Back-to-School with Hands-Art!

BACK-to-SCHOOL with Collaborative Hands-Art!

Beginning a new year, or a new group, is the PERFECT time for collaborative art featuring the unique handprint of every member of the new crew. 

Here's a bulletin board that I saw last year during my author-illustrator travels to Daytona Beach, FL. This work was on the cupboards in a kindergarten room at South Daytona Beach Elementary. LUV me my Kinders! 

(Yes. I remember being told that she had seen something on Pinterest that provided her original inspiration.)

Here are a couple of other back-to-school collaborations including individual hands -- that I have featured here previously. Let's start with easy-peasy. 

Simple: always has a way of looking great! 

This next classroom door idea, were more mature kids in Colorado: magic markers and individual hands. 

VOILA! 

Colorado Classroom Door. 

Here's my earlier "Hands RoundUP" with all sorts of ideas. 

There are several poems appropo for hand print captures.

{Just click the picture.} 

Here's one of my absolute FAVE 'hands' projects ever. 

These were created independently, 

but the idea could be converted to collaborative. 

{Click this pic to go to the original article with close-ups.}

There have been at least a couple of handprint 'welcome' rainbows for me over the years. 

Here's "Mr. Greg" of Tennessee. 

Here's a launching the new year project from Mr. Greg's classroom wall. 

Here's the handprint Rainbow welcome that awaited me at Gator Elementary in southern FL. 

Here's another INCREDIBLE bulletin board that launched the school year in an Ohio kindergarten room. 

The brilliant Mrs. Heidi used my song 

"You're Wonderful" to get their year started.

You've GOT to see how she extended the idea. 

{Click the pic to tour her room.}

Click the pic to go to the opportunity to purchase at TeachersPayTeachers. 

Hope that whether you've started already

or are still in the planning stages

these ideas spur you on to your own creations. 

As always. I'm UBBER grateful for your pins!

Thank you, pinners!  

Onomatopoeia: Art Meets Language!

As a 'singer/songwriter' I'm wild about the interplay of language and the 'sounds' of syllables. I get a kick out of saying, "syllabication!" As a former elementary art teacher, I'm cra-cra-crazy about children's expressive art. When they are combined together? Art and Language? Language and Art? Onomaopoeia? Behold art poetry. BAZINGA! 

Grand-slam. Home-run. Touchdown! Slam-dunk. Hole-in-one!

Not that I 'should' have a favorite...... 

but I'm a BIG fan of the word "DREAM." 

I may just need to print that one out and hang it above my desk! 

{Look up at the top of the blog under my freebies tab: 

there's a whole compilation of quotes on the dream concept.} 

Here's what the whole class of onomatopoeia work/words on newsprint looks like on the bulletin board out in the elementary school hallway. I captured these at our WonderBoy's school in central Ohio. 

Speaking of WonderBoy. As I type, they are headed this way! They are driving cross country to come spend the coming week with us, up here in our haven-home. 

Today is my hubby's birthday! It's a BIG birthday!  It's a party of epic proportions! We will be spending the coming days having a Zap, ZONK, SpLaT, bOOM, KerplunK time together. If I'm 'gone' from cyberspace, have no fear. I plan a big return! 

Have a great weekend! I'm just beginning or get the coming months orchestrated for school visits. It that's on your wish-list, it's time to start the conversation! 

*Thanks so much for your pin! That's how I get 'discovered.' 

I'm now at 129,665 followers!     

Click this link to go there directly! 

Now at 528 followers!

Building from UPcycled Materials

TRASH to TREASURE! 

Time to get inspired to gather up all of your 'good' trash and recycle goodies and see what you can create in the process. I have some new images from my recent Author-Illustrator school visits and I've gleaned back through my files for some 'oldies' to bring you this UPcycle RoundUP! 

KINGDOM of GOOD MANNERS!

Look at this fantastic community 'sculpture' created in preschool last spring! I am just beginning to go back through my camera's memory cards -- to share the sights of the last season. The ingredients are a wide variety of bits and pieces of UPcycled materials from the recycle bin. 

How many different contributions can you identify? 

Can you spot the oatmeal box? The toilet paper rolls? The countertop samples? Cork stoppers? Wood pieces? Mirror squares? What else? Put it all together and you've got a memorable, "Kingdom of Good Manners!" 

This kingdom was on display in the welcome area of the Vero Beach Community Preschool last spring. 

Next up are some Ohio bugs on the prowl. 

Created from the packing material between apples in a box. 

This time last year I shared these next images from the Chicago Concordia Early Learning Center. 

It seems fitting to re-group them with the kingdom above. 

Tissue paper, duct tape, cellophane colors and some paint details. 

Styrofoam packing pieces and pipe cleaners! 

Here's the outcome of a guest post here from my blogging friend, 

"Carrots are Orange." 

Here's a reference to an earlier article that created 

"Monster Puppets" 

from the interior bag of chips. 

Here are some earlier rockets in flight! 

Here's a 'reminder' of the SHAPE PEOPLE I saw during my tour across 
REGGIO EMILIA, ITALY. 

Next up. 

A couple of 'organizational' UPcycled examples. 

These crayons are housed in reused 'icing' containers. 

Here's an incredible collaborative sculpture. 

Needless to say, the rainbow spectrum captured my heart immediately. 
This is HUGE and took up an enormous wall above cupboards at CSG in Columbus. 

So save up the flotsam and jetsam.

Gather plenty. 

Save some more! 

When you have a truly HUGE collection, then its time to enlist a professional. 

Here's a professional mural now at home in a Worthington, OH elementary. 

It had first graced the walls of the Columbus Conservatory. 

YUP. A recyled UPcycled mural. 

This is the ultimate of UPcycling! 

You owe it to yourself to go to the earlier article and see the other scads of photos I took during that visit.  

By all means. 

Pin to your heart's content! 

I'm so grateful for your pinning.

Simple Kindergarten "Office" for Fine Motor Fun

KINDERGARTEN OFFICE!

Long time readers here know that I am a HUGE proponent of supporting Fine Motor development in any happy, simple and engaging way possible. Seeing this idea last spring while making a visit to Carie's Kindergarten classroom in central IL made my heart race with considering all of the possibilities! 

Let's take a close up look at the 'front' covers of the folder.

She has taken two inexpensive file folders and filled them with pre-printed motivation and examples, prompts and possibilities for her kinders. The whole duo-folder gets laminated into one extra long strip and BAZINGA! You've got a kindergarten office which doubles as a fine motor fort! The young students can each literally surround themselves with 'walls' to define their space, offer support, privacy and hiding  refuge. This is truly a bonanza for the child who benefits from focus and a tad less environmental input. 

BRILLIANT I say. Simply BRILLIANT!! Win-WiN-WIN!!!

Now let's examine the 'inside' of the office folder's walls. Here's the 'left' side of the interior layout. I knew you'd want to see it up close, for an idea of what Carie has included. 

And here are the two sides of the interior 'right' side of the writing office, with Kinder word wall sight words and the months of the year. The days of the week are included as well as color words that are actually in color! 

Here's a 'merging' the of the two photos above, so that you can see what the student sees across the complete interior of the writing office. These could be tailor made for each student and their particular specifics and interests. The possibilities are endless!  

Carie writes for our collaborative blog, "PreK+K Sharing" on the 17th of the month and shares her experience from the front lines in insightful articles there. She also keeps her own blog at "Kindergarten Hugs." Here are the two of us last spring during my author-illustrator school visit. We are standing in front of the quilt Carie's class created for my welcome to their midst, designed in response to my first picture book, "You're Wonderful." 

HOW COOL IS THIS Re-MAKE? 

NEWSFLASH + UPDATE!!!! Due to numerous requests for this concept to made available to others, Carie has created the above idea into an easily down-loaded file, for you to print off and create your own student offices. Just go to her TpT store and look for this product. 

Disclaimer: Carie and I are another mutual admiration society. We met a couple of years back at a reading conference in Springfield, IL where I was presenting. Carie took my book, "Red, White and Blue" home and immediately began a project that became EPIC in its completion. Her kinder-class from that year are seated in front of their construction paper quilt created with marble painting the pieces! As you can see, I don't use the word 'epic' lightly. 

For over a year I had my "Fine Motor Friday Series: Fine Motor Leads to Fine Arts." There are over 50 earlier articles that are all housed together under that label. Here's my 'golden' anniversary where I review the 50 earlier articles. Fine Motor Field Day. It's a treasure trove of ideas, if I do say so myself. You'll need a rainy day to dig through everything housed together. 

By far, the image that has been pinned the most from that series is from the group of photos I took in my WonderBoy's kindergarten wing (that would be our grandson) during my annual visit in their midst. 

You've just GOT to LUV this idea! 

This is the PERFECT idea for back-to-school, 
getting to know all of our new friends. 
Photos of each student laminated onto their name. 

A journal with the pictures of peers with a spot to write out their name! 
***The ideas in this article are why I LUV LUV LUV making school visits! 

EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION!

I continue to amass followers on Pinterest and am reaching 130,000 in my crew. 

My largest number of followers on any of my boards is my collaborative board that I host: 

Writing and Fine Motor. 

As an author/illustrator of picture books, as a former elementary Art teacher, 

these skills are critical in my estimation for lifetime success. 

I was commissioned by Zaner-Bloser to create an album of songs on this topic.

There are 12 songs suitable for mature PreK kiddos and Kindergarteners alike. 

I have given you the link to my store at Teachers Pay Teachers, 

where the CD is listed as a hard-good, which I would ship to you. 

Here's a YouTube video of my favorite songs on the album. 

I think its safe to say that the teachers are having a good time! 

Watch the whole thing to see what I mean.

As with all of my work, I'm pretty much a word-of-mouth phenomena. 

Your 'pin' of this article can truly send ripples out to brand new readers 

that have never heard of me. 

I'm so grateful for each and every pin! 

Here's to an amazing year ahead!