Student art – Dear Liza

The da Vinci Art Show

Dear Liza,

After I chatted with you on Saturday, Bridgett and I went over to Cousin Kestrel’s Middle School for their art show and sale. Since da Vinci is a magnet school for the Arts, there was a lot to see.

Of course, I wanted to see Kes first.

She was selling stickers, sketches and other art. Rest assured, some are coming your way!

The student show was in the main hallway on the first floor. There were about 20 young artists showing and selling their art.

There were textile artists, like seamstresses, knitters, and felters, ceramicists, jewelry makers, and pen and ink artists. There was all manner of crafting, as well.

A lovely young lady named Eleanore had all sorts goodies, including Christmas tree ornaments made of tangerine peel and cinnamon stick. See them there in the little display tree?

And here it is on my Christmas tree, alongside a dragon.

To be fair, there was also a show for Professional artists in the gym, but my ‘talking to people’ muscles were tired and I scooted out.

On the way, we passed some of the student murals that decorate all the halls.

There was also student art that wasn’t for sale, and I particularly liked this one. It felt very timely.

And here’s my last picture of the day, Kestrel with her head down, drawing… as always.

Love,

Grandma Judy

End of the Year Projects

Dear Jasper and Kestrel,

We now have eight days until the end of our school year. For me, it is my last school year, and I want to have some fun. My class, the Dragons, have been writing stories.

They created characters and drew them. Then they made an eight part story map, outlining what their hero would do in the story to achieve his or her goals. Now they are writing, in Google Classroom, the final drafts of their stories.

**An Outline for a story about the character**

They are also turning their characters into action figures! Using a bunch of thin cardboard given to us by Annette Agee, our wonderful cafeteria lady, we drew, glued, and ‘dressed’ our characters, and have even used more cardboard to make background for these characters to stand in front of.

It was been a long process and has taken a lot of planning, patience, and figuring stuff out, but the final products are looking so good! It is good to have a project where the children are so invested in the final product that they want to stay in and work on it, and moan when the recess bell rings.

I know I will miss many parts of teaching. This is surely one of them.

Love,

Grandma Judy