Cover Girl! Of a Teachers Magazine!

So the secretary from the King's Daughers' School (my first teaching job,) texted me today that I was on the cover of SEEN magazine. I thought it was a joke, but knew she wasn't the type of kid around like that. I responded, huh? South Eastern Education Network Magazine! Didn't even know it existed until I found out that I am currently on the cover! It isn't the most flattering photo ever, but I do really cherish it, since I do after all still have a copy of it hanging in my current classroom. In the magazine there is an article about making residential schools feel like home, and wrote about KDS.  Here is the link!


http://seenmagazine.us/articles/current-issue/issue-13-1-2011-spring.aspx

NAEA Seattle and the Chihuly Boathouse Studio!

Some teachers go to Florida on spring break, seeking out warm weather, beaches, and relaxation. Next year the NAEA convention won't overlap with my spring break so perhaps I will have the chance to do the same... For this year though, I packed my bags, plus an extra empty one for supplies, and headed to Seattle Washington!
I have been here since Tuesday, saw the market, and several of the sites. Even had lunch at the space needle on Wednesday! Yesterday I had the incredible opportunity to visit Dale Chihuly's boathouse studio here in Seattle, and it was even more awesome than I imagined!
I watched gaffers' blow glass, got to gawk at Chihuly's many extensive collections of all kinds of things, and awe over his amazing glass creations. Below are just a few photos of what I was able to experience!

Indoor pool, with clear glass bottom- housing his sculptures in the bottom!

Eric Carle Paintings AND Collages!

So in honor of the great Eric Carle and his wonderful children's illustrations, I introduced his art making process to the 1st and 2nd grade students through the movie "Picture Writer." The 1st graders just completed an assignment where we made drawings of planets, so it made since to connect them with the book "Draw me a Star." I also was inspired by Deep Space Sparkle's Carle butterflies. Check out what they have been up too!

We started off painting papers just like Carle would, only rather than working with tissue paper we used drawing paper.

Students collaged butterflies on drawing paper, then cut and pasted those butterflies onto a piece of colored construction paper. 

Those working on star collages, first used oil pastels for the background, then cut out their stars.

Kinder- Kandinsky's

Kindergarten has been practicing mixing their primary colors to make secondary colors. They did a great job of demonstrating this in their versions of a very recognizable Kandinsky painting. The students used tempera cakes for this assignment. A little tip- go to the dollar tree, and buy up all of their muffin tins. They make wonderful containers for those tempera cakes which are easy to pass out, but often come in plastic trays that crack and fall apart!

Teachers' bargaining rallies held at Tenn. Capitol | The Associated Press | News | Washington Examiner

Teachers' bargaining rallies held at Tenn. Capitol | The Associated Press | News | Washington Examiner

This is what I did today... I went and rallied for my teacher collective bargaining rights in the state of Tennessee in downtown Nashville. Thousands of teachers and supporters came from around the state (and Tennessee is a BIG state.) Step up and speak out for your rights as a teacher! E-mail your local and state representatives, make phone calls, write letters, and even pay them a friendly visit. Don't let your state's government take away your teacher benefits!

In regards to the turn out of us in the rainy weather, one speaker commented "we have bus duty in worse weather than this!" So true! I don't know to many other groups of people who wouldn't let the rain get in their way. After standing in the rain, soaking wet for 3 hours, I would and will do it all again.