When I was in elementary school, there was an art program that brought works of art into the classroom for kids to see. It was a parent volunteer thing. I can remember the mom..Virginia Sweeny's mom to exact that would do it each year. I can remember thinking that I wanted to do that for my kids. Fast forward a bunch of years. I am innocently going to open house. Andrew's teacher asks if I would be interested in being the "Art Adventure" parent for their class.
I went to a training at the Institute of Arts. We were introduced to eight different works of art. Our focus is
Artists' Inspirations. I really enjoyed talking and learning about the art. It was so fun to look for what we thought the inspired the artists.
Today, I got to go to three Kindergarten classes. I chose these two art pieces to talk about (I get to go back in about a week and discuss other artworks):
A Fishing Party Off Long Island. By Junius Brutus Steams
This painting lends itself well to talking about art portraying hobbies and other interests.
Baboon and Young by Picasso
We talked about the fact that Picasso loved playing with his kids..thus the car head etc.
Also we talked about using things around the house as materials for our art (assemblage). This conversation lead straight into our class art-project.
To make this art adventure experience more hands on for the kids, we made classroom sculptures. I told the kids that
I loved making new friends. I told them that I wanted help making an art project about friends. I brought in a bunch of stuff from home (Picasso style) to create a "Playground Playmate."
I just put the X structure out and can and let them roll with it. I also put out cotton balls, silk flowers, Popsicle sticks, feathers, puff balls, tubes, Styrofoam peanuts, Christmas bows, shredded paper and necklaces.
This is what Andrew's class made. Everyone had a chance to add something to the sculpture. You know what is funny..when I envisioned this project I thought the can would be on its side for a round face. I was just the gluer..not the creator though. I like it better their way.
The second class came up with this fun friend. I love the yellow pants and flower hands. This one even has bows on its shoes.
They were all really engaged in the project. It was hilarious to see these minds create. I took the above picture after the project was made. The teacher was trying to get them back in their chairs. They kept wanting to add more things though. Good sign.
This was the last playground pal. The class named him
Spy Guy because they gave him a telescope to spy on people. Notice the cute bow tie.
I really liked working in the Kindergarten classes. It makes me super excited to get back to school to get my early education degree. Next week is the fifth graders...Heaven Help Me!
On this Thanksgiving day, I am most thankful for my family. I am grateful for the time we get to spend together. In case you did not know, the Oregon coast is one of our favorite places to visit together. It is beautiful and relaxing. 
There are great towns like Manzanita, Seaside and Astoria. Each are very important to us. While we were over at the coast, we got to spend some time enjoying Seaside.
Seaside is the home of our favorite Arcade...Funland. We stop there any chance we can get (this tradition goes way back before we had kids...back to Erik's childhood...I think Tennant's have been going there before Erik too).
Dan was kind enough to get us all a place right on the shores in Seaside...and yes there was a pool! It might be November, but we cannot pass a chance to go swimming..even outdoors! 
On our drive back to Ridgefield, we stopped at the Custard King. Every year we pass it on our way to Manzanita and every year Glenda points it out. She would explain that she loved going to the Custard King growing up. She loved taking Erik as a child. She loved the lemon custard. They stopped selling custard, but we did get to enjoy a Tillamook ice-cream cone in memory of our grandmother.
