Virginia Wolf

There is a new book out called Virginia Wolf. It is a children's picture book loosely based on the relationship between writer Virginia Woolf and her sister, painter Vanessa Bell. I haven't seen it yet, but I thought that I would share the trailer. Lots of shadow puppets and swirling household items (The Wizard of Oz is a favourite theme right now). We'll be reading the book soon -- I love the thought of trying to make other people happy!

What makes you happy?
What can you do to help make other people happy?

Flat Friends with Denise in Australia

Our first Australian group went to visit Denise. Thank you for showing them around, Denise! Here is a link to Denise's Art Blog, if you want to learn more about her :)

Can you find Sydney on the map? It is in New South Wales.Welcome to Sydney!


They were a bit hungry so they went out for snacks. Here is Flat Maya enjoying a delicious waffle with ice cream. Lucky Flat Maya!


She looks like she really loves Australia!


Flat Angry Bird is going to enjoy some chocolaty goodness!


Flat Matthew is happily enjoying the view.


There are lots more pictures to show their Sydney adventure. Stay tuned!

Flat friends in Phoenix!

Flat DJ and Flat AJ are visiting Jane in Phoenix -- here they are visiting a cactus! It is spring in the desert, so the weather has been lovely! -- not too hot yet. Last time that I was in Phoenix it was 115 degrees Fahrenheit! That is 46 Celsius -- HOT!


And they were given some special cowboy bandanas by a cowgirl in a restaurant! How exciting, and how lucky!!!!


Thank you Jane! We can't wait to see where our friends are visiting next!

Ceiling Frescos

Last Friday was Backwards Day at Earl Beatty. The class wanted to do EVERYTHING backwards. I came up with an art activity for the class that was a bit backwards for them! We drew pictures underneath our desks! Read on to find out why :)




First we learned about fresco painting and how a long time ago the ceilings of some buildings (usually churches or chapels) were painted to look like the sky (some children made the connection that the sky might be Heaven, but we didn't stress that -- even though most of them were heavenly images) . We talked about scaffolding (and looked at pictures of artists painting on a scaffold), and how a painter would climb up a ladder in the morning and lie on his back painting all day (leaving only to go to the bathroom).
This is an example of a ceiling painting:


We talked about what you see if you look straight up into the sky (clouds -- yes; grass -- no).

Then we lay underneath our desks (I taped paper under there) and drew the sky with pencils.


We learned that if you used an eraser, that you have to close your eyes and your mouth!

We coloured our drawings with oil pastels.










We took lots of breaks to rest our tired arms. The activity was more about the process than about the finished product -- we had a lot of fun!

Silent E Song

We love this song!!!



The video is, perhaps, a little dated (I remember it from when I was young) BUT the students really seemed to enjoy it and asked to see it over and over again. It was funny to watch a "lightbulb" go off over one child's head when it sunk in that if you add that silent e (magic e) onto the end of a word, it changed the vowel sound!

We have been singing it. I'm hoping that we can illustrate it and make a book over the next few weeks as we reinforce that Silent e!

Springtime Magic

We are learning about Silent e and word endings. The Grade 1's are focusing on adding an s to make a word plural.... or in verbs like "I make", "she makes".
The Grade 2's are learning to" drop the e and add ing" as in "make -- making"

Springtime Magic

Roaring in like a lion,

Bouncing out like a lamb,

Spring makes magic

All over the land.

Pushing up the flowers,

Painting on the leaves,

Warming up the weather,

Spring wakes up the trees.

Bringing back the robins,

Spreading sunny cheer,

Spring takes its time

Making winter disappear!

Words of the Week:

Grade 1
make
take
late
came
wake
bonus word: making

Grade 2
wake
name
save
face
sale
bonus word: making

*** check back later for the link to the silent e song that we have been singing!***

More Flat Friends in Florida

Here are some more pictures of our Florida Flat Friends playing in the sand!






Almost all of our friends have reached their destinations. The photos will be arriving over the next few weeks!