We are the world: Painting flags of the world

I love art. You all know that after reading my last post. I am a big advocate of art and creativity in the classroom and I'm currently working on an article for a journal about art and equity -- (I'll keep you posted!).

Anyway, last week, some of the vocabulary words were cultural: Spanish, Italian, Brazilian. We read a story about some toys from these backgrounds and talked a bit about different countries.
I decided to expand the lesson and create an Art assignment out of it.
Here's what I did:

I made a powerpoint slideshow of different flags and a map of the world. Then I took some photos from my travels and had the kids guess where the pictures were from based on what they knew about countries and places all over the world (haha, most places were Canada... but whatever).

I stopped the slideshow on a big screen filled with 25 flags. I have 21 kids in my class so I told the kids that each one could pick a different country and make a flag of that country. A lot of the kids wanted to paint a flag of Brazil because they love "football" (soccer for those of you who know the real term...) and they knew Brazilian footballers (soccer players). Sidebar: I teach British curriculum. 

Anyway, I had made note of behaviour and grading that week and picked the top seven students to pick their favourite flag first. (I KNEW they'd all want certain countries: Canada, UAE, Brazil, and any easily painted flag.. haha).

So yes. Also, the students who really, really wanted to do the same flag, I asked them a skill testing question from the week's lesson and the student with the answer got to do that flag.
It had also been a rough week in terms of behaviour. The students who did NOT behave did not get to paint. Also, the students who bombed any test that week did not get to paint. They could choose from pencil crayons and construction paper, but ALL my kids love to paint, so everyone wanted to paint, obviously. Hey! Smarten up and don't make me develop an ulcer and y'all can paint, assholes!

It was a really successful lesson.
 Some of the flags

As they painted and created, they asked me questions about their countries and discussed things amongst themselves. I love when my kids just talk for the hell of it and correct each other's grammar. It makes me smile!

At the end of it, I took some pictures, and now our Art board is colourful! I love it.

ALL the flags on the wall. 

Hey girl, heyyyyy!

The lovelies and their flags. "Moh Omar, America is upside down."

First attempt. HAH! "Look at the camera!! Moh Omar! Turn America around!"

"Flags of the worrrrrrld" screamed 2Y directly into Ms. Sarah's eardrums.

"Omar! Alright... that's fine... America is upside down."

"Miss, why she do that to Spain?" (at the weird decals W added to the Spanish flag). HAH!

Once again I had a happy art class. This was a good one. Very little yelling and not very many "Miiiiiss, he look at me! MIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSS, he break my flaggggg!!!" so that was positive.

Until next time, when I attempt to make a 3D craft with my kids. God help me...
- The artsy Wun

My hour as a grade one student with a 6 year old teacher

Fatima: "Okay, we read today. BUT, I read to YOU. You sit quiet, okay? You don't talk, okay? I read to you. You sit and you listen, okay?"

Me: Okay.

Fatima: "NO! *sigh* What I say you? You raise your hand you want to speak, okay?" *She looks at me seriously. I smile. She tilts her head and her eyes widen* "You understand me?!"

Me: *raises hand* Yes.

Fatima: "Good girl. Good morning class!"

Me: Uhh, good morning Ms. Fatima.

F: NO!!!! Ms. Maggie!!!
This is her teacher's name. Now I get it.
Me: Oh, sorry! Good morning Ms. Maggie.

F: How are you today?

Me: Fine. How are you?

F: Fine thanks and you?

Me: .... fine, again.

F: "Okay, we read. You pick book from my desk. DON'TTOUCHMYDESK! Sarah! Listen. You listen me, okay? You bad, I put you to yellow. You bad again, I put you red. You good, you are green. I'm show."

F walks over to her dresser (all superior-like. Naturally, she's my teacher at this point and I reckon we won't get much tutoring done... but I decide it's cute and she's doing a LOT of speaking, so she's practicing her English. I'm down with it... also, I'm thinking I had a long day and this is adorable and will make for a hilarious blog.)
Anyway, F takes a piece of paper and draws a happy face, a not so happy face and a sad face. These she tells me are green, yellow, and red. At this point, I know her teacher uses stop lights as behaviour trackers in the classroom. The way F is speaking to me indicates there are lots of behaviour issues in her class, I assume, as she is practically yelling at me and staring me down the whole time. It's hilarious...

F hangs the paper on the wall with tape and explains again the green, yellow, and red. She says nothing about them being happy faces... but whatevs.

F: "We pick book now. You pick."

I brought four of my grade 2 reading books over and I pick an easy one for her to read to me. I hand it to her.

F: "Okay. I show you pictures now. You look at pictures. DONOTREAD! Okay?"
I nod.

F: "Okay. You see? What happening here?"

She shows me a picture of a stone falling to the ground. This story is about a man who wants to be a stone because he wants to be strong, or some shit... trust me, it's a cute story...

Me: *raises hand*

F: "Sarah"

Me: The stone is falling to the ground because it is heavy.

F: "NO! *sigh* Sarah! Pay attention. This *points to the stone* is angry! He fall on the man *points to a really small man in the background not even near the stone* He fall on the man. The man, he die. Okay? This what happen. See?"

Me: Oh! Yes, I see. *snickers*

F: *glares at me. Turns the page* What happen?

Me: *raises hand* You should say 'what is happening?'

F: WHAT HAPPEN?!

Me: Okay! Uhhh... *picture is of a cloud crying and it's raining* The cloud is sad so he is crying and he is making rain.

F: "Nooooo!!! Saraaaahhh! The cloud, she cries. She cries here *points to tears* and it rain. Come on Sarah!"

I'm grinning at this point. That's what I JUST said, damn it! SO cute.

F: "BRRRRIIIING! Home time! Get out."

I get up and mimic walking away.

F: "NO! Sit down. Snack is over. We read again. You pick."

I pick the same damn book because we didn't even READ it.

F: "Okay, you look at pictures and I read for you. Don't touch thing on my desk, okay?!"

She has a little pile of stuff on the table, including my water bottle and books. Because I'm curious, and a bitch, I touch a book and smile.

F: *gasps. She walks over to the happy faces and, while looking at me, crosses out the happy face and puts an S on the sad face TOTALLY skipping the middle face*
"You here now, okay? I say don't touch, you don't touch. You must listen your ears, Sarah. I say it, you do it, okay? My, my, my... We read now, okay? You listen, OKAY?!"

Me: *raises hand* Okay, sorry Ms Maggie.

F: "....thank you. Good girl... We read... *she points to pictures, I get them right, we read a bit. I listen..[rolls eyes] and then I say we're done and that she's an excellent teacher*

Me: Thank you Ms Maggie.

F: "No, I Ms. Fatima now."

Me: Wow! Do you want to be a teacher like me?

F: *super giddy, she nods*

Me: Wow, you'll be an EXCELLENT teacher.

F: *beams, goes over to the happy faces and puts an S on the happy face* "You good now. See?" *smiles*

Then, arguably the best thing to ever happen, she writes an F for Fatima, then a mouth on the smily face which looks like a U, then she write a K and says it's an S for Sarah... so legit, she writes F U K in BIG letters on the paper. I laugh.

F: "Why you laugh?!"

Me: ....uhhh, because you're such a GREAT teacher!

F: "Oh, thank you Sarah. I see you Sunday? You come back, we play school again? I read to you?! Bring more BOOKS!!!"

Me: Okay. Have a good weekend.

F: "Shukran. Have a good weekend. Bye bye."

Me: Bye bye.

*Fatima waves bye*

Tell me you aren't smiling. OH YOU CAN'T?! Because that was precious. LOVE this girl. SO imaginative. SO much attitude for a 6 year old and SO smart. She'll be a grand whatever she wants to be some day. :)

Yours,
the Wun student in Ms Fatima's class

Art is most definitely loved by 95% of the population, if not more

I am 100% convinced that kids, teens, adults, elders, dogs, cats, aliens, and the occasional gorilla LOVE art.

Now I know I teach 6 and 7 year olds (and for the most part, this age group goes ape-shit over anything art/craft related), but I love art, YOU love art, and I haven't found a SINGLE individual on this planet who hates art!

I have had a ROUGH few weeks, work-wise.

Summary:
- a kid peed on the floor about a month ago
- "Miss, ____ said he wanted you to go back to Canada because he hates you." - (yes, I know this kid is 7 and what he says is insignificant and his opinion of me changes by the millisecond, but this stung a little bit... I don't like hearing this kind of thing)
- "Miss, some of us want a new teacher." (to which I replied, "Cool, get out of my class. Knock on a door and see who lets you in. I DARE you. Go find a teacher who wants you like I do..." No one moved. THAT'SRIGHTBITCHES.... stupid kids...
- ANOTHER kid (or the same one... I have no way of knowing) peed on the floor last week!!!!!
- I'm convinced I have a stomach ulcer lovingly grown by my devilish, selfish, unbelievably disrespectful students
- one student stabbed another with a pushpin, lied about it, told the VP he did it, and lied to me saying "no, I swear, I didn't do it." Bitch, please. 
- I ignored my kids for about 40 minutes one day because I was at a loss of what to do about the general behaviour in the classroom.... it had literally gotten THAT bad.



SO, on a new note, I've decided to reflect on this bullshit. I don't CARE why these kids are bad and I don't care to excuse their behaviour; HOWEVER, looking at it like this helps:
1)They are kids. They have very little brain and thus are not smart enough to realize they are impacting me negatively.
2) I am an adult. I can positively impact them and change their bad behaviour in a SNAP. How you ask? ART!

CLARIFICATION: I'm not saying kids who behave badly deserve something fun like art, but I AM saying that changing up a typical "academic" class for a less sit-down-quietly-and-write one IS a good idea. Also, art IS a class. They get marked for it, so it is for everyone, despite behaviour. And I promise I DID give the "good" kids more coloured paper, access to Miss Sarah's special stash of pastels, markers and stickers, and they were told specifically that they got extra art supplies because of good behaviour and good quiz marks. I feel like art is all about equality: Everyone gets to do a project, BUT if you are a little asshole all week, you get the basics... like a bedroom, a bed, a dresser, a window. If you are good, your bedroom can have some toys, maybe nice posters on the walls, and some funky curtains. Nah mean? Y'all see what I'm saying here? It makes sense in my head. Like, PhD sense! Anyway...

Art Class

We made owls with fluffy tummies last week. Fluffy was a vocabulary word. (We're talking about the weather and one of the sentences is "The cloud is fluffy and white" to introduce adjectives and critical thinking into their tiny little brains).

I got the idea from this site: http://www.deepspacesparkle.com/2012/11/24/paper-owl-art-project/
And this was the suggested outcome:

Naturally, as a teacher, you have to be adaptable. Can my kids who need me to breathe for them make THIS ^ ....HELLS no. SO, I made a few adaptations.

I did a step by step tutorial drawing the owl and I decided we would do construction paper tummies instead of construction paper on the WHOLE owl (this would have taken a decade). 

Adorable! They were SO into it.

Haha, I made an owl with a blue and orange coloured tummy. This student was convinced he could make a better one. Haha, his was good but, bitch please, I. AM. art. 

I asked them to bring in their own coloured paper and kept the project a secret. They were "pretty" good for the day because they knew art was coming last period.

Pretty solid drawings. <3

For the low-level students, I didn't even have to help them. I explained the step by steps a little more and gave them my owl drawing as a template. They just pasted the construction paper without curling the paper to make the tummy "fluffy".

For the higher level students, I let them go for it and make an owl on a background (night or day). I showed them how to "curl" the paper to make it texturized. They LOVED that their art was popping off the page. "Miss, my owl, she feathers this." <-- Sure.

This student took forever because he really wanted his owl to look like mine. <3 xoxox. :) MAN, I LOVE these kids when we have art. They are SO dedicated to the craft.

So, alas, it was a bad day (this was the day one kid stabbed another.... he did NOT make an owl. He was REALLY upset and cried. Hey, listen. The BEST punishment for these kids is 'no art' because they all go CRAZY for art.) It WAS a bad day, until the end of the day when I received LOTS of "Thank you Miss Sarah" and "I love Miss Sarah, she give me art project" and "You are nice and lovely Miss Sarah! We all love Miss Sarah!" 

It's amazing what a little change up does to a class. I also "usually" let them sit with their friends and talk during Art. My rule: As long as you are speaking ENGLISH and not too loud, you can chat during art class. If they get too loud or rowdy, I take minutes off of the class. IT WORKS. Consistency! 

Here are a couple of the best owls. The students who misbehaved during Art did not get to hang their owl on the wall. The kids are itching to take them down and show mom and dad now, haha.

I can't WAIT to post about this week's project: Flags of the World! Vocabulary words include "Italian", "Brazilian", and "Spanish". (There are characters from these nationalities in the stories we are reading). I decided that instead of just talking about these three nationalities, I'd make an art project out of world flags. I'll tell you ALL about it in the next post! :) I still have to take down the owls and take pictures of the flags. The paintings are currently drying and we're going to make signs so we know the country of each flag. I'm pretty proud of myself for busting out a really successful lesson on something related to the WORLD! Yessssss....

Art. Gotta love it.

Yours,

The Creative Wun