First Year of Teaching...........

More pics.....

2012-02-15T07:46:00.001-08:00

Wooohooo Wednesday that is like Friday

2012-02-15T07:31:00.000-08:00

Today is somewhat like Friday. I have curriculum planning tomorrow at the Admin. Building and then we have Friday off! Kind of exciting but I hate sub plans. So this week has been fun yesterday was Valentine's day and that is like celebrating Christmas to these kids.

I have been trying to get lots of stuff done so that I can enjoy my break. Tomorrow we have our visiting artist coming in which is very exciting. I will come back for an hour to be with the fourth grade class.

We had collaboration this morning which was wonderful. New lesson ideas and brain flow on art. If you have not invested your time into Pinterest you MUST. IT is wonderful. I love going on there and then walking away with a million ideas. My first graders just finished Chicken Little and giraffe's catching snow. So cute. My fifth graders did Britto and my third graders also finished Kadinsky's which were unbelievable. Here are some pictures.

Oh so I had my third graders do cityscapes and before I hung them up I did not look through every single one. Little did I know there were some spelling errors that MIGHT just make your day today. I had a kid who has pugs at home and so he wanted to put a PUGS R'US which was a building that sold Pugs. Little did I know a kid copied his idea and made a SHIT ZU R'US. Lovely. Also I had a kid who is somewhat lower in reading and he wrote Pizza Hut but spelled it P-u-s-s Hut. Also there is a Hooters up and a Jail. Oh the minds of third graders.

Here are some pictures. We also were hit with some snow and some pictures of my niece and dad.

oops

2012-02-07T10:55:00.000-08:00

Well I already blew it for my New Years Resolution. I promise once a week no promises on what day! Hah. Anyways lots of stuff is going on with my life. I am finishing up The LazyMan Triathlon, finishing the book Hunger Games, and trying to keep my life afloat. I signed up for JumpStart and hopefully it will continue to go smoothly, even though I have a feeling the students will become more and more difficult as the time goes on.

I am trying to do some more projects that are different and exciting. I have some more pictures that I need to upload like I promised last time. My fifth graders are going to start a project that I saw on a blog about Abstract Faces, my fourth graders are finishing up Romero Britto's and then moving on to Op Art. My third graders did a wonderful job with cityscapes and are going to also work on Op Art. My second graders are finishing cityscapes as well and will be working on O'Keefe next. My first graders finished up Chicken Little and will be working on O'keefe as well. My aunt gave me an overload of fabric to use so we will be incorporating it into the O'Keefe flowers!

ALthough I hate so say our winter is over but I am already thinking about spring!!!We have a mid-winter break which is nice and I will be traveling to Bloomington again! I am very excited.

THe kids last week were working on Valentines day projects and they all loved them and finished them in a week so that was nice. WOrking from one Holiday to the next. Which is nice but sometimes overwhelming.

Well best wishes with your week.

New Years Resolution

2012-01-26T10:38:00.000-08:00

I am trying hard to keep up, even though I said I would try to update the blog on Wednesdays every week. Here it is Thursday and I have other things but when I get talking with people about my blog I feel the urge to write a post. So lots of things going on, as I said the other day in my blog, I am going to Bloomington Friday which is exciting but I wish it was for a more positive reason. Also I signed up for Jump Start which is prep for the ISTEP and Im scared about it. I have been preparing and preparing.

This week I have also worked hard at finishing more of my Lazy man triathlon. Which is kicking my butt. I am spinning and then swimming(which I am horrible at). I am not a fish I told my mom last night.

Well the second graders finished the cityscape and they loved it I will try and upload pictures soon, my phone seems to be acting up lately. Usually it uploads pictures on its own and lately it has been having a temper. My fifth graders are starting graffiti art which they were super excited for. My first graders finished Chicken Little and they are so amazing. Can't wait to show those pictures. Third graders finished Princess/Prince and the Pea. My fourth graders did an amazing job at T.R Mack ! I will post pictures soon.

WOW Happy New YEAR!

2012-01-18T18:30:00.000-08:00

Wow! This month has flown by and it has been somewhat stressful!

-Entered into an art show for MLK
-decorated and took down for christmas
-took down all the old projects and put up new ones in the hallways of two schools
-grades are due
-ordering materials for the first time

Ahhhh anyways lots of things have happened. My cousin Christie is getting married in Aruba. I went to visit my grandparents in Florida for my winter break. Had a wonderful time with them, but it made me miss them even more. My parents are in Florida right now so I have taken the responsibility of the outside cats and I am not sure how my mom does it. Also Valpo Schools are in a 3.2 million dollar debt problem, which means I might be trying to job hunt by the end of the year. Might not be but I am trying to keep a good attitude about it. I am going to be in Bloomington a couple of weekends in a row this month. My family in Bloomington's grandfather passed away and so I will be at the celebration of life for him as well as visiting on the 28th of January. I am very excited.

As for now I need to do some grades!

Have a good week

cont....

2011-12-15T10:48:00.000-08:00

Cont......

2011-12-15T10:47:00.000-08:00

to put some pictures up of Jordyn. Enjoy!

Happy Holidays....Happy Holidays.....

2011-12-15T09:17:00.000-08:00

This week has been chaos.... but welcomed chaos in Ms. Wenger's class. Oh my! I feel like Christmas came to quick. Sheesh this whole year has flown by. I am currently working on Holiday projects with the students. My fifth graders are working on these fun calendars inspired by cd cases. The fourth graders are working on old letterpress calendars. Third graders are using paint to create snowmen and trees. Second graders are using chalk along with first graders and Kinders are doing hand wreaths! Fun stuff. My 5th graders were finishing up cartoons or manga art as well. Of course I needed to

Christmas Time

2011-12-07T11:17:00.000-08:00

So these last few weeks have been crazy! We have had an art show "This Is Our Story" which was wonderful but stressful getting all the work done in time. My kids lately have been what I say "melting my heart", they have really impressed me with their work. I did alot of Thanksgiving projects which i will show you as well as working our way into Christmas(Holidays). Our collaborations have been overwhelming lately as well. We have talked about This Is Our Story, MLK Jr., and Bike Lockers. Bike Lockers I am very excited. Valparaiso is one of the first school districts to get them and have their elementary schools decorate them. One of my biggest struggle during these last few weeks were sub plans as well as telling art students that they are not in the art show. I have thought about this and want to do an art show at the end of the school year for EVERYONE! I mean why not? Also another idea I have had sitting here at my technology day of ideas is to create an art museum online for each school. How cool for far away parents and grandparents to see them in nice pic and in an art museum website. Just a thought we shall see where that goes.

I am hopefully going to visit my friend Lauren in Milwaukee next weekend and then I will be going to see my grandparents on my Christmas break so two things to look forward to!!!!

Promise I will write more and stop slacking. ha

More Pics

2011-11-11T21:14:00.000-08:00

Oh my lost track of time again.......

2011-11-11T21:02:00.000-08:00

Wow! So Halloween passed and the kids were crazy the day after Halloween,staying up late and eating candy. Now we are looking forward to Thanksgiving break. Anyways....I entered into a race called the Monster Dash and we dressed up as Angry Birds which was super fun. That weekend I went to Chicago caught up with a distant friend and it was as if things were back to normal. I miss her very much and I am so thankful we were able to spend time and not keep distancing ourselves anymore. So that Friday we had Fall break so I went to visit her and we did tons of baking for a party she was attending that weekend, the next morning I woke up drove to Soldier Field and ran my race, then off to Bloomington. My friend Kim whom I miss dearly had a birthday celebration so I drove to Bloomington for the night and until Monday morning. I was able to catch up with Maria and the girls. I miss them so much I hope they do not ever forget me, they were sisters and still are to me. Worked out with Kim and drove back to Valparaiso. We started a whole new slew of lessons. Here are some pictures of Fredrick Remington with the sunset and flattop moutains. We also did some Papunya Dot Paintings which turned out super cool. My 3rd graders are out of this world. I posted the sunflowers to update you. I am currently working on Tessellations with the fifth graders. So 5-Tessellations, next Manga art. 4-helped me with my Winter LIghts festival(can you even think about winter when it is still fall>??????) and Picasso. I will take pictures of their Picasso animals they are sooooo good. They are interactive. So I put velcro on the back of the pictures so you can flip to the finished side. Those pictures to come soon. 3- finished the Papunya art and worked on foil fish. 2-are working with Ida on quilted squares. 1-Paul Klee and finished Stuart Davis. My kinders are doing There was an old lady who swallowed a fly!!! Ha they love it.

I need ideas for Thankgiving but I will have to work on that this weekend. My observation(formal) is Tuesday wish me LUCk@! Kind of scared. Lets see we had the talent show tonight and I was with two other teachers and several aids doing the Hokie Pokie(probably spelled wrong). Too funny.

I spent the last weekend with Jordyn and we played in the leaves and our new favorite kitty was sitting on the post so I had to snap a picture.

I have Lauren's wedding next weekend which I am looking forward to but not to the lesson plans for the sub! YIKES> It is more work than to just take the day off. Hah.

Well I willt ry to be better at posting more often so you dont have to read a novel.

karyn

Happy Halloween

2011-10-27T13:32:00.000-07:00

Holiday weeks are so exciting! Hah what a day. The kids were crazy but expected so I was prepared. I only had three classes today and the last one was shortened. I helped out with the kindergarten classroom and it was so nice to meet parents and be able to see how they act around their parents. They were all hyped up on sugar which I was thankful I wasnt taking them home after wards. We worked on a backdrop for Mrs. Coyle's class with her class today with neon paint and they used a black light to brighten it up. They worked so well together and they are only in third grade. Worked like magic, gave them numbers and they each took turns. Here are some pictures. I also gave a thank you card with a Halloween theme to a friend of my grandmothers who crocheted me a scarf that my grandpa had started and they both are amazing. Such talent. Nice fall break. I will be in Chicago for a day and night and then to Bloomington for a birthday. Very excited.

Some more pics

2011-10-20T10:04:00.001-07:00

Holy Moly! I have lost track of the days

2011-10-20T09:54:00.000-07:00

So much stuff has happened. We have started working on The Taste of Parkview which is tonight and Im not nearly as ready as I should be but Oh well....it will get done. Also last night the three young women whom I adore from bloomington came with Maria to have dinner and do a little shopping with me before they went on the college visit. I hate to say it but the weather was not very nice to them yesterday and today. I hope it gets better out when they have to travel back. I am going to be in Bloomington and Chicago on my Fall Break, I am very excited, I will be running a race and then traveling to Bloomington to spend it with my Friends back there. So to catch you up it is Red Ribbon Week next week which means we get to wear fun clothes and its the week leading up to our Fall Break which is exciting. I have been trying to keep myself in shape for the Turkey Trot this year in Valparaiso which is super fun!

The kids are getting more and more excited when they see me out in public and recognize me. I love what I am doing and I hope that each day gets better. Here are some of the things they are working on and my door for Red Ribbon Week. For the Taste the kids helped me with some of the decorations which was super fun and then the kids were working on painting with straws in one picture too.

My Little Jackson Pollocks!!!

2011-10-09T19:32:00.000-07:00

So this week flew by...maybe it was because I told my fifth graders on Friday they would be able to learn a little Jackson Pollock history and create one of his splatter paint their own picture. They had a great time and I think they learned something I hope. I also had my second graders create blind contour lines and then fill in with a continuous line! It was so much fun and they did a great job!My first graders did Op Art and they all walked away knowing what it was and a completed shape op art picture. I am also working on some fun neon colored projects for Parkview because we are having the Taste of parkview coming up soon! My friend Nicole took a job this past week and hopefully we can exchange lesson plans and ideas. I think it is super cool to know across Indiana what other students are doing and share even if we would skype togetehr with different art classrooms. FUN FUN! My kids have also started to talk more and more about Halloween costumes and I am super excited about mine! I am going to be an etch-a-sketch!!! Made out of duct tape of course. My grandma and I went for a trail walk today and it was so warm and nice out. We went on state owned land that had trails and a memorial. I also went with my family into Chicago on Saturday for a Chicago style pizza tour which was pretty fun! Today we had church and I start to teach the younger kids next week which is exciting and somewhat scary! Hah. Well tomorrow is Monday, we have our Fall Break at the end of October and I might be going into Bloomington and CHicago. Well hope you all have a great week!!!

I couldnt help myself

2011-10-04T19:16:00.000-07:00

She is just so cute.....

October is Here!

2011-10-04T19:05:00.000-07:00

I love October, I hate Halloween simply due to the fact that it brings out the bad in kids that normally act good. But when the students are innocent characters that is fine! Ha....i sound old but that is how I feel. I had a pretty rough weekend...my grandpa went into the hospital and with my parents being out of town I felt more stressed out. They had a wonderful time at the wedding they went to, but I also had a fender bender which was not a huge deal but just a day breaker. So after Friday was over it was such a better weekend. My grandpa got out of the hospital on Monday so thank goodness for that, lets hope he does not go back ever! So I started to think about all my lessons and reviewing them. I have an hour for each class and sometimes that is just TOO long. The students do not take their time and create art that they are proud of. So I had to set some goals for my one school and I am going to try to achieve those goals along with creating a powerpoint to learn some art history and about the artist that the lesson works with. I tried it out with my first graders and they did WONDERFUL! So I will have examples again on how this goes. I also put some tag board sheets down in my Memorial classroom which is what my picture is. The other picture is my niece who made my day on Sunday. I babysat her and enjoyed every minute of it!

Pics

2011-09-29T09:14:00.000-07:00

Here is the still life and the VanGogh sunflowers

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

2011-09-29T09:04:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness has it really been this long since I have posted anything? YIKES Well I have been busy setting up artwork and since the kids have finished their first projects I had some planning to do. Actually quite a bit. It is difficult when teaching art considering some of the students are not on their grade levels and some are two grades higher. Difficulty in making the students work within their potential. Anyways, I had a wonderful time in Bloomington this weekend. Got some very sad news that a family friend passed away and my grandfather is in the ICU at Porter, he is doing well and I will spend most of my afternoon visiting and just sitting with him to keep him company. I love spending time with him and sharing stories. He is a teacher in so many ways that I look up to him and soak up all the knowledge I can. I probably wear him out but I think he enjoys my company too! Oh my gosh so let me catch you up. I started my 5th graders with cartoon character drawing which turned out really nice(I will post pictures later, they have to dry) and then today they started on MC Escher Tessellations! Super cool project, very difficult to explain but def. worth the trouble. My fourth graders started a still life of the many Karyn Wenger shoes, Third graders finished the Van Gogh sunflowers and started on Austrailian Art Papunya Dot Painting that tell their stories, Second graders started on organic contour lines with oil pastel, and my first graders are doing a still life of pumpkins. YIKES! Hah the only complaint is lugging the fake pumpkins from school to school. Hah Anyways here are some pics from last week.

Have a good rest of the week. I will be better at posting.

MONDAY BLUES

2011-09-19T18:50:00.000-07:00

Ohhh Monday's! I had a rough day but I can't wait for tomorrow. Slowly getting more and more accomplished as well as getting my rooms more decorated and hanging up new projects throughout the school. It is hard having two schools to decorate. Here is Memorial with the Starry Night projects! Fun stuff. Can't wait to start the still life projects.

First Paycheck!

2011-09-16T19:12:00.001-07:00

Thank goodness its Friday. I got my first paycheck!!!!!Although this cold weather does not make me want to be productive. Went out for my uncle's 50th birthday today, did you know the Ken doll came out in 1961? We got him all the random things that happened in 61.This week in class my students finished up the first assignments. My older groups did Van Gogh sunflowers and my younger groups did Van Gogh Starry Night. Next week the fifth graders are begging me to do splatter paint with them. I told them if they promised to learn some art history behind it I was ok with it. I started to try and really decorate and keep my room looking exciting and inviting. I got the new liquid chalk so I drew spongebob on the board. The next projects are cartoon self portraits, still life of pumpkins, still life of shoes(one of the pictures), op art, and turtles. The kinders got to take their books home and they turned out really nice. Im excited for their next project. Next weekend I am looking forward too as well...I get to visit Bloomington. I miss the town and people so much!!! Well happy weekend!

Happy Monday

2011-09-12T19:09:00.000-07:00

Oh how I love Monday's.....had a wonderful day. I ordered new liquid chalk and it is AWESOME. I also during the day was given the option to have an ELMO!!!!! So exciting, the latest technology after the overhead. So excited to work with it and use it. Tomorrow is Parkview's 10% to PTO at El Salto's! Very excited. I laminated for the first time today as well. I think I got the hang of it. Oh the best part of the day was at the end and I finally got my ID card and guess what?.......It is sideways! It took a month to get and of course it can't be right. Hah. Oh man. Excited for tomorrow we are going to start still life's, australian art, and jackson pollock splatter painting. Should be interesting. Here is a few pictures of my new chalk and some of the art work i get every day I am at school that is quite impressive.

Thank Goodness its the Weekend

2011-09-10T15:11:00.000-07:00

I am so in need of a good relaxing weekend. Ran in the Popcorn Panic today and saw lots of my students there, and now Im sewing relaxed with time and working on Lesson plans to keep my 2nd graders busy! Hah they are my toughest class. An hour is a long time with those younger kids. I couldnt help but share the lack of entertainment we share as teachers. I have a teacher who comes in to do my kindergarten class at Parkview, and she is so wonderful. She has to be firm with the students and one little girl tapped her on the shoulder and said, " Mrs. Wallow were you born mean?" I just lost it, it was to good. First of all her name is Mrs. Wallen and second this is a kindergartner. YIKES I will have her next year! Hah. Never a dull moment. But I had so much inspiration today at the Popcorn Festival, which brings me to my new exciting thing. There was a lady there who will come to your school(she is from Chicago) and do tie-dye with your kids! I am so excited and they will love it! We bought Louis a new dog collar too, the groomers gave it to the other Louis at the groomer last time!

I have some talented kids

2011-09-06T19:26:00.001-07:00

I have some wonderful artists!

Happy Tuesday

2011-09-06T18:21:00.000-07:00

Man, the day after a long weekend is rough! I had to have a talk with my class about how you treat a substitute teacher.....forget about a lot of things that students sometimes fail to listen to. It went well but I guess the real test will be if they ever have a substitute! Anyways I worked on my flags some more last night and I got more red paint to finish the 5th grade. I can't wait until those are finished. Although I am now just forgetting that I have to do all the specials.

I did have a relaxing day yesterday though just kind of hung out and worked at a slow pace. Today I had a wonderful day at Parkview, I need to start checking things off my check list and start grading. I graded two classes before I allowed myself to blog tonight!
I finished with my 3 and 4th grade classes doing VanGogh Starry Night! Here is the picture I gave the students.

Ooops!

2011-09-05T18:31:00.000-07:00

Sorry here are the pics......tomorrow back to school!

Labor Day Weekend and Festivities

2011-09-05T12:37:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a long weekend and it is still not over....Went into Chicago on Thursday night for a friends Wedding on Friday. Woke up early to get ready on Friday and then the whole day was filled with wonderful fun things to do. Drake and Joanna got hitched at 3 and the night lasted until about 11:45. After that night I got a hotel and spent the night and then woke up the next morning and drove from there to Evansville for my friend Lauren's shower! THat was so nice to see her(havent seen her for probably a month or over). I was able to catch up with my friend Rachel and Lauren. We are now just getting ready for her bachelorette party that is in September!!! I got home last night from the shower and today I am going to try and work on these flags that were suppose to be done the first day of school! Yikes. Another short week and then the weekend! Popcorn Festival time.

Here are some pictures of the dresses and the shower.

Finished Gumball Machine

2011-09-01T06:14:00.001-07:00

WOW Its almost Friday??

2011-09-01T06:07:00.000-07:00

This week has flown by so far! Crazy how it just keeps hitting Fridays. So far so good I have only had one kid tell me he doesnt want to do my projects. We had our first collaboration Wednesday with all the art teachers, well four of the art teachers but next Wednesday we will have 5!!! Very beneficial. Chelsey and I are also going to try and work on a New Teacher Handbook to pass down to the new teachers at Memorial Elementary. I feel sometimes the teachers who have been here forget that we dont know all the abbreviations and rules of the school. I understand but it would be nice not to get the "you didnt know that" look anymore. Well so far I have had the kinders-2 grade do Art Books to get the basics down and then the older kids 3,4, and 5 we have studied VanGogh!!! So much fun. This will wrap up my week for Memorial and then Friday's I have Parkview. My new apron is going for the biggest test run today since I have white shorts on! hah. We will see if this baby really works. I put my first Question of the Month on the board. What year was the Mona Lisa made? Ill post the answer later. My sketchbook idea is somewhat catching on, I am having the students sketch every morning which is important because I feel like kids should always have a journal or some sort of sketch book to see their progress. We will see. I have a super busy day ahead of me so I am going to get going. Here are some pics of my finished bulletin board. All 300+ gumballs for the Open House tonight.

Karyn

Happy Monday

2011-08-29T18:11:00.000-07:00

So today was my first Monday and I was at Memorial Elem. The kids are fantastic there, they remind me of the kids from Rogers in Bloomington. I actually for the first time sat down while my fourth graders worked on their VanGogh Starry Nights. I had them start with pencil and work with oil pastel after. I had the two lower classes tear paper to create VanGogh's Sunflowers. They did wonderful. I also tried to make my room more home like so I added a few things. My first day my aunt sent me flowers and I had to teach art to one of my fourth graders from a cart! My dad made me the cart in the picture and it saved my day!!!! Thanks dad. Here are a few pictures. I also received an apron from my grandmother to protect my new clothes I purchased. It is REVERSIBLE!!!! Well I go to Parkview and then end my week at Memorial. I have wedding this weekend and a shower so it should be eventful this week and weekend!!!!! I also was given my first art picture from a student today which made me smile for my whole Monday.

Karyn

Second official day with kids

2011-08-25T10:41:00.000-07:00

Today is going great! I have had one of my fifth grade classes and another third grade class. As I am sitting here I am figuring out what to have the kids do for lessons next week after we are all settled in. I asked up to grade 2 yesterday to write on an index card one thing they might like to do in art this year. Some responses that made me laugh, "I want to be famous." Another was "I want to learn how to play the guitar." Oh man what did I get myself into. Better than assuming they could answer this question I guess, my second graders whom which I thought would be able to answer this question, specifically wrote down what I told them to: Write one thing you would like to do in art this year. OH BROTHER. Anyways I have three more classes and then my first day at Parkview.

Wish me luck.
K

First day with kids

2011-08-24T18:57:00.000-07:00

Wow! The only complaint was that my feet hurt! Other than that it went well. I had them all start doing a bubblegum for my bulletin board and introduced the rules and myself! Good day. But tired....I will talk later.

Karyn

Day 2

2011-08-23T16:44:00.000-07:00

Wow! Today might of even have been more crazy than yesterday. I start school officially tomorrow with kids. At Parkview it was funny to hear some of e students whisper in the hallway "let's go meet the new art teacher, what does she look like." hah so cute. I had one boy come up and introduce himself and he is a twin. Very exciting. Tomorrow should be fun. For the most part I am excited and nervous. I will at least have a couple if days at Memorial first and then I will end my week at Parkview. It will be nice to have three days and then breathe again. Wish me luck!

First Official Day!

2011-08-22T19:47:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a long day. Woke up at 6:30 and didn't get home until 8:00!!! Went to breakfast which was really great and then had a talk with the administrative. After that we were on our own for lunch and Chelsey and I went to Uptown Cafe for lunch which was really good. Although we did get our orders mixed up not realizing until half way through. After that I had a meeting at Parkview. I have a desk now!!!! Yippeee. Later on I had to go to our open house for Memorial. It went really well and it was super fun to meet some of the parents and kids! They seemed really excited and ready to go. They all walked in and saw there was the Art room and the Music room combined and had to ask questions. Overall I will do it again tomorrow!!!

Karyn

2011-08-21T20:51:00.000-07:00

First Official Day tomorrow!

2011-08-21T20:48:00.000-07:00

So tomorrow is my first official day at Valpo Community Schools! We are having breakfast at the high school and then continuing on to our home schools. I hope that we get our badge with picture on it tomorrow solely because I want to get my teacher discounts from the stores in town.

I worked on my flags all day today and then took a break to go discover that my old house(farm house) has a pond behind it that oddly enough only had seen it once in the winter time. So I ventured back there to take a break and then came back strong to let the flags dry over night. I am going to try and not stay up too late tonight but want to get a few more coffee sleeves done!

I also bought a treasure chest which i thought would be fun to stuff with stickers to give to the kids who help during the school day. If you see any cool stickers send them my way!!

Wednesday is the kids first day. Wish me luck

Karyn

Bulletin Boards to Remember: Sunflowers - Van Gogh

2011-08-20T18:56:00.000-07:00

Bulletin Boards to Remember: Sunflowers - Van Gogh

Feels like home to me.....

2011-08-20T18:33:00.000-07:00

Today I went into Memorial and I think I am almost finished with my room here, then I shall move onto Parkview. I can't complain though because one of the teachers in Valpo schools is at 4 schools and is teaching from a cart in the cafeteria! YIKES> Anyways here are some pictures, I splat painted a canvas and hung some art work and decorated my hallway!

Tomorrow I shall try to tackle Parkview. We have open houses all next week pretty excited.

Karyn

Second Day of New Teacher Orientation

2011-08-19T20:30:00.001-07:00

Wow! I made it. I can relax and start trying to get my flags done as well as my lessons. Oh did I forget finish decorating my room? Hah. Lots of stuff to do yet, but today after running around all day I was invited to go with some of the other district art teachers to treat ourselves to mani and pedicures. I met lots of new people and teachers, some retired and still involved and some still active in the schools. I rode up with Patricia Cummings whom is the teacher at Center and another school which I can not recall. She was lovely company and I enjoyed learning more about her and her family. Here is a pictures of us getting our nails done at the salon.

More later....almost finished with another bulletin board to share.

Karyn

2011-08-18T18:47:00.000-07:00

First day of New Teacher Orientation! Yippeee....somewhat exciting yet super informative. Man this week I have almost given up on the blogging but I think I will keep with it. I have done so many things this week from cleaning, hanging, bulletin boards, email checking, and organizing. It has been unbelievable how my room has transformed. Now all I need is some lesson plans hah. Working on those later, oh and did I forget to put in that I have to make flags for one of my schools, somwhat excited about those but need to get into 2nd gear with them. I also started up a twitter account for my classroom thought it would be fun to create so I can post different things throughout the year of our projects....hopefully get the other art teachers to jump on board if they are already not on twitter. Well tomorrow is day two of orientation and thankfully it is short. I have a checklist of things to do still in the classroom!!!!

Got the keys to my Classrooms!

2011-07-28T20:08:00.000-07:00

This week has been super busy! I have helped my aunt with her bulletin boards, and moved into my two rooms at Parkview and Memorial. Both rooms are great! I still have so much to do and I feel like I have not sat still since I have been home. I also had a book club meeting with Parkview teachers which went very well. We talked about the Daily 5 and how to incorporate it into the classroom and I was able to meet all the teachers on staff. I have two more days until I am off for a week of vacation to New Foundland and Labrador!!! I will post pictures of my room when I get them all nicely decorated!

One more day.......

2011-06-27T19:02:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is my last full day in Bloomington with all my stuff before I pack up! It is sad, but my lovely friends from the wonderful gym I go to in Bloomington took me out for a delicious meal at Upland Brewery. I had never been there to eat but it was not disappointing. It was delish!!! Tomorrow I am going to be packing and then on Wednesday we get the Uhaul and pack up everything. Kind of exciting,sad, scary.....etc. All emotions mixed together.

Ill try to write tomorrow!

Acceptance Letter

2011-06-26T15:25:00.001-07:00

Well I finally was approved by the board at Valparaiso School Systems and I am currently moving back to the region on July 1st! I am very sad to say good-bye to the lovely town of Bloomington but very excited that I will get a paycheck! After all the hard work and achieving my Masters in Art Education it will be worth it all. Although I will have to buy some new green Valparaiso shirts, I think it will be an adventure. I am going to try starting July 1st to blog 365 posts of my first year of teaching. Hopefully through the blog I can have other art teachers connect with me and possibly create an online PLC group.

Well back to lesson planning and packing!!!!