photo contest!

What is your most blissful moment? A tranquil sunset? The gaze of a child? The moment your child was placed on you? (Yes, that's me...at that moment with my first-born!)

I'm giving away a $20 gift code to www.mpix.com on my facebook photography page to the person who garners up the most votes for their blissful photograph!

It doesn't have to be the greatest picture in the world, it just has to capture the moment! Head on over to my page, "like" it...and scroll down to read about submitting your photo! I do not choose the winner, it is based on votes :) Hope to see you on the flip-side!

identity grids

I love having the kids do personalized work at the beginning of each school year-- and typically I start out with some sort of self-portrait. Well, 10 years of doing that for seven classes each day for a week is really mundane, so I decided to switch it up this year. With my third graders I am doing these "identity grids" and they love them!

We start out with a 12"x12" sheet of paper and fold it into 16 squares. We talk about identities. The most obvious part of your identity is your name--so we write our names in "bubble letters" jumbled about through the paper. One letter per square. We then talk about other things that make us unique, that make us individuals--and brainstorm those ideas on the board (favorite holidays, foods, artists, hobbies, etc). They then draw a different symbol in each of the remaining squares.

The above example is mine, but I can't wait for the kids to finish their so I can show you! They are all so colorful and unique...and I'm learning a little something new about each child! So fun!

september 11 tribute artwork! - a call for art plans!

HELLLP! I'm looking for some fabulous patriotic art projects to do with my kiddos right out of the gate this year. I'd love to be able to have a whole unit on symbolism and patriotic artwork to correspond with the 10-year anniversary of September 11.

Do you have a wonderful patriotic art lesson (any level) that you'd like to share? Please link your lesson in the comment section and I will link your lesson to the bottom of this post!

Check out these wonderful patriotic works of art:
Pointillism USA Maps and Collage Flags
www.rainbowswithinreach.blogspot.com - an inspirational story on how she created her 9/11 tribute book!

www.sunnydaysinsecondgrade.blogspot.com - a link-up for classroom projects to celebrate 9/11