I remember.

One year ago today, I remember that the weather was absolutely perfect the entire afternoon.

I remember having that 'this day is too good to be true' feeling. Because the winter had been so harsh and the spring had been so windy and rainy, and the summer was looking oh-so-promising.

I remember noticing that the clouds looked like cotton candy that had been molded by bubble wrap, and I thought to myself, 'those are the sort of clouds that make VERY bad storms.'

I remember the first tornado sirens, I heard them in Webb City, just as the first few raindrops were falling. I remember that I was not afraid.

I remember the listening to the radio, it was the only real warning, the only voice of reason. The first sign of proof that life-as-we-knew-it was over.

I remember the first few houses and buildings and trees that were damaged. I thought, 'maybe it wasn't that bad.'

I remember the traffic, the roads being blocked in every direction.

I remember not being able to text or call, but the phone calls I did get were scared relatives from far away who were watching the weather channel. They seemed to know more than me, even though I was right in the middle of it.

I remember seeing St. John's for the first time. A car in front of us was wrapped up in a downed power line, and we were trying to get around them, trying to get home.

I remember the journey home took SO long.

I remember running.

I remember realizing that the damage went from 'not so bad' about a block from my house to 'armageddon' just a few blocks from that.

I remember stopping at the intersection of 26th and Joplin Street. I stopped to catch my breath....the scene around me was so horrifying, it couldn't possibly be real. Every familiar thing around me was unrecognizable....the elementary school, the hospital, the taco bell, every house in my radius was flattened, splintered, gone. People were wandering around, confused, bloody. Some were trying to help. Smoke from a house fire rose in the distance, sirens blared, the sky threatened rain at any moment. It is the scene I go back to in my memories of that night. It is the instant replay, that I return to when I remember the tornado.

I remember thinking 'my mom is dead'. There is no way she could have survived. Not this. There is no way.

I remember climbing over apartments, power lines, debris was everywhere.

I remember my mom, sitting on the curb, soaking wet, a wound on her foot with flesh gaping out.

I remember thinking, we cannot stay out here until after dark, we are so far from a car, I have to get us out of here. So I ran off to find a wheel chair.

I remember standing beside the flattened nursing home as they carried patients out on stretchers and laid them on the parking lot, on open mattresses. I remember trying to stand in front of mom so that she couldn't see the dead, she had seen enough.

I remember the smells. The smell of gas leaking. The smell of splintered wood, the smell of attic musk, mixed with fresh rain.

I remember carrying a fat wiener dog home. I remember that I just wanted to watch what everyone else was watching. I wanted to know what had happened through the eyes of a reporter or newscaster, not through my own eyes.

I remember what happened on May 22nd, 2011 at 5:41pm. It changed me forever. In the weeks that followed, I was forced to drive through the path of the storm every single day in order to get to work or around town. It was unavoidable.  I am not sure that my co-workers or family members really understand what that is like.....the destruction of familiarity.....A daily reminder, a constant connection to the event.

As much as I do not want to deal with what happened, I just want to forget about it, I can't.  It is inside of me, part of me, forever.

To read more of my documentation, click here:
Before and After Photos
Ode to the iPhone
Destruction in the Heartland 
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8

Best Year Yet!! HAPPY SUMMER!!

This was one of my favorite school years ever. It was the first year in a long time that I did not have a student teacher....and I really feel a strong connection to my sweet kindergarteners that will be moving on to the primary school next year.

I think it helped that I had them for the entire year and did not relinquish any teaching responsibilities to a student teacher. I love having a student teacher, but I'm really glad that I had a break this year. I had two student teachers last year, and both years before I had one. The continuity and consistency helps make the year so smooth.

A kindergartener told me on Monday, " Mrs. Mitchell, you are the best art teacher in the whole world and I do not want ever want another art teacher." She must've figured out that I won't be her art teacher next year. I reassured her that she will love her new art teacher in 1st grade...(but I didn't tell her that she will probably forget all about me by Christmas, it usually happens that way every year).

My last week of school is always one of my favorites. It is fun because I can relax with my students and really have fun. The regular schedule is modified for play days and celebrations and rewards. Everyone is casual, relaxed, unbound by the regular routines.

At 11:00 on Friday we will dismiss for the summer. I will have 12 weeks off!! This is the first year that I haven't taught summer classes. Last year, I conducted the Art Lounge program once a week, had a photography exhibit and dealt with the aftermath of the tornado.

This year, my summer scheduled is speckled with a few loose commitments, but for the most part it is free and clear. I intend to do some traveling (I'm seriously craving a road trip...but I think that will have to wait until next year) but mostly, I want to drink hot tea on my screen porch, have pool play dates with friends, attend morning Zumba classes and renew my artistic spirit.

I intend to do plenty of blogging and writing and creating. Oh, and reading. My goal is to read at least 10 books this summer. I've got a lengthy and varied list, suggested by my facebook friends.

The Best Teachers....

The end of the year is my favorite.

I love how relaxed everyone is and how relieved I feel to wrap up another year.

Yesterday, a popsicle reward party was planned for students to celebrate positive behavior.

I must say that it was incredibly satisfying to know that part of my job description, at least for the day, was to enjoy the sunshine, snip open flav-o-ice and watch the students run around. I have a very special role and I wouldn't trade it for anything right now....It is very rewarding to know that I am right where I am supposed to be.

Today, I spent some time reflecting on some of my favorite things about school, teachers, and being a teacher.

Coach Mitchell for a Day

Even though I am not at all athletically inclined and would never endeavor to be a physical education teacher,  I happily got to assist the P.E. teacher by watching his classes while he set up for the end-of-the-year play day.

I say happily because some of the students called me Coach Mitchell for the day. Coach Mitchell? HAHAHAHA!!

That is hilarious because I have never coached anything in my entire life. I am much too prissy and my nails far too manicured to rough around in the sporting arena. So, for some to call me Coach Mitchell, it was my own little private joke, like I was parading around in a policeman's uniform, all the power to arrest, without any of the training.

The kids were playing dodge frisby dodge ball.

When I was in grade school, I remember playing real dodgeball (boys vs. girls) in the school gymnasium with fat red rubber balls. I HATED dodgeball.

Mostly because I was slow and completely inept at throwing, I couldn't a giant fixed target, let alone a moving one....but also because I hated the way that the boys looked when they viciously slammed the ball into my back or legs with a triumphant SLAP. I really hated how excited that they boys got when shouted, "You're OUT!!" It was so embarrassing.

I hated that feeling of helplessness.
I was too uncoordinated to ever grab hold of a ball and return the brutal blow, so mostly I just tried to hide behind the bigger girls or hunch against the wall.

No matter what I did, I was an easy target....I was pathetic prey and I always resented the other students and everything about physical education because of how it made me feel like such a loser. AND who am I kidding, those red rubber balls really hurt when they hit.

 Equipment for p.e. has come a long way. Now days, those red rubber balls do not exist, at least not for dodge ball. Students use NERF-Like baby blue foam balls that gently bounce off of you like an air-filled throw pillow.

It is nearly impossible to cause injury, even when connecting with a kid's face.

Additionally, foam frisbys were added to the basic game (a great idea for giving kids practice at correctly throwing a frisby).  The frisbys create even less of an impact when they connect.

 The best part about supervising 4th graders playing frisby dodge ball, was actually joining them for a little game of GIRLS+TEACHER VS. BOYS. They boys were delighted that I was helping the girls gang up on them because it made them more competitive than ever.

You see, the boys have played against the girls all year with a horrible chant, "Moo like a cow, go moo, MOO!" Over and over the boys screamed their little chant at the girls as they attacked them with dodge balls screaming "You're OUT" and scooping up new bullets and launching over and over.

I was delighted to help the girls because I got a little bit of payback.
I cannot tell you how extremely rewarding it was to pelt the strongest, most athletic boys in the class. I didn't want to hurt them. I just wanted to get them OUT!

And that is just what I did.

Screaming, 'You're OUT!'....it felt just as good as I thought it would, even though I'm not 10 anymore, I got that real satisfied feeling that one only gets by conquering an old foe.

 I even made up our own little chant, the girls and I screaming "Ruff like a dog go ruff, RUFF!"

I had all the girls saying it with me, I rallied an attack, hoarding all of the balls and frisbys on our side, we savagely assaulted the boys with baby blue bombs. (Okay, maybe not savagely, I was surrounded by a bunch of tiny-10-year old wimpy little mini-mes who were just as pathetically slow, and inept at throwing, we missed more targets than we hit. But I was their leader and it was exhilarating).

I didn't enter the game with sadistic intent, in fact, I had forgotten how much I hated dodge ball until I actually got out on the court and started tossing frisbys and feeling that winning feeling. Students love it when teachers join in and have a little fun.  The boys, I assure you, won't be traumatized by little victory, they probably won't even remember it once the summer is in full swing, but it is one of my favorite memories and I will treasure it.....the day that I got to be Coach Mitchell.

Classroom Murals: Collaborative Art Project

After seeing this post, from Organized Chaos, I could not get the idea of a group mural out of my head. Even though I have had my end-of-the-year projects planned for weeks, and we wrapped up painting projects last month...I decided to tackle a couple of group murals with my 1st graders.

 I decided that these would be fantastic bulletin boards for the summer/beginning of the year and open house next year. The original idea for this project comes from Experiments in Art Education. I would like to share my experience with this project with you, along with a few tips so that if you decide to do it with young classes, it will be easy, breezy and beautiful.

First of all, I would just like to say that I am not a control freak.  If you have control issues, beware of doing this with kindergarten and first grade....I set some ground rules, but some kids either did not 'get' the rules, or they ignored them. Its okay, the murals still look great!!

 I covered each of my 6 tables with a big sheet of bulletin board paper, and I painted a couple of them with words: ART, MUSIC, HEALTH, LIBRARY (I could've made Counselor, Office, P.E. too, but I only have 6 tables and I wanted a few plain murals without words.) Mrs. Novak suggest this in her post.

When the students walked in, I told them, do not sit down, put on a paint shirt and STAND behind your normal seat. I explained that we would be doing some group painting, but they needed to follow a couple of rules.

 Rule #1, do not paint over anyone's work
 Rule #2, paint shapes that do not touch all over the paper

I did a quick demonstration of the type of shapes that work well (with everyone gathered around one table) and said to make lots of sizes and spread them around the big paper. 

 Then I had students line up to get a jar of black paint. Since I store my paint in baby food jars, I reminded them to be careful not to drop them.

My first grade classes are freakishly small this year....I have one class of 14! Students worked pretty quietly, and even though I demonstrated what kind of shapes to paint, some still insisted on practicing stars....making big solid black blobs on the murals. GAH!

 Once there were lots of shapes, I told them to connect each shape with lines. I wish I would have told them to draw lines to the edges of the paper. But its okay, they murals still turned out great!

Some of the murals with large words like ART or MUSIC had lines drawn straight through the letters. But that's okay.

 My students have an hour of art, and this project only took up about 20-25 minutes...even after I gave some basic instructions and a brief demonstration, AND we put on paint shirts.

We created 6 murals.

 I would suggest that you have something for those that are 'done' painting to do....since my tables were covered with paper, I didn't want them sitting at their spots if they had already washed their hands and taken off their paint shirts.

Also, I instructed my students to put their jars of paint down near the hand washing bucket and then scrub if they needed to. Well, this enticed two girls in my class of 14 to paint their entire hand black and then rub them together and show off their messiness to the entire class. I was busy moving all of the murals off the tables so they could dry since we still had 40 minutes to fill!!

 Obviously, it is the end of the year, and kids to silly things, but as you might imagine, this was incredibly frustrating. I'm not one to shy away from messy projects just because they are messy, and I love fingerpainting, but for two of my best artists to be so reckless, in such a small class, who should totally know better...GRRRR. It's okay though, I made them wash their hands very last, and stand off to the side while I explained the next project to the rest of the class.

I told them they wouldn't get to participate in the 'artist trading cards' that we would be creating.

 I did let them make cards.

I'm weak. Its the end of the year, it was just a little paint.

Anyway, back to the murals!!

I let those dry until the next 1st grade class two days later. Let me clarify, I have two small 1st grade classes, but I still see 20 classes a week, 11 of those are kindergarten....so I chose to do this with my two smallest classes since I hadn't taught this type of lesson previously. It would work with any grade.
 
 Before the next class, I prepared 20+ colors of paint, using white to create tints.

I also painted over the lettering with white so it would really stand out.

I had the students do the exact same procedure as I had done with the previous class, go in, put on a paint shirt, stand behind your chair. I had them gather around one mural once everyone was dressed in their shirts, and I demonstrated how they would use their color to pain in one of the shapes, scoot over and paint in another shape.

 I explained that once they had used the color on one mural, they would move on to other tables and put their color on every mural.

 I also told them not to paint on top of the white words and gave them the same rules as I had given the previous class about not painting on top of someone's work.

 During this class period, the school maintenance team came into my room to talk to me about my new cabinets for next year.  Of course they did. I took them around and explained what I wanted and where I wanted it. I was distracted for a few minutes, but the students continued to work quietly on the murals. Whew! I was fully prepared for madness to break out at any second with paint flying, but thankfully, everyone was cool and no one dropped their paint jar or got out of control.

Pretty soon, students started to get 'done' painting. I had joined them, painting with white. I was filling in a few spots on the murals without lettering as well as touching up the white lettering, covering drips etc. Frustratingly, I wanted to keep painting...but after a few minutes....one boy was done and then, suddenly, everyone was done.

Most of the murals were finished, but a few needed more colors. I realized that I needed to move the huge-really-wet-painted papers to other spots around the room and give the 'finished' students an activity otherwise it would get out of control really fast.

It was a little wild, because the kids couldn't sit at the tables, and some of the tables and chairs needed to be wiped off after we painted, and I was the only one who could maneuver the big papers. As soon as that little moment of craziness had passed (no one painted their hands this time), I directed the students to their seats and demonstrated how to create artist trading cards.

You've probably heard of this activity before, students create a series of drawings to trade. I let mine choose their own subject, and they could use markers, colored pencils or crayons to color them.

It is a fun end of the year activity. WOW! As soon as the class had their little blank cards, pencils and fine point sharpie markers, they got right to work, creating little masterpieces. It was as if the group activity had warmed them up.

A little bit 'Keith Haring'

The room was dead silent, the opposite of what it had been minutes before when I was dragging massive paintings around the room, trying to get them off of the tables and kids were running around with wet paper towels, and messy fingers.

Without even telling them to, they were completely enthralled in the activity.

They knew they had limited time because we were going to trade cards at the very end.

 If they finished early, they could make an extra card to look at a book while they waited to trade...The students whispered....they whispered to each other....and to me if they had a question. (I was in touch-up mode on the murals, covering drips and finished the two that weren't quite done).

I had to stop and look around.....the class was completely engaged in the process.

It was magic.

Towards the end, the last 7-8 minutes, students were allowed to trade cards. Some were finished, some weren't. But the ones that weren't could take their cards and finish them later.

This was a very successful end of the year project, and I can't wait to put the large paintings up on my bulletin boards.

 If you are low on patience this late in the year, beware.....I've tried to be as honest as possible about what worked for me so that you don't make the same mistakes I made.

I would definitely do this again.

It was a really great collaborative project.

Lens Baby Addict {Around the Art Room}

Photo Walk with Lens Baby 2.0 Around Joplin

This week, the weather is predicted to be near perfection...

Sunny...

80 degrees...

Every.

Single.

Day.

And I am still in school...

But the evenings have been so nice. Perfect for a photo walk around the neighborhood.

 I took these photos near my house in south Joplin, MO.

It has been almost one year since the May 22nd tornado...Lots of things have changed.

My favorite time of day: golden sunset light...

Not a Banksy.

Sunset Reflecting off St. John's Hospital

Ammmerika.....MMMM...RIKA

A perfect Vanilla Sky

DIY Create a Succulent Terrarium

Lowe's has some lovely succulents right now if you are interested in creating a succulent terrarium of your own. I first saw succulents on Etsy, and I thought they looked so cool, I was happy to find them locally.

 I am not much of a green thumb, but luckily, they only require watering every two weeks or so.

I have them on my front porch, hopefully it is sunny enough for them....we'll see how they do. A sunny window sill would be ideal.

To make a terrarium, select a glass container with a wide opening, so that moisture does not accumulate inside. I used a fish bowl and a glass candle dish.

 I put a layer of rocks/gravel in the bottom as a reservoir for the water so the dirt doesn't stay saturated. For looks, I added a layer of pretty white sand.

Then I made a layer of cactus/succulent dirt for the actual plants to grow and thrive. I planted the succulent plants in the layer of dirt and then added pretty shells and rocks on top.

The photos below were taken with my Lens Baby 2.0. Pretty cool, huh?

My existing porch plants.

I put this one in a little cracked tea cup.