September Sunflowers

Inspired by these books, the Super Stars used blue, yellow and brown construction paper to make our September sunflowers:



The brown circles were die-cut, but the sunflowers' petals were cut from 2 inch by 4 inch rectangles that the Stars then cut the corners off of:



Centering the brown circle, the Stars tucked the petals behind while arranging them:





The Stars then colored black "seeds" onto the brown circle, and dotted the seeds with white paint (a wand of White Out works well; and remember you can always glue real sunflower seeds to the brown circle). Then I cut stems and leaves and arranged the sunny art on our hallway bulletin boards:



("Ss is for the Super Stars' September Sunflowers")



*****

...and now, for *My* Portrait(s)

If you've ever wondered what it would be like to have someone "do your portrait," follow my advice: ask your students to take on the task.

Go ahead. You heard me.

Ask them.

(If they're kindergarten-aged, you *might* have to remind one or two of them that you're not bald...unless you ARE bald, in which case your portrait will be ~just fine~...)



This young lady decided to capture our joint affinity for pink in her rendering... (I would be the taller of the two ladies, the one with brown eyes, not blue.)



This artist (a boy) said his favorite dress of mine was a new one, black with white polka dots...



Here I am on one of the days I wore my hair "up" with dangle-y- earrings in February.



...and here I am in front of the marker board on St. Patrick's Day. How can you tell it's St. Patrick's Day? By my green nail polish, of course!

I think my Stars captured "me" perfectly!

Changes Happen in Kindergarten

Kindergarten: Where magical things happen in the course of a year...

Below are self portraits of several of my Stars. During the first week of school, I asked my students to draw themselves using a large oval, the letter "T" (eyebrow line and bridge of nose), and to look in a mirror to determine their eye and hair color(s) to add to the portrait as details. I then tucked those portraits away for safe-keeping.

Two weeks ago, I reintroduced the lesson to the Stars for a second time, and then hung their August portraits (left side) next to their May renderings (right side).

It's an art lesson that takes my breath away each and every year:















First grade, here they come!