Saturday, October 30, 2010

Color Wheels

My grades are posted and our school website under control so I now have time to get back to blogging. Hurray!!

My first graders loved making their color wheel chart this week. We used crayons only in the three primary colors to fill in their worksheet and they were AMAZED to find that they could create orange, violet & green. Never get tired of seeing that wonder on their faces!



Last year, I purchased an extra Color Wheel chart from Dick Blick to post in my l-o-n-g narrow art room and splurged on a class set of the smaller personal color wheels for only a few $$ more. Got 'em laminated & use them ALL THE TIME with al my classes for color work.



With these little ones, it was easy for the kiddos to copy & write each color name next to the color - it was right there in front of them on the chart.

Another helpful tool was my ActivBoard. Recently, I attended a PD class on 'Beyond the Basics' with the latest software, ActivInspire. I finally mastered how to 'Annotate the Desktop' so that I can write/color on top of my worksheets which really helps to give directions visually to the whole class.



Here's a PDF of my worksheet if you're interested. Next up - more experimentation with color! Stay tuned...

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Whew!

I knew it had been awhile but didn't realize it has been more than a month since I was last writing a post. Could you tell that September was busy? I signed up to do our school's new website this year (extra duty/extra pay) and the learning curve has been more of a flat line with a slow incline during Sept.

Our state Art Education Conference was held mid-September and yours truly presented the woven pouch lesson to a group of 26 nimble weavers. The highlight of our workshop was the abrupt ending when the connecting/folding wall was hastily pushed back by resort staff and we were instantly part of a wedding reception! We barely made it out of there with our needles, yarn & pouches!!

Then just this past week I was in Boston for 3 days at a PLC conference on common assessments.


Here are some of the row houses in famous Beacon Hill area - great image for a lesson on architecture, don't you think?


Remember the Caldicott-winning children's book, Make Way for Ducklings? Here is the dedication in Boston's Botanical Gardens. I know I will date myself by saying this...but I still remember listening to Captain Kangaroo reading that book on his morning TV show...


Came away with some new ideas for common assessments AND very sore calf muscles. Apparently combining a walking descent of 10 floors in the hotel along with a 6 mile walk on the Freedom Trail to the North End and back to our hotel didn't agree with leg muscles that never walk an incline in our desert city.

Needless to say, I've been a busy lady but have lots to share. Stay tuned...

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