Calligraphy Progress

I took the first calligraphy class with Willow and I wanted to share my first attempt. I will add more pictures once I make some progress.

My Bulletin Boards

I wanted to show how the outdoor bulletin baord evolved with student work and student identity. Each student and teacher is represented on the board as either a flower, insect or bird. The bulletin board, therefore, evolved into a way of showcases both student work and the classroom community.

I wanted to share the bulletin boards I made at Buckhorn Elementary to help brighten the classroom and to help focus attention to the SHARP start-up event. I wanted to create an out-door nature theme for the classroom so the classroom bulletin board was left general so that things could be added to it depending on the season. The SHARP bulletin board was created in the front entrance of the school. The event consisted of five workshops aimed at providing students with the social and behavioural skills necessary to be a successful member of the Buckhorn school community. Each workshop represented one of the five letters from the acronym SHARP. In each of the workshops, the students were taught what it means to be safe, helpful, accountable, respectful and positive. The staff worked cooperatively to coordinate the workshops as one teacher grouped the students in to five coloured groups while another teacher organized a schedule. Materials for each of the workshops were distributed by one of the organizing teachers and the other teachers could take from the lessons what they liked or supplement the lessons and make adaptations as they felt necessary. The school staff worked together to create a positive learning environment for the new school year.

Aboriginal Art

When my husband's grandfather died, we inherited several aboriginal pieces of artwork. I thought it would be nice to share a piece with the class. The piece on the right is called Moon & Sun and it was carved by Bill Wilson in December, 1980. It was carved to look like an oar.

My Watercolour Adventure

The picture seen above represents my second watercolour attempt. I used dry watercolour paints for this art piece (the first flower I painted was from watercolour crayons). I painted the flowers above to show the difference between wet on dry, dry on dry and wet on wet watercolour techniques. Students were expected to be able to create water colour images emphasizing particular elements and principles (i.e., wet-on-wet, wet-on-dry, and dry-on-dry). Before students began their paintings, we discussed the painting I had done and what differences students noticed between the two types of paintings. This strategy was useful in showing students how the different techniques they would be learning would assist them in creating their individual artwork. I also had students relate the watercolour painting concepts back to their chemistry unit.

I recently decided that I would like to teach watercolour techniques as part of my three week practicum in October. In order to prepare, I will experiment with watercolour paints to create illustrations. I am hoping that my watercolour paintings will improve with each attempt, but my main reason for working with this media is to learn as much as possible to effectively teach my watercolour lessons. The flower on the right was my first attempt using watercolour crayons. I had read about blotting techniques and once I had drawn what I wanted to paint, I dipped my paint brush in water and blotted the excess water on a piece of paper towel before I blended the colours. I am very pleased with my first attempt and I look forward to continuing with this new art form.