The Dancing Elf

How much fun is the ElfYourself App?! It is too funny. It is a great way of incorporating dance with the holidays! I think it would be a hilarious idea for the classroom too! Maybe as an incentive... or each school day in December draw names of what student will be getting elfed! You can then take the video of the students that have been elfed and display it on the overhead for all in the class to enjoy! At the end of December you could coordinate an elf dance off using the dance moves from the app.
Technology meets dance with ElfYourself!!

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/elfyourself-by-officemax/id582486077

Time to Decorate

I am super excited to decorate the Christmas tree... I am waiting until all assignments are done so I can enjoy it. There are so many neat ways to decorate the tree, thinking of colour, design, texture, and themes. Adding decoration spruces up the house and adds visual appeal! Visual Arts goes overboard on the holidays and I LOVE it... it makes everything jolly.

I personally love the look of a traditional Christmas tree with red, green, silver, gold, and a few contrasting colours of purple and blue. I love a mix of ornaments some that have significant meaning and other ones that are just cute/beautiful. I like the look of different size bulbs and I use a large set and a medium set on the tree. I have the bulbs evenly balanced throughout the tree. I also add music when I decorate the tree, listening to all the classic Christmas songs to add to the experience!

Decorating the tree is a great family activity usually full of a good blend of joy and arguments over the lights. It is neat to collaborate on the tree with family and mix all the ideas together of how everyone visualizes the tree.

I always find that I am constantly picking at the tree after its been decorated, moving ornaments around and filling up spots that look empty. I can't help myself.. I always have to pick at the tree!!

I can't wait to start decorating..... Just writing about this gets me super excited!!

Some neat ideas of colour and themed trees. They look like so much fun! 

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/39476934206778643/

Happy decorating!!! 

Popsicle Christmas Ornaments!

Using popsicle sticks to make Christmas ornaments is a fun craft for Christmas. My parents still have the Christmas ornaments I have made from popsicle sticks in Grade 1 on their tree. Making Christmas ornaments uses visual arts to create a memory that may be cherished forever.

I believe that this would be a great holiday craft. You could have the option for students do to a seasonal ornament like a snowflake or snowman instead of a Christmas ornament like a Christmas tree. I think this craft would work well in a math measurement unit too. 

http://crafting.squidoo.com/popsicle-christmas-crafts

This craft would be so much fun and super cute! 

Art Presentations

I really enjoyed the Art presentations presented in class today. Everyone did such an amazing job and there was a vast variety of art elements that made for a very entertaining morning! The elements of music, visual arts, storytelling, and media were very appealing.  It is astonishing the amount of creativity this cohort has to offer especially considering the amount of stress we are all under... Good Job class! Your groups are going to be a hard act to follow!

Relaxing with Art

When looking at art I don't spend much time with one piece, I will usually just skim over the painting with my eyes and thats it. Doing the activity at the Art Gallery taught me how to enjoy looking at art. I picked the art piece (the painting) I was most attracted to because of the bright colours. When first looking at the painting it looked like a big bright coloured mess of random lines. It took about five seconds of looking at the painting to realize there was a pair of legs and a gas can.

www.startupprincegeorge.ca

Once the activity started and I followed the instructions of the Art Gallery tour guide, I noticed more and more about the painting and became invested in the painting. I enjoyed thinking up of my own interpretation of the painting ... taking ownership over the art. I found the activity very relaxing. I enjoyed allowing myself to close my eyes and create the painting in my mind. I also enjoyed focusing on one colour or one shape. The activity gave my brain a break from school work ... it recharged and refreshed my mind.

I could see this being a great activity to start off an Art Gallery visit for students because it would set the mood for the visit and give the visit a different sophisticated flavour. I think students would appreciated doing this activity and feel like real art appreciators. 

Gingerbread House

Christmas is just around the corner...........

By using a Language Arts lesson you could link visual arts to create a gingerbread house.
In a K through Gr.3 class you could do a read aloud of 'Hansel and Gretel' by Dom Deluise and then get the students to make a visual model ---being the gingerbread house. Students would be using a variety of material to construct their gingerbread house.

Students would make their gingerbread house to be a physical model visually representing the house from the story. 

You can also add music to the lesson - themed around the gingerbread house:

Let's build a Gingerbread Houseby Richard Graham


Let's build a gingerbread house.
A gingerbread house.
A gingerbread house.
Let's build a gingerbread house.

First we need some windows
Then we need a door
Next we need a roof
And we need some walls.

(Repeat chorus) 

Next we need a garden.
And we need a tree.
Then we need a chimney


(Repeat chorus) 

http://genkienglish.net/gingerbreadhouse.htm

It is a fun way to have some holiday joy in the classroom!

Let it Snow

Creating snowflakes during winter is a fun seasonal activity. Making snowflakes in the classroom brings in visual art plos but it can also be linked to math. You can use snowflakes to teach geometry: lines of symmetry, shapes, and measurement. Students can also make predictions of what their snowflake would look like according to pattern they have cut. Using visual arts is a hands on authentic approach to math.

                                            

The following sites have many great ideas to create a winter inspired math lesson using snowflakes:

http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/mathchat/mathchat015.shtml

http://www.mathwire.com/seasonal/winter07.html