Thursday, February 11, 2010

It's worth it

For all the hard work, frustration, and energy that it takes to teach at home, it's nice to be rewarded once in a while. Today was one of those days when I was reminded why I do it.
We had Art and History at 1p.m. We just started a new unit about Ancient China. The discovery of silk, the building of the Great Wall, and the teachings of Confucius were some of the things we reviewed today.
For an art project we used ideas from our k12 curriculum and made dragons. The symbol of good luck in China. Dragons have the head of a camel, body of a snake, ears of a bull, antlers of a deer, beard of a goat, feet of a tiger, talons of an eagle, and scales of a fish.
Using those guidelines we first sketched them in pencil. Then we outlined them in crayons. Lastly we painted watercolor over the top. The crayon stayed put and the paint filled in all the spaces creating a wonderful effect.

Here was some of the dialogue between 1st grader Brynn and her friend of the same age.
B: Wow, your picture is so good it looks like a teenager made it.
M: Yours doesn't even look like a first grader made that. It's way better...like maybe a 6th grader.
B: I think I'm going to enter mine in the county fair.
M: Me too. I can't wait to show it to my mom.
B: This is the best thing I've ever made. This was the best Art lesson ever.
When they finished Brynn came up to me and said with a little embarrassment, "Mom, I can't help it I'm just SO PROUD of myself!"

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