Friday Favorites: 'Merica.

So turns out, having a baby takes up a lot of time. I haven't been able to keep up with the blogging as often as I'd like. But, time with Little French Fry is really important and I keep telling myself I'll get to blog when she naps (which lately is for 15-20 mins tops and seriously cuts down on the ability to do much, other than down a coffee cup). Thus, in an effort to blog more often, I'm going to aim to do Friday favorites as frequently (or infrequently) as I can. The posts may be shorter (and not necessarily sweeter), but without further ado, here goes Friday favorite number one.

Every year, my school celebrates our military children during Month of the Military Child.  I like to work on projects that tie into not only celebrating our patriotism, but also connect to my art curriculum.  This year's project involved the Fourth graders studying Peter Max's many versions of Lady Liberty and the Fifth graders working on some pretty rad op art flags.

The Fourth Grade Lady Libs were large tempera paintings (24" x 24") and we used matboard scraps to create the blended backgrounds (channeling our inner abstract expressionist).  Each student then added in text that summed up what the military means to them.

 

 

And my fab Fifth Graders used a limited color palette to create their own op art-inspired waving flag.

 

 Annnnnnnd that's all she wrote, because I hear a baby beckoning for me.  Happy Fourth of July!

Month of the Military Child.

April is Month of the Military Child and my school really enjoys celebrating our amazing military families.  We have a large population of students in our school whose parent(s) are currently serving either at our local military base or serving active duty overseas.  These children and their families are wonderfully patient and giving people.

At the beginning of the month, our school staff hosts a big breakfast for our military families and every staff member brings a dish or two.  I didn't have time (or energy) to bake, as a matter of fact my inner Martha Stewart has been on a serious hiatus, but Target's bakery had these bad boys on sale, so I styled them up a bit and called it a day.

Nothing beats cupcakes and cookies for breakfast, eh?

Then, at the end of the month, a few colleagues and I organize a big school-wide assembly to honor our wonderful heroes. I like to have patriotic projects on display as a backdrop during the assembly.

Below are our 3rd grade Jasper Johns-inspired flags:

Students first drew a rectangle for the flag's stars with a pencil and ruler.

We then cut apart lyrics to either the Pledge of Allegiance or The Star Spangled Banner and glued them down.

Love the Olympic rings in this one.

Then, we used the warm colors for the flag's stripes and cool colors for the star section.

Final texture details were added with some of my many hoarding tools below.

And below are the Kindergarten poppies based on Van Gogh's painting below:

Field of Poppies, 1890

We used tissue papers for our poppies and a little splash of green glitter for our stems.

And lastly, the Fourth grader's Lady Liberty paintings based on Peter Max's version:

Our backgrounds were made with oil pastels and tempera and the ladies were made from newspaper (pre-sprayed with green liquid watercolor), sharpies for the outlines, and copper paint for a nice little highlight.

Lastly, totally not on purpose, our wonderful music teacher and I were polka dot twins at the assembly. The Fine Arts minds think alike I guess!

Check out those smiles of relief now that the big assembly is over!

Happy (belated) Month of the Military Child to you!