Won't You Be My Neighbor?

This was a summer of change. I got back from a long trip and immediately found out my parents had sold their home of 30 years. I traveled down to Virginia to help them pack up, while meanwhile, I continued to search for a new apartment in New York. Long story short... I was not able to find one, after three months of searching, (literally) hundreds of e-mails, and phone calls and about a dozen in-person interviews. I managed to get a sublet for September, but at the end of the month, I was forced to make a tough decision - to resign from my job (it's harder to teach when you're homeless) and leave New York.

First Annual Art Show!

Saint Ann's first school-wide art show was a success! For a while, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to pull it off. I came in on my day off in order to organize and mat everything. But the issue was hanging all the artwork between the end of the school day and the show - a two hour window! Luckily, I had some great students helpers, who made hundreds of tape loops and helped everything come together just in time for the other students and parents to arrive.

First Grade van Goghs

 

First grade has been focusing on Vincent van Gogh during the month of February. Older kids tend to remember van Gogh as "That guy who cut his ear off!", so instead, I introduced the class to his art through the book The Starry Night by Neil Waldman. We discussed the concepts of fiction (fantasy) and nonfiction (reality) and I told the kids that while Vincent van Gogh was a real artist who lived and died many years ago, this fictional story imagines what might happen if van Gogh visited New York City today. This first grade class is particularly large and loud, so instead reading the book to them, I'd made a video of it to show on the SmartBoard. Yay, technology!

Fairy Tale Portraits

Water-Based Marker Prints