Snowmen Families

I really enjoyed this simple art project.     The original idea comes from Gail Bartel.

You may know her as 'That Artist Woman'.  Hop on over and check out her fabulous blog and her step-by-step instructions on how to make these cute families.

 

I used some grey card stock that I had lying around.  I like the contrast between the virbrant blue and stark white.

 

 

 After they stamped the families above they decorated their families.  I used a hole punch to punch out the little circles for buttons and eyes, but the rest was all done by them. 

 

Oh yeah, the letters were done with a die cutting machine.  Next time I do this activitiy I will use a die with smaller letters.  I didn't realize just how big some of the long names in my class would be.

 

I made sure that they only stamped family members that they live with.

 

 

This little girl is the youngest of 8 sisters.

 

Many of my students live with their grandparents too.

Don't forget to hop on over to Gail's blog for instructions.

Skating Booklet - FREEBIE!!!

Well we finally had a bit of Winter here in Vancouver.  We actually had a week of snow.  Although we are in Canada, most of the Winter Sports, here in Vancouver, are done inside; especially ice skating. 

  At my school, every year the kids go skating. We go 3 classes at a time, and 3 different times on the ice. This gives the kids a chance to improve each time. So by the time they are in Grade 2, most of my students can skate a little bit, and by Grade 4 or 5 they are very confident on the ice. We went for our first ice time yesterday, so I made up this little book for my class to complete when they got back.   

There are diagrams to compare the different kinds of ice skates.

And there are some open-ended Language Arts lessons.  They are perfect for Grade One, but can be adapted for K or Grade 2.  I used them with my Grade Two's. 

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD 

or click on the big photo above to go to my Teachers Pay Teachers Store and Download your FREE copy.

Winter Inchies!

We made another set of Inchies last week. 

This time it's Winter Inchies

Click Here to check out my post on our Fall Inchies.

I got the idea from a fabulous Art Teaching Blog

by a fabulous Canadian Art Teacher. 

Go check out That Artist Woman.

Of course my lesson was modified to fit the materials I have on hand in the classroom.

Here's an example of all the squares.  The kids all made the same squares. 

But then they were allowed to place them on the background in whatever order they wanted.  But the hats took a while to dry, so I told them to leave a blank in the middle for the hats.  So they all have the same centre inchie.

 The snowmen were made with a simple crayon resist.  I LOVE how they all have their own personalities.

The skates were made using punches.  I am a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, so I have an extensive collection of punches.  If you have any questions about the punches, go check out my crafting blog at www.stamperontheshore.blogspot.com

The hats were made using some glimmer paper, some old wrapping paper (I always save wrapping paper at Christmas) and this fabulous fake-snow type paint. I got this paint when we cleaned out my cousin's crafting room.  I'm not sure where she bought it, but I'm sure you can buy it at the box stores.

Chinese New Year Lesson Ideas

Here on the West Coast of Canada we have a lot of immigrants from Asia.  This means that there are a lot of asians in Vancouver.  There are many big Celebrations for Chinese New Year.  Some people prefer to use the more inclusive Lunar New Year, as many other countries in Asia, like Vietnam, also celebrate New Year at the same time.

So I found this totally cool site from the United Kingdom. 

 And it's FREEEEEEEE (my favourite four-letter word)

Check out this link at ActivityVillage.co.uk   They have the most fabulous and interesting lessons on Chinese New Year.  There's also tons of other free stuff on all kinds of topics.

How about these cool vocabulary cards.   There's also blackline versions of them.

 And there's the absolutely A-DOR-ABLE colouring pages with the animals from the Chinese Zodiac.

Winter Cardinals

Check out these adorable Cardinals.  My students made them the last week before Chrismtas so that I didn't have to take down EVERY piece of art and send it home.  It was nice to come back in January and not have blank walls all over the classroom.  I must confess that this is not my idea.  Check out this fabulous blog run by Kath Barbro, out of Sherman Oaks CA.  Click here for the lesson on painting Cardinals.  Kathy gives some pretty wonderful step by step instructions.

Here are some closeups of my kids work.

 I love how each cardinal has it's own personality.

 The kids were SOOOO proud of their work.

For me, the secret is to use Watercolouring Paper when you are using Watercolours. 

I'm Baaaaaacckkk!!!

Wow - has it really been two months since my last post???  Well, things have been very crazy at my house.  A few days after my last post, our basement flooded and it's been a nightmare.   My crafting room is in the basement - need I say any more?  If you are curious, check out my December posts at my crafting blog  Click Here.  Or go to  www.stamperontheshore.blogspot.com

So I've been checking back here every so often and I am super excited to see my followers grow like crazy.  So to thank all of you who have come by to check things out, I've a new project and it's FREE!!!  I love Freebies!    Click Here to download it from my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

It's completely modelled after my very popular Language Arts Mini Book Lesson on Falling Leaves.  Click Here if you'd like to check that one out as well.  It's FREE too!

As you might be able to see, I got a fabulous new Blog Design from Lyndsay over at Happy Potamus Designs.   Itsn't it adorable.  She's currently working on my Crafting Blog makeover as well.

So thanks for all your patience.  Having two active blogs is proving to be a big job, but I'm really hoping to get a lot up for you on this blog in the next few weeks.  Thanks for hanging in there with me through all the craziness at home.  Here's a photo of what my yard has looked like for the past month.