Oh DEER, it's almost Christmas...

Wow! I cannot believe I survived last week! It was crazy from Monday to Friday with so much I could not even begin to know where to share. The week started off foul because I was sick, late for work, ran out of gas, and ran over a squirrel... which caused me to cry a lot on my way to work. We also had our NSTU vote all day on Monday, which was definitely a lot of stress as we had no idea how it would go. It was less than a good day. As all teachers do though, as soon as I got to school I tried to put on my happy face and get through the day! Needless to say, I clearly survived! The rest of the week was not much better with many ups and downs. I will not bore you with the details but instead tell you about the amazing work my grade ones produced! I am so proud of them and how hard they worked.

ARTventurous is a genius with the best art activities. The step-by-step directions are absolutely wonderful and perfect for our little learners. I did this activity last year with my grade primaries and they were able to complete it with no difficulties so I knew I needed to try it out with my wonderful ones. I cannot even begin to explain how proud they are of their creations.

First we followed Artventurous' step-by-step drawing directions. There were some students who had difficulty tracing their hands and as always I had to spend time reminding them to press lightly with their pencil so they would be able to erase. The reindeer took on a complete life of their own. Instead of painting them as Artventurous had suggested, I decided that we needed to work with our crayons. The kids had a great conversation about which colours would work and which wouldn't. I find that my school doesn't have the best brown paints and pastels really smudge so crayons would create the best. I have to say their creativity is really noticeable in their antlers. Check out all the different kinds that they created:

The following day we spent some time painting the background. I decided that it would be a good idea to do any colour except for black. I think they chose some great colours and many of them really pop. Again, I was just so proud of their creations.

Last year I had put the red sparkles on the nose because they wanted to make their reindeer extra special so this year my grade ones wanted to do the same thing. This was something I thought of on my own and I think they turned out pretty darn cute. Check some of their creations out:

 

In the end we posted a bulletin board for all the parents and students to see for the school concert today and tomorrow. Here is a picture of our final class creations. I have to say, they did a wonderful job!