Mona Lisa, tangrams, poinsettias

Enjoy some pictures of some recent art adventures!

We re-imagined Mona Lisa as a collage.  We stamped poinsettias for winter (so beautiful).  We attempted to create tangrams by reading and following written directions (VERY difficult!).

Cardinals on birch trees

Some beautiful winter art which will hang at the KFCS district office next month!

Pen Pals

We just finished up writing letters to our new pen pals at Keno Elementary.  The kiddos are SO excited.  So am I, because the quality of their letters is amazing!  I hope the other class enjoys the New Year's treat in the mail!

Nature Walk

Our reading theme in October  was "Nature Walk."  We decided to take a little urban nature walk of our own one Thursday.  The kids and I really enjoyed the cool, crisp fall weather while we looked for leaves, seed pods, pinecones, etc.

Later we sorted the leaves by color, shape, or size.  Then we used them to make art!  What a mess!

Chemisty Class!

We all became scientists last week when we investigated what temperature was best for growing Borax crystals.  The kids used hot, hot water  mixed with Borax until saturated, and I used cold water and room temperature water.

We learned the scientific method of questioning, writing a hypothesis, including all our materials and procedures, and documenting our results.  Our results were beautiful, white or clear, crystals!  Try this easy experiment at home and create gorgeous ornaments for gifts!
Step 1: bend a pipe cleaner into the shape you like.  We tried hearts, candy canes, circles, etc.  Then tie a string to your pipe cleaner.
Step 2: add hot boiling water to a glass jar.  Then, add Borax until it is saturated (can't dissolve anymore!).  Experiment with the amounts of Borax.  Lots of Borax will create soft, fuzzy white crystals.  Just the right amount will create hard, clear crystals.
Step 3:  Suspend your ornament inside the jar.  We just tied ours to pencils and rested them on top of the jars.  Let sit overnight and voila!

What makes us happy

We are planning to coordinate with a local skateboard designer to put our art onto decks!  The theme was "what makes me happy."  Here are a few selections!  Loving the "HMS Titanic!" 

Kids working

Since I haven't had the camera in a while I just figured on sharing some pics of the kids in action, doing daily activites like reading their writing to the class, working in their workbooks, writing or reading.  Enjoy!