. After an evening of listening to my aunts and uncles share memories about different events as we watched and try to identify everyone in the videos, I walked home and was mesmerized by the sway of my sweater shadow. I snapped a pic, making sure to stand in a portion of the road without tarred cracks.