Happy 4th of July!

Wow!  It has been nearly 2 months since my last post.  I needed to have surgery unexpectedly and have been out of commission for awhile!  I'm feeling much better now and am ready to start posting for a great 2012-2013 school year.  Stay tuned for spelling lists coordinating with the Treasures series and RTI continuum, 2nd grade common core standard displays, and Daily 5/CAFE displays!  I'm also toying with the idea of having a "Brain Book" learning log for students to keep track of their learning throughout the year as well as sending home book bags with a weekly book to read.  If you have any ideas on these topics, I'd like to hear them!   I hope you're having a fantastic summer!

Happy Independence Day!

From my family to yours;)

~ Nichole

Happy Mother's Day!

Motherhood is a wonderful thing:)  I joined the club almost 3 years ago and the experience of being a mom never ceases to amaze me.  I appreciate my mom more.  I appreciate my grandmothers more.  And, most importantly, I appreciate the fact that I am blessed to be a mom to my little Lilian.  Our journey to have Lilian was a long one and I know many people who had or are having a difficult journey to become a mother.  Be patient with yourself.  Becoming a mom is well worth the heartache:)

Women are amazing, resilient creatures and this post is to all women...WE ROCK! 

Happy Mother's Day!

Now...on to the craft!

My mom had silhouette portraits of my brothers and I done about 10 years ago.  I have always been in awe of this art form and wanted to create a silhouette portrait of my daughter.  Now, I don't have the art skills to look at someone and draw them, but I am pretty crafty and knew that if I searched around (PINTEREST!) I could definitely find a silhouette idea I could work from.

It didn't take long before I stumbled across an amazing find from Better Homes & Gardens.

So, I quickly got to work creating this portrait of my daughter...

First, I took a profile picture.

Not knowing exactly what I was looking for, I took MANY pictures before I realized that just about any profile shot will work as long as it is just the profile of their face.  Once the picture is printed, you can move the photo around on the canvas until it is at the "just right" angle.

 Then, I printed out an 8x10 in black and white.

And cut around her sweet little face.

 Then I realized that her bangs in the photo would give the sense that her forehead was larger than it actually is, so I trimmed off the edge of her bangs in the photograph.

In pencil I traced around the edge of her photo onto a 10x10 canvas.

 Here are my painting materials.  I used an acrylic paint.

 First, I painted an outline using an angled brush.

Then, I painted the outside of her silhouette with a 3/4" wide brush.

 I created the look of her hair by drawing pieces of hair with painted space between each section.  I used a smaller, 1/4" brush for this detail work.

 It's starting to come together!

I finished the project by painting the edges of the canvas. 

 Overall, I used 3 coats of paint on the whole project.

 And here is the finished project on my fireplace mantle!

I love the way it turned out!

I love it so much, in fact, that I decided to make 2 more canvas silhouette prints of Lilian on 8x8 canvas for my mom and mother-in-law for Mother's Day!

AND...here is the C.R.A.Z.Y. part....

I helped all 25 (yes, twenty-five) of my second graders make one for their own moms for Mother's Day!!!  I followed all of the steps described above...just on a much larger scale!  I purchased the canvases at JoAnn Fabric and Michaels.  I used 8x10 and 10x10 size.  I do not recommend using 8x8 size for 2nd graders.  Their heads are just too big for 8x8 size canvas when you're using an 8x10 picture.  So, depending on the age of the child, you will need to adjust the size of the photo and the size of the canvas.

It took about 2 weeks of slowly working on this project with my students.  For the most part, they did very well.  I did do a lot of the work upfront to help them complete the project to perfection.  For example, I traced their photo in pencil onto the canvas and painted the initial outline for them.  They painted the rest of the front of the canvas and the edges of the canvas on their own.

As with everything, the kids who took their time, were patient, and followed directions had BEAUTIFUL projects!  And...those kids who are not as neat have a cute project to take home, too...it just could be a little cuter:)

AND...if a student (or you!) makes a mistake, the canvas is WASHABLE.  I just put a little water on a paper towel and dabbed at any paint that strayed onto the child's face on the canvas.  It was easier to remove when the paint was wet.

Here are how a few of my students' silhouettes turned out...

The project and the artist. 

(used with parent permission)

 My students also made self-portraits in art.  We used these as wrapping paper!

We folded the sides of the self-portrait around the painting, put the Mother's Day card on top, and secured the whole package with a ribbon.  CUTE!

And a few more...

I just loved this little card;)  This little boy tries so hard and he is at his best when he's creating something.  He took great pride in this Mother's Day project!

Is your heart melting?

If you decide to tackle this project in your classroom, give yourself plenty of time.  If I do it again next year, I will definitely give myself more than 2 weeks from start to finish.

If you chose to do this project with your own little one, the sky is the limit!  I think I have found THE GIFT I will be giving people for years to come!  

So, if you're reading this, and we're related or friends...know that a silhouette painting will be coming your way in the future!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

~Nichole

smile:)

Do You Wonder....

Do you wonder what it would be like to be 7 or 8 again?

I find myself thinking this often as I watch kids skipping down the hall, whispering about sleep overs, and  talking about the yummy graham cracker and chocolate frosting snack their mom packed in their lunch.  Ahh....the simple things in life;)

All of these musings led me to create a "Day in the Life" journal for my kiddos to record what it's actually like to be them for a day!

Each sweetie documented 7 different events in their day beginning from the time they woke up until they went to sleep at night.  During the school day I stopped them several times during the day, set the timer for ten minutes, and let them write about what they were doing, seeing, thinking, and feeling. Each child recorded the time of the event, wrote a paragraph, and included a quick sketch of the event.  Then...we moved on with our day!  And, in order to capture their after school lives, the kiddos completed a 5:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. journal entry to round out the day.

After collecting information about their days, the kids published "A Day in the Life of..." stories in either a storyboard, comic strip, or timeline.

I have included the journal here for you to use in your classroom!

Click {HERE} to download the Day in the Life Journal!

You can download Comic Strip Paper here!  It's different than the one featured in the photo below:)

I hope this activity helps you get through the next few weeks with your kiddos!!

I am definitely experiencing Spring Fever in my classroom!  

Counting down the days until to June 8:)

Happy Monday!

~Nichole

Flat Stanley is Coming Home!

Hello!

I hope this post finds you happy and enjoying the sunshine!

It's been a crazy week (and it's only Tuesday!)  My baby girl is sick and I spent my birthday on Sunday and Monday trying to love her back to health...she stayed home with my hubby today.  I'm hoping she's on the mend soon!

But...I did want to take a minute and share with you all of the great pictures that are coming back for our Flat Stanley project.

Our Flat Stanleys are making their way back to our classroom.  Check out our bulletin board!

As you can see, the majority of Stanleys traveled within our state of Michigan...some strayed a bit further to Las Vegas, Port Charlotte, Colorado, Florida, Rhode Island, and Montana!  One Stanley even went to Canada for a day trip:)

The children each mailed one Flat Stanley to a family member and took a Flat Stanley home for a week and recorded their adventures in a journal.

I quickly realized that I would run out of room if I put up ALL of the pictures we received, so I created a binder with a page for each student to put additional letters and photos in their own page protector.  Now, the kids all want to use the Flat Stanley binder during Read to Self!

Here is a picture of the students' journals they created with their own Flat Stanley.

This is a photo of the Flat Stanley binder with all of the pictures and letters sent to us from family and friends.  The kids also put their journals in this basket.  It is a popular Read to Self or Read to Someone selection:)

That's all for today!  I hope to post an Adventure Journal for you in the next few days;)

Have a great night!

smile:)

~Nichole

Little Things Make Me Happy!

Just a quick post today!

I snapped a few pictures of my classroom and thought I'd share my new door display and homework reward organizer:)

Originally my classroom doors were covered in lists, lunch count baskets, parent notes, etc. and it was starting to look a little unorganized.  This is just not okay with me!  I don't know about you, but when something is visually distracting me in my classroom, I can't stop thinking about a way to make it better.

So...I knew I had to come up with a solution.

FAST.

It's the little things in life that make me happy:)

TA-DA!    Here are pictures of my new door!

If you see something you would like for your room, but want it to say something different, send me an email or write a comment and I'll make one to fit your needs!

I stuck with my trees/nature and black, white, teal, and green theme.  It is so much easier to create things for my room and purchase items now that I have a color scheme in mind.

(Notice Sparty in the window?  I have to show my Michigan State Spartan pride!  Sparty and other MSU logos pop up in various places in my classroom:)  GO GREEN!)

Click here to download the {Classroom Display} files!

My students also are responsible for completing a weekly homework and reading log.  If the logs are returned completed on Monday, they can choose a reward for one day of the week.  I mounted each sign on black paper, laminated it, and placed magnets on the back of each sign.  Each Monday children sign up for a reward for completing and turning in their homework log from the week before!

Pick a day to wear your socks!

Bring a stuffed animal to school.

Curl up on a rug any where in the room.

Do your work using a marker.

Sit or lay on a pillow during the day.

Take over MY DESK for the day!  (I never sit there any way!)

These are available at my TpT store!  Head on over and check it out!

{Be Positive!  Classroom Reward Posters}

I hope you're having a great Thursday!  39 days left of school...but who's counting?

smile;)

~Nichole