Day 13

So, today all eyes were on me! Ms. Hildebrand handed out a little math sheet for the students to work on while waiting for the announcements to come on the intercom. Meanwhile i got everything set up that i needed for my art lesson. I wet all the paints, organized the paint brushes and sponge brushes, and put water into separate cups for the students to rinse their brushes. By the time announcements were over i was set to present the project. I handed out thick, white paper, a sponge brush, and the cups of water to every students. I explained to them that the first step is to wet the paper with the sponge. I demonstrated the action and then let them loose to do it on their own while i passed out the watercolor paint trays and the paintbrushes. Then came time to explain the next step, which was to get the paint brush wet with lots of water and paint and then start painting. I did not set any boundaries for what they could and couldn't do, but i did emphasize that focusing on color and designs often turns out better than trying to draw a specific person or thing. The object of this activity was to use many colors which would bleed on the wet paper and then after have the kids find what they see in their picture and write about it. The kids were allowed to paint three pictures, which was good because they didn't quite get they hang of it the first time around. Many of the kids tried to draw specific scenes and their paper was not wet enough to have the colors bleed. By the second or third painting the kids really caught on and they looks amazing! I was truly impressed with how great some of the paintings turned out. I walked around the room and tried help wet the papers that were drying and i encouraged the students to stay away from black until the end, so their whole paper wouldn't turn brown/black... which a few did. When everyone was done with their three, we cleaned up and went outside to get our pictures taken in our TIE-DYE T-shirts that we made on SHARE day. I am so impressed with how the shirts came out! Not one person from Ms. Hildebrands class had a brown tie-dye nor did anyone have a white tie-dye, which meant that everyone followed directions. The class and I posed for Ms. Hildebrand for many pictures: some smiling, some yelling "tie-dye!," and some goofy pictures! I stuck out about 2 feet taller than everyone in the middle of the picture, and i think my eyes were closed just about every time! It was so much fun to see the kids so excited about how each of their shirts turned out. After our photo shoot, each of the students picked their favorite painting and brought it to their desk. Ms. Hildebrand and i handed out white lined paper and told them to write about their painting: a poem, a story, a description, a list of words, or a song. Ms. Hildebrand really set the mood and put on some very quiet music to play in the background and opened up the windows. It was a very relaxing atmosphere and the students worked so quietly. I was amazed at how careful and thoughtful they were while analyzing their paintings and writing about them. Just as everyone finished it was time for Gym class!!! 

I am so pleased with how smoothly this whole process went. I feel like the students really enjoyed it and so did i! The only difficulty was how absorbent the paper was. The kids needed to keep wetting it because it would dry so quickly and if they didn't then the technique wouldn't work. I am so glad that i could organize something on my own to teach the kids, and it was fun!