Woolmarket Elementary Arts & Crafts - Part 1

One of the new partnerships that we've struck up since arriving in January is with Woolmarket Elementary in Biloxi, MS. During our initial meeting with one of the faculty members, Shirley Hartman, she told us that the school did not have an art program. I was immediately saddened by that because I think that all schools should have some type of arts program. All students should be exposed to the arts, whether that is drawing, music, painting, band, dance, or any other type of art. During that meeting, I decided (quietly to myself) that I would want to come up with some sort of art activity for the students to participate in. With a lot of Karin's help and some input from myself, we were able to start up these various art activities with the K-2nd grade students.

Our first Arts & Crafts Day was on April 7 with the Kindergartners. We had them color several Easter/spring related pictures. For the most part, they all had a great time. They were kinda all over the place but I think that they learned a few things from us and had a fun time talking to us as well. Some of them didn't want me to leave and they all wanted to know when we were coming back.

Our second Arts & Crafts Day was last Tuesday (April 21) and we worked with the 1st graders. It was the day before Earth Day so we brought bookmarks for them to color and then cut out. We also had some little Earth Day related pictures for them to cut out and then glue to a colored sheet of paper.

Today was our third Arts & Crafts Day at Woolmarket. This time, we were working with the 2nd graders. I handled one class alone until Kelsey arrived to help out. Today, we brought in some blank sheets of paper and had the students write their name in big letters. After doing so, they were instructed to draw things around their name that they liked. (e.g. - favorite color, sport, hobbies, etc). And they had to fill the whole page! Afterwards, I asked them to turn their page over and draw a self-portrait for everyone to see. Then, I hand-picked a few of them and asked them to stand up and show the rest of the class what they drew and why. A few were a little shy but others were more than willing to stand up. Overall, it was a great day working with them.

Next week, we will work with the kindergartners again. Fun fun fun!

PS - Thanks to Mrs. Brown @ http://www.mrsbrownart.com/ for the amazing art projects. That's how I found the idea for today's art activity.

Here's photos from today's Woolmarket Arts & Crafts Day.