The Daily Life of Sweetpea[s]

I gave someone a discipline warning for an interesting reason today.....I turned around and one of my more dramatic 3rd grade girls was standing on her stool doing a pirouhette. Obviously my students are pretty tame, since this was a bit shocking. I was talking last nite with a guy who goes to my church. He teaches art in a school where many of his students don't speak English, with up to 37!!! students per class. Sounds like a recipe for chaos. I know the economics of overcrowding are complicated, but it makes me angry that low-income kids get the shaft when they, of all people, need nurture. Talk about being set up for failure--as a teacher AND as a student. It makes me realize once again that I'm in the promised land.....and makes me wonder it I'll ever be called back into the wilderness.

Project update:
3rd thru 6th are doing some version of a self-portrait, due to Rembrandt.

1st Graders are getting ready to start a sharpie contour still life.

2nd Graders are going to construct a clay self-portrait. I did this several years ago, with good results.