Bugs and Bullies

Remember that quote from my first day about the lice?.............Yep, just got an email.  And the fun begins. Not the same student but apparently it was some foreshadowing. 

I had a major confrontation with a parent for the first time EVER. I won't go into details but she was shockingly aggressive out of nowhere.  NOTHING had happened but I guess there was history from last year. There was a point that I purposefully put my hands on my hips like, "READ MY BODY LANGUAGE. INTIMIDATION WILL NOT WORK WITH ME!" Kinda like making yourself bigger during a bear attack.  I remained professional and turned things around but the adrenaline was flowing there for awhile. Guess after 14 years of teaching I was due.

On a more pleasant note, let me show you some of the adorable self-portraits my students made.

 Love the last one! This was the most finished product I have gotten out of him so far!

I think I may have posted about this before but first I read ISH by Peter Reynolds.

It is a story about a boy who loses his love for art after his older brother makes fun of his drawing. Since he can't make his pictures look perfect, he crumples them up in frustration. Until, his younger sister shows him that she appreciates that his drawings are vase-ish and he learns to let go of his need for perfection. I found this book back when my son was in first grade and he would be reduced to tears when forced to draw as part of his homework. Now, when I draw in front of my class I will say something like, "Not a perfect cat, but is it cat-ish?" and of course the sweeties agree. Soon, you can hear them saying it to themselves.

SO, the first big test is this self-portrait. I do have the oval for the head pre-drawn just to start the sizing right but after that I walk them through every thing else while I do it on my document camera. They go over the pencil lines with a sharpie and then color in with oil pastels. I make mirrors available since it always cracks me up how many kids don't know what color eyes they have!

Congrats to Liz Sheils Howard for winning a copy of my Dot Cards! My dot talks are going really well and my students are so into them. Click on the picture to go grab a set for yourself.

I am so excited to have a 3 day weekend! We just realized my sons have never seen The Princess Bride so I'm off to have a movie night with my boys. Love that movie!