8/31/12

My Spanish Art Classroom is ready for next week!!!

This is the display right outside my classroom. Everything is in Spanish because I will be teaching art classes in Spanish to K, 2nd and 4th graders. 

Some initial decorative boards were put up to beautify the halls before the art goes up. 

The 3 art teachers share this lockable storage closet. It's an art teacher's dream!!

Another view of our lockable, storage closet. 

More displays in the halls. The art teachers are responsible for over  15 bulletin boards. 



My classroom view from the doorway. I have 7 tables. 

My table markers. Each table has a different color. 

My elmo projector!!

I teach 3 grades and see kids 2-3 times a week for 45 minutes.  That is more art than I took for my studio art degree in college. Content and Language objectives will be posted here daily. 

My Spanish Art vocabulary wall of the letters A, B, C and Ch. (Remember, it's a Spanish alphabet) 

My Spanish Art vocabulary wall detail of the letter P. 

The Early childhood educator in me always loves these jars filled with colorful items....

My demonstration corner 
A gallery corkboard on right

A sink!!! (Ta da!!)

I posed these moving figures up on top of my cabinets. 

My drying rack and visual files

Paper.....glorious paper. 

My doorway..... 
Says, 'Welcome to Ms. Cutelis' class'

This door goes out to some wooded area.... 
Huge picture windows





My class with the lights off

8/28/12

First Day Back to School, in pictures

Nora writes a funny note to put in Luke's lunch bag (idea came from Diary of a Wimpy Kid)

I entrusted Chris, my hubby, of taking pictures of the kids on their first day of school. Nora is the girl to the right of the boy in the yellow. Enjoy. 

This one is much better........

Luke on his first day of 2nd grade!! (you don't know him, but this is a very nervous smile)

After a long day Nora and I gave each other pedicures. 

Love this.....the separator thing was too big for her little toes. I'll spare you pics of my toes. 

These are colors she chose....Yes, I did a very choppy job. She LOVED it. 


8/26/12

The Importance of taking the time to PLAY with your kids

 My daughter just adores it when I play with her. This whole set up took about 45 minutes to construct, and that does not even include the playing time after. We created a kitchen and them pretended to follow recipes to cook food. I did not come up with any of this, I merely followed her lead. I had a blast. 

I love the thrifts store. Most of these foods we got in bags from Value Village, a thrift store in Hyattsville, MD. When older kids come for playmates they too love playing with fake foods.  Notice how we sorted all the food. Top shelf for drinks, bottom bowl for fruits and vegetables, canned goods middle left, eggs on top.....

Melting Crayons Project

Nora and I spent one whole afternoon a few days back melting old crayons and pouring out the colors onto small canvases. We also used the foil to create molds of things we had around the house and pouring melted crayon wax in them to create interesting shapes. 
Nora adding a piece of rolled foil onto hers (above). See her heart mold (top one).  In mine, the canvas below, I kept using pealed pieces of wax we've poured onto foil and trying to attach them to my canvas. We used various home tools to make  scratches on our wet/soft wax. 

How to go about getting the haircut of your dreams

                           I have terrible luck with hair salons. For prom, I went to a salon to get prettied-up to the 'big day', and three well-meaning elderly ladies gave me what 'they' called a french twist. Sounds exotic right? WRONG!! It looked more like one of those hairdos from the 50's and I went home, cried my eyes out, washed it all out and wore my hair down and boring. I'm sure if I got one of those hairdos now, I'd be more than ecstatic, but at 16 years old, I was too insecure and shy to pull off a beehive. A few years later, in my 20's, I got brave and hopeful once again and went to a Dominican hair salon with my mom, being new to salons, I did not know to ask for no blowdrying, or hairspray; neither of which I ever use on my hair. I walked out of there looking like I was about 45. These are just a few misadventures of my unassertive youth, but I can assure you each one carries quiet disappointment and tears. This should then explain why I spent the majority of my adult years wearing a ponytail. I wore it well, mind you, but nevertheless it got to be terribly boring. Therefore, when I found Evelyn, at Simply Bliss, it was as if I had found diamonds. 

                            Looking back it was a combinations of things that created the perfect chemistry and I thought I'd share it here so that you too can find your very own 'hair whisperer'. I'm sure there are many, but these are the ones that were relevant to me:

1. They must know hair. This is HUGE!!! My hair when cut short curls (especially in DC when it's always humid), when long it looks limp and plays dead. I know a friend whose hair has weight and falls straight no matter what length it is. All I can say is THIS comes with experience. I can't tell you HOW to find someone who has this skill. 

2. Bring a picture of a 'do' with someone whose hair type matches you. This is so important. I brought a few pictures of the type of hair I wanted. They were of all the same person, various views. If you pick a celebrity, it's often easy to find various perspectives of the same person on Google Images. The crux is that this person's hair MUST match your hair type. If you have no clue what I am talking about, do what I do, touch your friends' hair more often, you will become aware of how different hair can feel, but also how different hair can weigh. 

3. Talk in silhouettes. A silhouette, according to www.dictionary.com, a two-dimensional representation of the outline of an objectuniformly filled in with black. My silhouette, whenever I have gotten my cut in the past, has always been the shape of a capital letter A. I hated this shape on my face and thought because of the way my hair behaves that I'd be doomed with my 'A-shaped silhouette' head my whole life. But the day I began talking about NOT wanting an A-shaped silhouette was the day my hair cutter made sure my hair did not do that anymore, simple. This speaks to the importance of being able to clearly define your vision of both what you want and also what you don't want. 

 head, black, silhouette, style, hair, wig


8/25/12

Books I am reading Right NOW....

Committed(Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage)[Hardcover](2010)byElizabeth GilbertOut of Our Minds: Learning to be CreativeDrive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates UsLinchpin: Are You Indispensable?

Peeks into the beginnings of my Spanish Art Classroom

               Okay, my room is FAR from done....but I am very proud of what I've done so far. It took me 4 half days to even get it to this point, and I still have lots of work to do to get it to match my vision of a safe, warm and exciting Spanish art room. 
This is my door. Lots of storage on the left and the right (not pictured). 

This is the view of my tables, my whiteboard, more storage, my sink (way in the back on the right). I have 7 tables altogether. So much potential!!!

A blurry picture of my display area (left) with rug. I will be getting an Elmo, a projector, and a cart next week. The papers you see were in this room, but they are going to the storage closet.  


My paper shelf. I took out about 300lbs. of paper out of here and placed them in our lockable art teacher closet. In this one I leap watercolor. On top are my multicultural paper, below that are my black papers, below that are drawing papers (2 shelves) and last, my watercolor papers. 

My demo area. 

I did this in my last class and it's just so visually appealing that I had to do it again. It brings mystery and interest to ones class. 

The models on display here in my window, which faces trees. 

View of my classroom from the entrance. Sorry for the blurriness. 

View of my classroom with the lights off......look at those trees!! what a view. I need more plants. So if you have any plants you no longer need, I'd be glad to adopt them for my classroom. 

Hallways full of art teacher bulletin boards. We, the three art teachers at the school, are responsible for over 20 bulletin boards that are expected to be changed often. Thankfully, we are given time in our schedule to put up displays. Can's wait to meet the kids. All classes I see twice a week, some even three times a week. Will post more next week after I have created and added all the signs. 

Have to know how to fight

Do you know how to fight? If you care about your relationships dare to practice fighting.  It does not really matter what you fight over.......