Snow days, holidays, finished tiles and portraits, and a new member of the family...

I have not blogged in a few weeks because I was wanting the next blog to feature completed 6th grade sgraffito tiles and 5th grade self-portraits.  Here they are:

As you may recall from  a previous post the lesson is called Microscopic Design Tiles.  The students created these science-inspired designs by using a technique called sgraffito, which is an Italian word that means 'to scratch.'  Read more about it here.

After I unload the tiles from the kiln I store them in these bins and group them by class.  I passed them back the next time each class had art and requested that four students from each class submit the tiles for the art show.  I am going to have students select 2-D art for the art show later from their portfolios.  This is the first year that the students will select their own art work for the art show instead of me selecting it, and I am excited about this change.  I think it will give the students more of a sense of ownership of their art work and the art show.  It may even bring more students to the art show.  Let's hope!

And now…5th grade self-portraits:

Oh!  Did I say self-portraits?  Well, we had a snow day in the middle of all of that.  As a matter of fact we had two!  

And on one of the snow days my sons, Jonas and Aaron and I went to the park to go sledding.  On the way back from the park we passed the SPCA and I said "Hey, boys, do you want to pet the dogs?"  Jonas and Aaron were, of course, all over that idea.  So we stopped in and we didn't even make it back to the kennels because at the front desk was this little cutie.  She needed a home.  I must be a sucker because we ended up taking her with us to foster her for a week to see how things went and of course they went well and we all fell in love with her.  They called her "Bananas" at the SPCA and so we nicknamed her "Nanners."  

On Saturday, December 21st we adopted Nanners and she became the newest member of our family.  

Nanners Miller.

And now back to the classroom!  5th grade self-portraits:

I previously featured this lesson in this post.  These self-portraits are inspired by Vincent Van Gogh's portraits.  The students used Mod Podge and tissue paper to apply color to them.  The students represented an emotion/feeling in the facial expression and colors used.  

Happy Holidays from Nanners and the Millers!