November Art a la Carte

Today was Eric's monthly art class. I'm still a little thrown off by the fact that lunch for Eric is 11:05-11:35am, and then his art class isn't until 12:35-1:30pm--not right after like it was last year. He still wants me to bring him lunch from Wendy's, so I have to go home for an hour then come back. I came back a little late this time, and class had already started. Besides my not paying attention to the time, the school clock must also be faster than mine.

I totally missed the art teacher's talk on Eric Carle and how he painted pieces of paper then pieced them together to make his art. When I came in, they were already painting. They were using two colors of paint per table and painting white pieces of paper. They then added texture with sponges and forks. We then took those painted papers away to dry and be used for another second grade art class. We pulled out papers that another class had painted and that were already dry and cut up into pieces for Eric's class to use.

Half the class made caterpillars and half the class made butterflies. There were only a couple of kids that were particular on which they wanted to make, but the teacher had the mostly girl side of the class do the butterflies and the mostly boy side of the class do the caterpillars. The other volunteer and I passed out "kits" with the appropriate amount of pieces of paper, some templates for the bodies, heads, and tail, and a larger piece of white paper for a background.

The kids didn't get to choose the colors of papers they got to use, but Eric's happened to be the right colors to mirror the "Very Hungry Caterpillar" from the book. He decided he didn't want his caterpillar to have legs. Another girl wanted to draw her butterfly's eyes on instead of using paper piecing. The kids all find a way to express themselves in their art projects.

Eric was all ready for me to take a picture of him with his art work, even before I was. I love spending time volunteering at school with my child who still wants me around at his school.

Natalie had an Honors Band performance this morning at a nearby assisted living home. In the end she decided it would have been okay for Patrick and me to attend, but she had said earlier that she really didn't want us there, and so we didn't make plans to go. I'm glad that Eric still wants me around--for now.