5th Grade: Revolutionary War Museum Project (General Jedediah Huntington) AND one of MF's FAVORITE Teachers!

Ok, so it is that time of year for me as a mom (to put mom hat on not teacher hat) to help Mary Frances get all of those last few projects of 5th grade complete upon her graduating from 5th and becoming a middle schooler! GEEZE...can't believe that  - - -  it seems like just yesterday she was only born downtown at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta, GA.  Sigh.....Anywho......

Ok, MF has the coolest Social Studies Teacher EVER! She has such good teaching ideas! She is a fun-loving-no-non-sense kinda gal.  Her name is, Miss Muy, we love her! She is like a part of  our family - not kidding! Mother-In-Law aka better known to all as Ma"C" (Or Monster-In-Law....hee hee not really) just kind of adopted Mailin as her Tallahassee Granddaughter! Side story...when our mom had open heart surgery this past fall...who came to Macon, GA to see her all the way from Tally...Miss Muy! You see once in a life time you get a really cool teacher that helps you grow sooooooooo much as a kid and just flat out becomes part of your family.  You know it is that one teacher that comes along and helps you over come so many "growin-up-obstacles". Mailin has done that for MF. Mailin had 2 really good mentors when she first started out teaching. She had Leah and Shari. Now that was an AWESOME team to start out teaching with at school.  Both of them had tons of experience and such a good way with students. I had lunch duty with them 3x a week and it was amazing to see the care and concern that they had for each and every one of their individual students on their grade level. I still keep in touch with Leah and Shari...they are a hoot and ya know, they still ask about MF!

I think in my elementary school experience, Miss Marsha Young was just that for me. She was young enough to "get it" and old enough to know how to steer her students to get the best out of us.  She set the bar high and we were expected to perform at that level! She was our cheer-leading sponsor too! I never had Mrs. Beeland or Mrs. Duke as a teachers in the classroom, but they were our drill team sponsors and they were just great! They were on top of the "GIRL" drama! These kind of teachers / educators just think out of the box. They tend to see the whole picture in any situation. They read body language and tone and can see just how a child is doing on any given day by reading the kid! I am so glad they helped shape and mold me too! Mailin has done that for MF in so many ways. 

Now, in my schooling career, I have had lots of good teachers....Yep, I had several at Beechwood School in Marshallville, GA. (Hey Parksy...I know you are reading this blog...) You see I can go back and look at my schooling career and pick out who taught me how to be who I am and how to handle things in my classroom with a good sense of humor. I know there were some teachers in my past that taught me just how I didn't want to teach as a teacher! (Ha, you all have had those, too!) I won't name them....but I am sure 1965 knows exactly who I am speaking of! But this is a happy blog not a negative blog - so we aren't going there....Ya know, for the most part I really didn't have any teachers that made me not ever want to be an art teacher! So, here is a big~shout~out~high~five~kinda~wave to all you teachers out there!!!!! Thanks on so many levels!

I had some really great teachers at Westfield School too! I can name teachers from all parts of my educational career from Breanu, UGA and The University of West Georgia! One of my favorites was a fabric design teacher at UGA - Mr. Lambert. He was so cool and creative. I took an independent study with him. We created art games for kids to use in art during that "free time" of class - you know the time in class when you are like.....OK, class is not over and you have now rushed through your art project...do you free draw or do you create with minimal instruction without getting other's off task! He was such a great guy. I remember when I got engaged and married. He made sure I had a wedding gift. He gave me a crystal honey pot...how sweet was that!

Ok, this art project was created by MF for a Social Studies Lesson. She had to create a piece of art work that could potentially hang in Miss Muy's Revolutionary Art Museum.  So, on the way home from school we brained-stormed how to do a funky piece of art. She really wanted to draw General Huntington's portrait. So, we talked about the periods of art that we have studied over the years in art class and both agreed it would be cool to make a portrait in different styles...it was like creating the evolution of the portrait. She started out by sepia tone and ended up in Pop Art. The frame was created to look like wood. She had to have bullet point facts about the General. So, she printed them out in a large font and then cut them up Folk Arty and placed them around the evolution of the portraits. Pretty dag-gum clever, don't ya think! This lesson was a great way to use both right and left sides of the brain. What a wonderful project that incorporated many of the 8 multiple intelligences!

So this post is for you Miss Muy! Thanks for all you do for MF and for every other kid that you teach, have taught and will teach! To the rest of you...thanks for stopping by, x0x - Kim 1969