Welcome

School is a busy place to be, even in the summer. It's especially busy in the weeks and days leading up to the first day of school for students! You'll find cars in the parking lot outside at all hours of the day, lots of them...custodians and maintenance folks wrapping up summer projects to spruce up the school and grounds (our school looks AMAZING!!!), and teachers. Lots of teachers, some of us wearing yoga pants and Star Wars t-shirts, all busy working on bulletin boards and classrooms, prepping for meet the teacher night. First impressions are important! 

I spent a lot of extra time in my room organizing supplies in cupboards and on shelves, decorating, developing new ideas that can improve what I do and how kids experience art, but I also spent time decorating the lobby. It's extra, but it's significant. It's the first handshake you receive when you walk through the door. You learn a lot about our building when you enter it.

Check out that glitter and those globs of splatter paint....I painted and glittered up the lettering on my living room floor while listening to the Olympics. My husband wasn't impressed by the glitter.....oops!...anyway...On the day I started working on the lobby wall I had my daughter with me at school. It can be boring for teachers kids to hang out at school all day while their parents work on setting up their classrooms but Clare McKee was a trooper! Seriously, that kid could be an Olympic gold medal helper! She was such a fantastic helper in my classroom, refilling crayon boxes and marker bins with new supplies, sorting the scrap paper bin, writing our last name inside the new books I brought to school for the art classroom, organizing the book shelf. IT. WAS. AWESOME. I appreciated her help, we saved a lot of time working hard together, and she was proud of a job well done. Winner winner, chicken dinner! When we'd finished up in my classroom, she tagged along to keep me company in the lobby. Another big project needed some time and attention: turning the wall into a welcome sign for meet the teacher night. 

We got to school early that day and had been there all morning and afternoon working in my classroom. It was HOT in the school.  I-need-water, unladylike hot (ok, maybe that deserves an Oscar for drama, but it was a sweaty day, ok?). I was climbing up and down the ladder with a stapler and large awkward pieces of paper torn from large rolls. It felt like it was taking forever. About half way through the project Clare and I were joined by another young lady, the daughter of a coworker waaaay down the hall. She was checking out what we were up to. The crinkling paper made a lot of noise and she was looking into it! She'd be a great detective. She sat quietly for awhile on one of the green cushions near my ladder and then asked if I was having fun working on the wall. It was a great question, and extremely thoughtful. Was I having fun at the moment? I thought about it for a second. Not really. I'd been working on the wall for a loooooong time (Clare would agree), I was warm and thirsty and I knew I still had a long way to go. Some aspects were fun. It's encouraging to step back to see the big picture, to check your progress and critique what needs a bit of tweaking. The challenge of it is thrilling. I answered her honestly, "sometimes, but no, not at the moment". Can you guess the next question? Yep! "Then why are you doing it?" Another good one! This kid was on a roll! Move over Nancy Drew!

A lot of hours go into the inspiring things you see in our school. Time away from family invested in other families in our community. The fun bulletin boards, the hall displays of student work, the organized and themed classrooms, the special displays in our lobby for events. It all takes TIME. Days and weeks and hours of extra time. So why do it? I told her that meet the teacher night is a big deal. A VERY big deal. For some folks it'll be a welcome back to a school, teachers and friends they already know. That's pretty exciting! But for some it'll be a brand new place filled with brand new faces, and that can be scary. I want people visiting my school to be inspired when they walk in, to feel welcome, to know that exciting and unique things happen there, to feel special because they're a part of that, and know that the teachers there are committed to the doing what's best for kids. Always. That's why we do it. I think the night was a success! I've never had so many smiling faces visit the art room before! So many friendly hellos, glad your backs, hugs, high fives, it was great! It was almost like we were having a party in my room and I'm already looking forward to next time. Be watching for info about Fall Into The Arts this November! It truly IS an art party! Y'all come back now, ya hear?! 

what I'm working on #4: The Glitter Trail Mystery

My grandmother was awesome. She was smart, she could sew, she was creative, she loved learning new things, and she was always up for an adventure. She was my favorite person. When I was younger she lived downstate and would often travel north to visit. When she saw me, instead of cupping my face in her hands and telling me how pretty I was (I was a nerd and a tomboy), she would ask me what I was reading. She wanted me to know things, to do things, to read things. She'd save The Mini Page for me to read from her local newspaper and would often bring a book along on her visits that she thought I might enjoy. During one such visit she brought a few Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, on loan from my Aunt. 

The books were old. There were slight signs of wear from being previously loved, and I couldn't wait to dive in. They did not disappoint! I fell in love with Nancy Drew stories! Thanks Gram!!! I rushed to the library and was thrilled to find they had a complete set on the shelf for me to enjoy! The cover art was dated but dynamic, the binding was yellow (easy to spot on the shelves) with a Nancy Drew logo and the number of the series, and they were SO COOL. Were? They're STILL cool! As a kid I never had a complete set of my very own, but whenever I find them at a book sale or yard sale I snatch them up to add to my shelf. If I find that I've got duplicates, I share the wealth and gift them.

Well, we collect children's books and, as with anything collected, our shelves were bursting at the seams! We decided it was time to let go of the books we've outgrown. Our children asked if they could have a book sale to raise money for a game they've had their eyes on. Yep! Entrepreneurial spirit, goals, dedication, work, of course we'll encourage that! While they arranged, sorted and sold, I set to work painting in the grass behind them. (Focus on the adorable little entrepreneurs and ignore the landscaping, we just ripped out the shrubbery and haven't replanted yet!)

The project? The book theme for my classroom door this year. The book? Why, Nancy Drew of course! Rather than copying an existing book cover I made my own version with a personal twist. I've been known to use glitter from time to time. Surprised? Well, whenever there's glitter anywhere in the school I'm usually teased about it. My solution is to suggest that perhaps the glitter trails are caused by another shadowy figure that may or may not resemble a certain football coaching music teacher I know. 

What? It could happen... Just keep painting, just keep painting....

Oh! And glitter! Don't forget the glitter... Our music teacher LOVES glitter. See?!

I used a few metallic paints and in certain lighting you can really see the shimmer. The image on the left is with the lights on, and the image on the right is in natural lighting. This was a lot of fun and working on it brought back many fond memories. I hope my students have a sense of humor and enjoy this cover! I hope the music teacher has a good sense of humor as well! Finishing the project made me feel like I'd just finished reading a good book, and it's time to start another!

Making the entrance GRAND

I LOVE books. I really really love books. Picture books, books to read, cook books, art books...I could look through bookstores and book sales for hours and be completely and utterly content. I enjoy the thrill of the hunt and score awesome finds for my kids and my classroom, often for a deal. My favorite children's book is easily Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. As a child I loved the magic of sailing away to a faraway and exotic world, the bravery of taming large intimidating beings as someone so small and helpless, and the PICTURES. Those creative "things" in all of their terribleness were an odd hodgepodge of animal parts put together to create something nobody else had ever drawn before. Where did people get ideas like that?! My grandmother would watch the narrated story on VHS with me as a college student when I was ill and she was nursing me back to health. It was the best. 

I love to read. When I was younger I would wait until everyone was asleep before quietly tiptoeing downstairs to sneak in another chapter or 2, or 5, or more, but who's counting? After all, I was busy. School all day, homework when I got home, evening routines, other kid stuff, and BAM, the day was done. There were nights when I'd be so engrossed in the story I was reading that I would simply lose track of time. It was nothing to be up until 2 am reading, and I loved it. I didn't worry or care about being tired the next day because it was totally worth it! There was always an excitement about finding out if the characters I'd grown to love had gotten their happy endings, followed by the deep sad ache of an adventure ended. Unless it was a series, my time with those characters was over. It was time to find another book, and to find new characters to love.



Luckily I lived close enough to the library that I could walk there, which I did quite regularly. My neighbor growing up was a widow and retired school teacher. Mrs. Carpenter had a tall white house, a lawn that she kept perfectly manicured, and she knew all of the answers to questions on Jeopardy. I was absolutely convinced that she could win if she had the opportunity to appear on the show. She took me to the library as a very young girl, young enough that we had to hold hands down the street, and she helped me get my very first library card. I remember getting books about Cabbage Patch Kids and being so proud that I was trusted to take it home. Eventually I checked out Sweet Valley High and Nancy Drew. The librarian kept you on your toes. While perusing through books, quietly contemplating what to read next, it wasn't uncommon to hear a shriek loud enough to scare you out of your socks! When you looked at her to see what was wrong she'd just say it was too quiet and go back to the business of returning books to shelves. It was quirky in an endearing way.  

So each year I choose a book as the theme for the doors to my art room to encourage kids to read. To inspire them to read. I consider books I loved learning about while watching Reading Rainbow. That show was AWESOME! I vividly remember some of the stories. I look for those books at sales with my children. Many now stand on the shelves in their bedrooms. I still enjoy looking at them and reading them. They do too. 

I use children's books as the basis for our art folder covers each year, beginning the year by reading stories to kids. Last year sixth graders were talking about the books I've read to them and it warmed my heart to know that they remembered and enjoyed the tradition. The school librarian is always a GREAT person to get to know. She's the one who orders the books, so as a teacher I run to her often with lists of books that promote the arts, books I can use in my lessons, and they're ordered! It's always so exciting when she tells me the new books are in. So turn off the electronics, put on a pair of shoes, and get to the local library. Take a look, it's in a book....and on the art room door!