Cat Vomit, Van Gogh, and Other Second Grade Follies

Sometimes I wonder how I manage to do my job every day. Really. Often you find yourself saying things you NEVER imagined anyone would EVER have to say, like "Please explain to me why you are eating soap bubbles," or "It's not a good idea to stick your pencil in your nose," while your rational side is standing there shaking its head thinking "Why am I even having to say this?" and trying not to laugh. It can be quite amusing sometimes.

For example:

Today in math we were talking about measuring liquids and thinking of things that were 1 litre, like a bottle of water; more than 1 litre, like a swimming pool; and less than 1 litre, like a raindrop. But before we got into that, I had to make sure they knew what a liquid was, so we started brainstorming different kinds of liquids. Water, milk, paint, glue, blood, honey. Pretty normal responses. Then one of mine puts up his hand and says "Cat vomit."

"Yes, that's true. Cat vomit can be liquid, sometimes..." Why am I even having to say this?

Moving on...for art we have been studying Vincent Van Gogh. For the past few weeks my students have been looking at samples of his art. Last week came time for them to make their own Van Gogh painting, so I made a little painting station at the side of my room and hung up 5 of his pictures for them to choose from. We discussed the paintings and I explained how they were to paint in two stages: first the background, and then this week go back and paint in the details.

I must admit that I am not a huge fan of painting since it is so messy. Plus I was a little skeptical about whether my kids would "get" the activity or not. It can be hit and miss sometimes. By now though 3/4ths of the class have added the details, and I am totally impressed! The paintings look WAY better than I had imagined! Kids can surprise you sometimes.

Here are the Van Gogh pics we used as examples:

(I couldn't find a picture of the 5th one)


And here are the kids' interpretations of the same paintings:

They really look great don't you think?

In other news there are 14 and a half days of school left before the Christmas holidays and things are getting hectic as is want to do around this time of year. We have started practicing for the Holiday Production so the schedule has gone out the window, which never helps much. These last few weeks of December are less about teaching than they are about trying to slow down the inevitable spiral into chaos.

But the kids are fun. When they're not driving me nuts that is!