April Art a la Carte

I volunteered for Eric's monthly art class yesterday (Monday). I didn't get a chance to get a picture of his art from last month's art class because it was a two-part lesson and I wasn't there for part two. They made "sculptures" using wire that they shaped and placed in a green block that is usually used for flower arrangements. They then stretched a stocking over the wire and covered the stocking surface with white liquid glue. The second part was painting the sculpture.

This is Eric's finished (and dried) sculpture. He chose to paint it all black except for some orange accents. Most of the other sculptures were painted a shimmery light purple, so Eric's sculpture stood out. He is definitely has his own individual taste.

April's art class project was based on the work of a Japanese artist named Katsushika Hokusai, a painter and printmaker, who is most well-known for his woodblock print named The Great Wave of Kanagawa. The kids were going to mimic that work using simple items--colored paper, scissors, pen, and glue.

Mrs. R started by showing them different ways to cut the paper into waves--big and small, curved or pointed, lots of cuts or just one or two. Then they basically doodled on each piece of paper to add some texture/interest, then combined them all and glued them onto a white piece of paper. The final piece was to cut a boat out of a small piece of red paper and put that as the focal point.

It's a good thing that this was a simple lesson, because this lesson was interrupted several times by various school-wide "drills". They had the "duck and cover", which was supposed to be what to do in case a tornado was in the area. All the kids heard "duck and cover" and they all immediately got up from their chairs, went under the tables, and tucked themselves in little balls. Mrs. R had to read her little guide and it turned out that they were supposed to do this in the hallway since the classroom was on the exterior of the building, and you're supposed to move to the interior of a building in case of a tornado.

They had a "lockdown" drill in case there was an intruder, like an active shooter. I thought it was sad that nowadays we have to prepare our kids for cases like that. They all huddled in one corner of the classroom, turned out the lights, and covered up the windows. The last drill was, of course, a fire drill. We got outside just in time for the light drizzle to start. Fortunately, we didn't have to be out there that long. Apparently there was one more drill, an evacuation drill, where they would all go to the nearby church, but that would have caused too much chaos, so they didn't do that one.

Despite the multiple interruptions, most of the kids were able to finish their artwork. Eric perched his little red boat high up on the very tip of the biggest wave. He obviously had a lot of fun with this little project. :)

Instead of bringing him his usual (meaning for the last five years) lunch from Wendy's, he requested Sonic Jumbo Popcorn chicken and a grape slushie instead. Last month, when I went to get his usual request lunch, I found out that Wendy's no longer offers the spicy chicken nuggets. I went ahead and got myself some of their Ched'R Peppers. I haven't eaten Sonic in about two years, but yesterday, I decided to eat Sonic food with my son. He is growing up so fast, and I want to savor every moment. Look at that sweet face! LOL ;)