Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Just Clowning Around With Kindergarten (elephants that paint???)


So, We are "Just Clowning Around" with Kindergarten at HCES. You see they are getting ready for their Kindergarten Circus...which is a big deal. And, of course they
 needed some super cool artwork to go along with the circus musical theme. We used 12x18 white drawing paper and created clowns. The kids colored them and outlined them with black markers. Then we cut them out and glued them to a funky colored 12x18 piece of construction paper. I think they are pretty hilarious! Kinda makes me wanna giggle when I look at them! I mean, all of the kids got the same instruction and each clown is such a unique creation...from BIG red feet to a couple named BOB. Hee hee....
elephant painting
Have you ever seen an elephant that could paint?  Check out this link here  It is true....elephants can paint! Check out this YouTube video of Kelly Ann, she is a Ringling Brothers Circus Elephant...no joke...see for yourself...the elephant painting....video

At Becky's Book Review, I found this informative review about a super cool book!

ELEPHANTS CAN PAINT TOO by Katya Arnold is a great nonfiction book for young readers. Arnold takes a simple and informative approach to writing. “I teach in two schools. One is in the city. The other is in the jungle. Some of my students have hands. Others have trunks.” She then proceeds to show page by page the similarities and differences between teaching painting to human children and to elephants. Informative sidebars provide more information about elephants without interfering with the flow of the simple text. “Some students eat grass. Others eat peanut butter and jelly. But they all love cookies.” The corresponding side bar reads “Elephants are vegetarians that eat grass, leaves, twigs, and fruit. They also like human food, especially ice cream. Each day they eat about three hundred pounds of food (as much as twelve cows eat) and drink thirty-five gallons of water (as much as a whole bathtub full). They use their trunks to put the food into their mouths and to slurp up the water.” Arnold’s use of comparisons is useful for explaining things to both children and adults. Her writing can also be humorous, one sidebar reads, “Elephants have 150,000 muscles in their trunks. (Our entire body has only 639 muscles.) Some elephants hold the brush by wrapping their trunks around it. Others hold it inside their trunks. If an elephant throws the brush away or eats it, he probably won’t become an artist.” But by far the greatest highlight of ELEPHANTS CAN PAINT TOO are the photographs by the author, Katya Arnold. There is an author’s note providing more information about how you can buy elephant art and support the Asian elephants.


Ok, as I was about to close, I did one more search and found this cool site that had information on 


Check it out....this was done by an elephant and is selling for $750.00! WOWZA....
Hong #075
Thanks for stopping by for a bit! xox, Kim 1969

a cross with beads and a bucket list

by karen #1965 3rd grade teacher Sunday, April 4, is EASTER SUNDAY...so, it is time for a little preachy post...so you see...i did this cross here for my friend...
and it is probably 1 1/2 feet x 1 foot...i did it cause i had a lot of beads and i had a lot of wire...and i thought...hmmm...i need to do something with these beads and wire...so i did...i wrapped the wire...and wrapped it...and wrapped it...and then i attached the beads...and then i gave the cross AWAY ...

you know what JESUS gave AWAY?...HE gave HIS life away...on the cross...so i could make the cross for a friend...so i could live forever and ever with HIM in Heaven...i sometimes wonder what HE will have me doing in Heaven...i sure hope it is something artsy like putting beads on the angels' halos...and not organizing stuff in the mansions...but i will do whatever with a happy face smile cause it is infinity times better than being with that old bad devil and his bad self...that devil has caused me a buncha confusion on planet earth...i am not gonna miss him when i get to the end of my time to check off my bucket list...i found this art when i googled bucket list...i liked it...look.
hey u...go to church on Easter Sunday and other Sundays if you like...have you ever been to worship and said..???..hmmm.???..i wish i would not have gone..???.probably not...usually you are always glad you went...it is like when you go out and run or walk a few miles...when you are done, do you say..???.dang, i wish i would not have done that?....nope...you just look at yourself in the mirror and i am sure glad i went out for that walk...

when i die i want this song played at my funeral...it is an Easter Sunday song...and i always am kinda sad when they don't sing it...i guess if i die near Easter, it will be okay...but, it i die some other time...well it will be kinda weird.........but hey, there could be worse things....i could want jingle bells played at my funeral...here is the song...if i don't hear it Sunday morning, well i guess i can come home and check it out on you tube...Low in the Grave He Lay...i don't know who this chick is...but i liked her...had a hard time finding a decent version of this amazing song...this jessica chick...tho...she rocks it out pretty good...

Low in the grave He lay, Jesus my Savior,
Waiting the coming day, Jesus my Lord!


Refrain


Up from the grave He arose,
With a mighty triumph o’er His foes,
He arose a Victor from the dark domain,
And He lives forever, with His saints to reign.
He arose! He arose!
Hallelujah! Christ arose!
Vainly they watch His bed, Jesus my Savior;
Vainly they seal the dead, Jesus my Lord!


Refrain


Death cannot keep its Prey, Jesus my Savior;
He tore the bars away, Jesus my Lord!


Refrain
(Robert Lowry, 1826-1899)

Happy March 30, 2010!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Easter Art


Hey y'all - it tis' me 1969! We are back from a TJBVA Volleyball Tournament in Middleberg, FL...so I am all ready to do a post here today / tonight!  Ok, so the week before spring break and all through my classroom kids were excited to be almost through with testing and needing to finish up our current lesson. So, here is a fun filler lesson we did if you were done with "KETCH UP"  The kids know when I put a photo of a bottle of Ketch Up on the dry erase board that we need to finish up a lesson!I wanted us to be 90% caught up for our next art lesson after spring break and after Easter! So, I had some examples that I left on the table from print outs from some cool bunnies and chics coming out of patterned eggs. I thought these were pretty successful for a filler lesson with kids so who were testing and ready for a week long break!

Got any idea how creative people boil eggs to decorate for EASTER?  
Well, sometimes we go to the beach and do it on the back deck with a gas fish fryer...yep, Mr. Left Brain's Idea! I do believe this might constitute as one of those remarks of ....you know you could be a redneck when...anywho! The kids loved it and we were VERY successful with our decorating. I don't know why we love Easter so in the Cochran Family but we do. I guess it goes back to your up-bringin'...our great grandmother, Mary Frances Cochran....aka "MUER" would put on the DAWG at Easter time out in Rupert, GA. Yep, Yep, Yep, she would have all kinds of good fancy finger food, a cousin egg hunt and many memories for us now! It is just a continuation of a Cochran family tradition. I want 1965's kids and my child to get that Easter is important not only because of Jesus....but because of family....yaknowwhatimeanbutterbean???

- xox, Kim 1969

Saturday, March 27, 2010

a memory painting, cool australia, people to people, and a daughtersick mama

by karen #1965 3rd grade teacher last summer, my daughter was a part of a People to People group that went to australia...People to People...President Eisenhower started the program in 1956...the website says this, "the purpose of people to people international is to enhance international understanding and friendship, through educational, cultural, and humanitarian activities involving the exchange of ideas and experiences directly among peoples of different countries and diverse cultures..."...now...let me really tell you what it is...it is an opportunity for teenagers to go off on a trip far away for 20 days with folks they do not know...and they get to know...and they do a bunch of cool stuff...meet a buncha cool people...eat a buncha cool food...so now you are saying...is this a blog about art or People to People?...well YEAH...so anyway...while she was gone...i missed my girl so much...i did her a...ah...well...i guess you can call it a "base" painting for her to put all her memories on the painting when she returned from the trip...her memories are the swirl...she did the swirl writing with a black paint pen...so here is what it looks like upside down...yeah, well i took the picture upside down accidentally...and i am not changing it cause i got a migraine and you don't care anyway...and by now, if you read this blog enough, you know i do things a little upside down...

so...i end this post with a song by a famous australia artist that i knew back in the 1970s...

Please, Mr., please, don't play B-17,
It was our song, it was his song, but it's over
Please, Mr., please, if you know what I mean
I don't ever wanna hear that song again.
(Olivia Newton-John, 1975)

oh...i almost forgot...a side story...my grandmama (i called her mama winnie...her name was WINIFRED)... loved her country music and pontiacs...so i was a product of the year 1965...and i did not like country music or pontiacs...i like kiss, boston, and shaun cassidy... and Z28s...so anyway...one day me and mama winnie were cruising around that small town, georgia, we lived in...and she had that dang country music blaring (she was hard of hearing, but she could sho nuff cook)...and the song above came on the country music station...WDEN outta macon, georgia...i was in utter amazement...mama winnie's station was playing pop music...mama winnie was singing "please, mr., please" & from that day on...It was our song...me and mama winnie had a song...i loved me some mama winnie...when i get to the pearly gates, i am gonna get st. peter to page her first thing...we will have lots to catch up on!...if you run across a jolly lady with a big smile in heaven named mama winnie, please...please...PLEASE...do not tell her that pontiac shutdown in 2010...okay?...........happy march 27, 2010!

Friday, March 26, 2010

Wanna Go Fish????

This artsy fartsy lesson is pretty explanatory with the visual you see above....don't ya think?  We took the hands and feet of PK4 kids and created a FISH! We used warm and cool colors. We framed this and auctioned it off at our GALA. Later we made photos of the art and created stationary cards from them with KidsKards....such a cool creative idea for our HCES young artist! I LOVE IT! Just thinkin' about FISHIN' with Spring Break just around the corner!
Happy Day to ya....xoxo 1969

Thursday, March 25, 2010

a big laptop-sized Easter egg and a big yellow bird

by karen #1965 third grade teacher need a eggy project?...well, i have an easy one for you...get a big sheet of any color of paper (i used white) cut it in the shape of an egg...now you may say, what is big?...well, to me, a big egg is about the size of laptop if you open it all the way...maybe that big plus a teeny tiny bit more...anyway...cut a big egg out...cut small snips of tissue paper...lots of color...cause 1965 just loves some color...and make a mixture of glue and water...and glue those tissues down on the big laptop egg...and this is whatcha get...
now i wanna have a side thot with you...a side thot is like a side story, but it is a thot in the head of 1965...so i was thinking...this is a very simple project...but when you get 13 eggs or 57 eggs together...well, it looks really cool...i thot...hmmm...is it the color...and i don't think so...i think it is the BIG....cause eggs are really small...it is the big factor...now...follow me here...think about it...we like our things....some things are naturally big or naturally small...now take people for instance...people are big...babies are small...what do we say when we see babies...awwwwww...she is so cute....now what about coke?....now...if i have a big 12 ounce coke and a small 7.5 ounce coke...take a look...which one folks?

you know...you would pick the small 7.5 ounce and say...awwwwwwwwww...one more...and this would be looking at it from the other direction...suppose you have a choice of a big lava lamp or a small lava lamp...?
here is a small lava lamp...
here is a big lava lamp...
which one made you say...wow!...the big one of course...
now...speaking of big...you know who this is with mr. rogers?...
oh yeah...it is big bird...and big bird lays big eggs........hey i'll end this with my 1969 sis's favorite show theme song when we were growing up...

Sunny Day
Sweepin' the clouds away
On my way to where the air is sweet
Can you tell me how to get,
How to get to Sesame Street

wanna know the year it was released?
1969

happy march 25, 2010!

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Visiting Artist: Anne Hempel local Tallahassee Artist


Anne Hempel has lived in Tallahassee, Florida most of her life. She started dabbling with painting furniture six years ago for part time work. She has been in education for 11 years as a reading tutor, an elementary classroom teacher, a teacher of English in Japan. Recently, she decided to leave education to pursue decorative painting as a full-time occupation. She was born in Lexington, Kentucky where her grandmother, who is also an artist, still resides.


Anne is an alumni of HCES, so she agreed to come in one day and met with several classes to talk about her art work. This was such a cool treat for me and for the students. Anne was great. She showed her original works of art and allowed the kids to pass them around. We used the LCD projector in the art room to show her webpage on the big screen to look at some of her most recent work form her studio.


Prior to Anne's visit, I did a unit with the kids on Hempel's work. The kids really liked this project. We used 12x18 colored construction paper and tempera paint. To prepare for our visit from Anne, we hung up lots of our examples of her work in the art room. The room was filled with tons of CREATIVE energy. She spent one morning with us. Talked about how she got started and why she paints the subject matter that she paints. She also had the kids paint a huge canvas to be auctioned off at our annual GALA. The peacock platter was another item that she rendered and the kids glazed for the auction.


You can see all of our artwork on Artsonia Anne Hempel Unit. Check it our when you have time. For more information, you may visit Anne’s website at www.annehempel.com


Thanks for dropping by! xox, Kim 1969

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

shapes UP in the spring and go fly a kite!

by karen #1965 3rd grade teacher now i am a third grade teacher...and i gotta get those 3Rs in...Reading, and wRiting, and aRithmetic...well this is about aRithmetic...so you see.we were studying polygons...i mean i taught it...we showed some videos...i sent a study sheet home for parents to work with kids...and dang if some kids still thought this shape was a polygon.....some of you looking at this blog may think...awww...such a lonely heart...BUT A LONELY HEART IS NOT A POLYGON...
so i thot...hmmm...art is the answer...go i got these kids to tearing shapes into polygons like so...

once again, my room would qualify for the messiest in the school...(side story...now i have a mini trampoline in my classroom...and the weirdest thing happens...as soon as we get some music going...and get the art juices flowing...i start seeing kids move over towards the trampoline and sneak  a few jumps...and that is so rule breaking...you only can jump 10 jumps on the trampoline at the beginning of the day or the end of the day...but...for some kids...the creative juices start flowing and bouncing right under the kiddies little feet...sometimes you just gotta turn ur head and be happy they are happy)....now folks..not using scissors can freak them out...i said TORN PAPER folks!...so i have one of my most artsiest students getting jiggy with the scissors...look...

now...the funny thing is...i didn't even notice...i have been told that i am not very observant...but i sat there and watched miss artsiest cut with those scissors and i was like, "oh, miss artsiest...that is so cool...love it.."...but miss artsiest usually doesn't follow directions and mrs. 1965 didn't even notice...so who cares...of course, mr. math brain noticed...and brought it to my attention...he understood the polygons before i even taught the lesson...i love him, though!

so we cranked out the kites...a polygon here...a polygon there...

until we had some flying polygons...

i think this was a VERY simple activity requiring little prep and little input...and it benefited all...and matisse would be so proud!

so......for the benefit of mr. kite, there will be a show tonight on a trampoline (the beatles, sgt. pepper's lonely hearts club band, 1967)

happy march 23, 2010!

Monday, March 22, 2010

In The Fish Bowl and e-course with Marisa Haedike at Creative Thursday

What: A staff development class for me to take my creative dreams further
When: Creative Thursday, starting March 4, 2010 for 6 weeks
Where: Wherever you are....as long as you have internet! 

It is me, 1969...Kim - I am in this 6 week e-course. So far this has been very interesting.  We are on class #3 now. Marisa Haedike is sharing what she learned on her journey. I am a firm believer that why re-invent the wheel when you can learn from someone else...'eh! Isn't that some of what this bloggin' land is all about???? She is covering everything from how to make a living, marketing yourself and maneuvering yourself as an artist online, while staying true to who you are. The class had a limited enrollment and it is also personalized to the group attending weekly. According to Marisa, the first and second session did sell out so she recommend signing up soon to reserve your space. I did just that and I am so glad that I decided to take this e-course. It has made me do some soul searching in the art realm! I love to teach and I love to create art but sometimes there are just not enough ours in the day for all that I want to do! I am hoping to find an organized balanced way to juggle all of my creative juices and be a good mom and wife too! I really believe that there can be a happy medium between it all. It just depends on what stage your life is at...

Check out Marisa's site at Creative Thursday .  She has been really good about asking questions for us to ponder and having us respond back to them in our online classroom "fish bowl".  Here are a couple of questions us "fishies" have been asked to answer in our e-course during week one...you ponder a few and see just how you would answer them....they really make you think!

Q: Why do you love what you create?

Q: What are you working on when you lose all
 sense of time?                           
Q: What is success to you? (in terms of your art)
Ok, on that note...it depends on which angle you look at it, right? So, above is a photo of 1969's daughter from this past weekend at a horse show that 1965 came too after 1965's daughter's soccer game. Yep, they love us so much that they came on down to Tally to spend some time with us per the previous post on the blog! Anywho - 1969's daughter is jumping for the first time at a fence height of 2 feet 6 inches on a fabulous pony named Daybreak. Her heels are down her head is up and Daybreak is on his journey of his course. So, I am on my journey. I love my life. I love that I have inherited this creative energy that wants me to keep on doing art....I love that me and Mr. Left Brain (who supports my artsy-ness and my sister's artsy-ness...giggle giggle) created this cool kid that has "umph" and she isn't real fearful! Oh, to be 11 again and have that care free attitude! I want to ride my art journey the way she is riding Daybreak...with a very SPUNKY and SASSY Attitude! I'll keep you all posted on the fishbowl e-course!  Thanks for stopping by....Hope you all have a FANTASTIC week! x0x, Kim 1969