Country Kid

Caitlin and Isabel

                                                        Dad and Sean playing Checkers

                                                          Aidan looking out for Ben

                                                                   Sean up in the loft

                                                         Cailin outside with Ashley

                                                     Cold and Beautiful!

                                           The Girls, Caitlin, Ashley and Brittany

                                            On top of the world!! Top of Plattsville Rock

                                                Ben and Aidan on the Lake with 8 inches of ice

Sean helping with Grandma's Fire! 

   Our weekend away was great! So many wonderful things to see and do up state if you appreciate the mountains and what nature has to offer! Dad found it relaxing to just hang out inside standing and reading his iPad . I found a little bit of time to scrapbook while the girls were playing. Ashley and Brittany played with Caitlin for hours at a time. Whatever she wanted to play the girls were right there doing it with her. Our neighbors Phill and Jenn and their children Madeline and Ben come up twice a year. Madeline brought a friend from Atlanta named Izzy. They all hung out and were so darn polite whenever I offered them something to eat, I just couldn't stand it. That Southern politeness I wish it would rub off on my kids!  Aidan was in his glory with Ben who is a year younger. They all drove on the golf cart even though it was like 30 degrees and windy. Sunday some of the neighbors went hiking up Plattsvilles Rock. The men cut down trees by the dam and had a bonfire to burn the wood. Something about a fire always attracts the boys. Sean was happy to just sit on the coach and watch TV with Grandpa Bruce. Sean was with Grandpa Bruce every chance he could. Sean and Bruce drove the cart together which became the highlight of the weekend for Sean. My favorite moment was looking out the slider to see two Bald Eagles flying over the lake to their nest on the opposite side of the cabin. They are so beautiful, it's too bad I didn't have my camera ready!

City Kid

Mouse Paint Color Wheels

MOUSE PAINT COLOR WHEELS
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    After reading the book "Mouse Paint", by Ellen Stoll Walsh, students mixed their own Secondary Colors using Tempera Paint. Students enjoyed mixing the tempera paint from a "biggie cake". This is the type of paint that is used like watercolors. When moistened with water the solid paint form becomes liquid and is easily applied with a paint brush onto the paper. During the first class, students used black pastel to draw a mouse outline in the center of the square paper and six lines dividing up the color wheel into six sections. Next, students applied the paint with long strokes of the paint brush adding only the three Primary Colors into the correct sections of their color wheel outline. Two paint layers each of red, yellow and blue were added.
    During the following class students were taught how to figure out which colors to mix to made a Secondary Color and where to place it in Color Wheel order by remembering a little saying,  "Look to the right, look to the left, mix the two together in the center, just right!"
   Just as in Mouse Paint, the mouse feet (paint brush) mixed the two Primary colors together to create the Secondary colors. Water was painted onto the paper surface as a final stage in the color mixing.
    It was truly magical to see how the two colors changed into a new color before our eyes.        

Mouse Paint Color Wheels

Students loved mixing the Primary Color Pastels as an experiment in Primary Color mixing. They chose one of the three Primary Colors which are Red, Blue, and Yellow. They drew their favorite shape and colored it in solidly using the same color pastel. The next primary color shape was added in the same way as the first, this time the two shapes needed to "overlap"" a tiny bit. I displayed the concept "overlap" by placing one hand over the other a little bit to give them a 3-D view. What resulted was one of the three Secondary colors ; Orange, Green, or Purple. They repeated using the next to pairs of Primary colors to create all the Secondary colors.
   Other skills I reviewed while working with pastel with first graders were:
How do you clean off a pastel when it gets dirty?
Scribble on the back of your paper, until it looks cleaner, repeat as needed. 
What do you do it the Pastel isn't working?
It's probably the paper around the pastel that needs to be turn down.
Pastels are very soft and get worn down quicker then crayons. 
The softness of the pastel is what makes it an easy tool to mix with.  

PRETTY GIRL

  Yesterday, Caitlin 2 was giving me a hard time like most toddlers about what shirt she would wear. After giving her two choices, she refused and wanted to look in her dresser. I held up a white shirt and said, " do you like this PRETTY one?" As she smiled, and wanted me to help her put it on, Caitlin said, "I pretty"!!! It just melted my heart!!!