a.r.t. In elle's class

Today I taught an art lesson to Elle's second grade class. They don't have an art teacher at Chisholm so they have a curriculum they use that's brings in parents 4 or 5 times a year to teach a lesson. The teachers then have a special plan time together. All of the lessons focus on an artist. Today I taught about Henri Matisse and we specifically focused on his painting "Goldfish."

 

I found this wonderful interactive website called Matisse for kids and was able to use this to introduce Matisse and what his artwork was famous for. Here's the link:  https://artbma.org/flash/F_conekids.swf

After learning that Matisse loved bright colors that are complementary, and patterns, line, and form the class made a goldfish of their own. We used tissue paper instead of paint. This helped to talk about how later in life Matisse had difficulty painting and would make collages with paper.

Then we finished up with color goldfish crackers for a snack!

The mom who was supposed to be my helper couldn't make it so I asked our sitter, Ally, to come and help. It's good practice for her since she's a teacher candidate at OC, and Elle loved having her come!

 

 

 

 

Reese found the lesson so entertaining!

It was a good experience overall, and I got to know some of her classmates better. Probably the funniest part was how many of Elle's friends came up to her and said how much Reese looks just like her.

current state of the house

We've had to rearrange a bit upstairs to make room for baby brother. Or Reese's "Baby Boy" as she's been calling him. She'll pat my tummy and say "you've got my baby boy in your tummy."

Anyway, Reese got a new bed that Chris made like the two other loft beds. That wouldn't fit in the room that the girls shared, so they've moved to the spare bedroom. We were going to slide the crib into Todd's room, but it wouldn't fit with his bed and dresser so they're moving to what the girl's room was. The boys room is now the spare/guest room.

You know those tile puzzles where you can't move one piece before you move another? That's what it's been like. One tile, or piece at a time. Below are some pics of the mess we've gotten ourselves into. It's now moved around more, but there's still work to do. I will post final pictures soon I hope!

Reese's new bed:

   

in the past 6 months...

A lot has happened since that trip to the cabin in the last post. The biggest thing is that we're having another baby due June 19th!

If you look close you can see the profile of Baby Boy! Todd is so excited to have a brother. He's been very sweet praying for him, and asking to be the first one to hold him. He can't wait to share a room, but we'll see once the baby's actually here. Now it's just time to find a one syllable, double letter name. Stay tuned!