Special Friend of the Day- Two

Every child in Mrs. B.'s Kindergarten class has the opportunity to be Special Friend of the Day and, since all of the children have had a turn, Mrs. B. chose me to be "Special Friend" this morning. 

Last time I was Special Friend of the Day was in 2012. (Click HERE to see portraits of me from that group of students.) By comparison, I think the Kindergarten graduates from 2012 have more artistic talent than our students this year, nonetheless, they drew some pretty cute pictures. Take a look...

Never mind that I'm pig nosed and built like a box. This little girl is a future calligrapher! 

I'm sure it's obvious, but I'm going to tell you anyway. This is me getting out of my green car at Disneyland
 and Mickey and Minnie Mouse are there to greet me. 

The fact that this little guy took his time drawing my picture makes my heart melt. Usually, he is either daydreaming or hurrying to get through his assignments. (By the way, it was 'wear your school t-shirt' day.
I don't typically sport shirts with roadrunners on them.)

Here I am, riding Toy Story at California Adventure Park. I don't know what's going on in the crotch area. I was afraid to ask. 

This is me riding California Screamin'. The two girls in the box are waiting in line. IF ONLY lines were that short! 

Once again, I'm at Disneyland. This time I'm riding Pirates of the Caribbean. In Ethan's words...
"It's the dark part before you go up the hill. The box is where that thing flashes."

 I sure am going to miss Mrs. B.!

Welcome Spring!

Here are a few works of art for you to enjoy, created ever so cheerfully by  Mrs. B.'s Kindergarten students...

~Watercolor Tulips~

There is always, always, always at least one child who does not follow directions. The picture below is adorable, but the directions were to orient the paper to landscape rather than portrait. :)

~Wall Flowers~

We measured each flower to be the same height as its creator.

Each student received 2 leaves to place anywhere on the stem that they desired. The leaves on the far right are my favorite. :)

Check out the look that the orange flower in the middle is giving the pink flower. Hahaha.

Hands Can...

Honorable Mentions (chosen by me) from our first class book.

Look how happy the little butterfly and snail (I'm guessing here) are in anticipation of being held by what appears to be the hand of a compulsive nail biter. 

And who wouldn't want to hold hands with either of these characters?! Personally, I think they have a strong resemblance to  Marilu Henner and Danny Devito in their Taxi days. (If you're younger than 40 and wonder what and/or who I'm talking about, Google it. )

Hands "CAN" high five. They can also stay down and choose not to. ;)

I don't know if I'd want to clap this hand as it could prove to be dangerous.
I would say this hand has some great nails for nose picking if the little person,
we'll call it Pat, had a nose to be picked.

This is my personal favorite. I know it's hard to see the yellow, but there are four figures with arms extended... none of which HAVE hands, nor are they touching. 

Kindergarten Bulletin Board for November

Mrs. B. does the cutest bulletin board for the month of November. She pins up a large turkey and then gives each child a feather to take home and decorate. As the children bring their feathers back to school, Mrs. B. has them come to the front of the classroom and do a show and tell about their decorated plumes, then she adds each one to the bulletin board. By the end of November, our board looks like this...

Here are a few of the embellished quills close up...

Not bad, right?!

I'm thinking there are a few beans and Goldfish crackers in 

the bottom of at least one child's backpack (top-middle).

I don't know the story behind the ornamental crayon on the bottom 

feather, but it's ingenuously creative, don't you agree?

Special Friend of the Day

It was my turn to be "Special Friend of the Day" in Kindergarten this morning. The students asked me the following questions...

What's your favorite color?...blue
What's your favorite movie?...What About Bob?
What's your favorite vacation place?...Disneyland
What's your favorite game?...Yahtzee (Hey, I had to give them something. I couldn't very well say "Sneeki-Tiki Slot Machine".)
What's your favorite dessert?...Hot Fudge Sundae
What's your favorite shape?...uummm....Rectangle?
What's your favorite food?...Chinese
What's your favorite animal?...puppy

But the best part about being Special Friend of the Day was bringing home pictures that the kids drew of me. It's funny what each child perceives. Here are a few of my favorites:

Too bad I don't have a nose to take in the fragrance of this colossal flower.

Here I am in my cheerleader pose.

Apparently this student thinks I look more like a football player than a cheerleader.

This boy is oblivious to the fact that I have hair...

...while this girl sees me looking more like Frenchie from 'Grease'.

Again...more giant flowers with no means to smell them.
By the way, you would never catch me wearing red. :)

So what if my arms are fatter than my legs? I have got to give this
little guy credit for remembering the ID badge around my neck.

Do you detect a look of guilty surprise on my face, or is it just me,
and what do you suppose that thing is on top of my head?

Here I am inside my Nissan (complete with spoiler). This little artist is obsessed with vehicles.
He asked me a couple of weeks ago, "What kind of car do you drive and what color are your rims?"
What color are your rims! How many six year olds have asked you that question?



I have the best job in the world. Kindergarten is the shizz!

Stephen Wiltshire/ Autism Means Art

This is just one of many YouTube videos about Stephen Wiltshire, an autistic artist with the extraordinary ability to draw detailed cityscapes from memory.

If you haven't heard of him and his remarkable abilities, prepare to be amazed.

 


April is Autism Awareness Month and tomorrow, April 2nd, is World Autism Awareness Day. Show your support and raise awareness by Lighting Up Blue . For more information, click here .

Starry, Starry Night

Katelyn and I had a conversation this afternoon about artists and I mentioned how different her dad's taste in art is than mine. Where Don enjoys oil paintings of landscapes and such, I take great pleasure in viewing abstract art.

One thing lead to another and soon we were discussing Vincent van Gogh and how unappreciated he was in his lifetime. Then I asked Katelyn if she had ever heard Don McLean's song Starry Starry Night. When she said she hadn't, I knew I had to pull it up on YouTube for her. The lyrics of this song paint a precise picture (no pun intended) of Vincent's short, anguished life.

Why Be Normal?

Pin It

Don and I are slowly, but surely, redecorating Cody's bedroom. We painted the walls and bought him a new bed, mattress, dresser and night stand. Now it's up to me to decorate Cody's walls.

I'm not the type of person that can display any ol' thing on the walls of my home. The decor I have in my house has to mean something to me. That is why, when I was browsing the Internet and came across this phrase, "Why be normal?", the thought came to my mind to print it out in vinyl. See how cute it looks above Cody's bed...



I was having a few problems with my camera. It appears
that the 'n' is peeling off, but it's just poor lighting.



I know there are people that get offended by the reference "normal" or "abnormal", but it doesn't bother me. I understand the context for which it is used and realize, for the most part, people mean no harm. If I let every little thing bother me, well...I'd be a bigger basket case then I already am. It just so happens that my family takes pride in being weird. "Normal" is not "the norm" for us. :)

The Worth of a Child

Do you remember my posts about the student that stole things from our classroom, pooped in a urinal, talked out of turn and pretty much had behavior issues all school year? Well, one morning last week he said, "Mrs. Lancaster. Don't look." (Words every adult wants to hear from a child, right?) He then preceded to ask me, "How do you spell you?", so I had him search for the sight word 'you' on our Word Wall. Then he asked how to spell 'are'. Trying to encourage him, I said, "If you can't find it on the Word Wall, sound it out. You can do it." He then continued to work hard on his 'secret project'. After a time, he got out of his chair and walked over to the table where I was testing students. Handing me a piece of scratch paper, he said, "Mrs. Lancaster, will you write your name?" I quickly jotted down my name and handed it back to him. A few minutes later, he got up from his desk, came back over and handed this to me...

THIS is why I do what I do. EVERY child is worth it!

Autism Poster Contest

With help from the staff and some amazing sponsors, Amanda Broadfoot, at Life Is A Spectrum, held an Autism Awareness Month Poster Contest at her child's elementary school. These young, aspiring artists have beautiful hearts. Click here to read Amanda's post and see the top 5 winners: The kids are ALL RIGHT . I think our future is in good hands. Hurry...look. You will not be disappointed!

Wanna See Something Cute?

There is always one child that does not follow directions. Not only does the poor little penguin have a belly for a face, its wings are upside down as well.

THIS is why I love my job!!