A Third Grade Perspective on the New Year

I have been a long term sub for art since the beginning of the school year. I teach one thing to the kindergarten through 2nd graders and something different for the3rd through 5th graders; Sometimes I will even break it into 3 levels. I have wanted to do the same project for some time now and with the 2nd semester starting at the new year I found my perfect opportunity. I had all my students make posters for the new year. For the kindergartners, I kept it simple :we folded a paper in quarters  and wrote 2022 with 1 number in each quadrant.  I then instructed them to draw and color circles in one quadrant, squares in another, triangles in the third and hearts in the 4th.  

With the 1st and 2nd graders I had them write 2022 on their paper and then color it in, When that was completed, I  taught them a little about collage.  Instead  of  using pictures, we cut out shapes and then glued them around the 2022.  

 

With the 3rd through 5th graders I taught about the 7 elements of art, (to read an excellent piece on why the elements are important click here) which are:

Line

Shape

Space

Form

Color

Value 

Texture

I then ask them to make a poster about 2022 and incorporate at least 3 of the 7 elements of art.  

The students have produced some excellent work.  This third grader's response shows how many of our kids are eager to get out from under the cloud of Co-vid.

While they are working or when they show me their finished product, I point out the elements that I see they incorporated.  This one has at least one example of  color (the co-vid molecules), value (the cloud and the rain), shape (the mask), space (spacing is used very effectively in all of the panels) , line (the rain) and texture (The mask).  When I point out these elements I ask if they planned them.  Many say they have and many have not.  At the end of class, I advise how most art work has at least 3 if not more of those elements.   Finally, I  encourage in them to look for these elements not only in their work but in all manners of art.  

I found out this week that the school has hired a new art teacher.  I am very glad for the opportunity I have had to teach these students for so long. I have not only seen the growth of the students but my growth as an educator..  I share the hopefulness of this artist for the coming year.  I wrote several pieces last year about surviving 2021.  My recent successes among other things have inspired me that 2022 could indeed be the best year ever and it is possible to thrive in difficult times.  

My blog is a teenager and going through some changes.

 13 years ago today at the beginning of my 2nd semester of being a stay at home Dad for the purpose of continuing the home education of my 3 children aged 22-13, 20-13 and 16-13 at the time (I take it you can do subtraction). I began this blog.  Here is a link to my first post. 

This never was a home education only blog. We finished homeschooling proper when our youngest daughter  graduated Middle School in 2020.  I haven't been the full time stay at home dad/home educator since 2013.     Yet I continued to call this blog Home School Dad, shortening it to HSD a few years back.  

HSD is just one of 4 blogs I have been producing over the past several years.  On Dec 12, 2009 just 11 months after starting my first blog, I started a 2nd called Crazy Uncle Dave's Sports Blog.  Here is the first post..  

Sometime in 2011 I started a vlog at Word Press called Dave Out Loud.  I abandodned the word press site and brogh Dave Out Loud to Blogger.  Here is the first post. 

In Janaury 2019 I decided to consolidate all my blogs and bring them to Word Press in a blog called Random Acts of Roller.  Here is my first post.

In 2020 during the corona virus pandemic I decided to go back to HSD as my flagship blog and have had basically 2 flagship blogs ever since.  

Over the past few weeks, I have been making some wholesale changes to HSD.  First of all you can probably see it is no longer called HSD.  I have changed the name to Leap of Dave.

I have also transferred all my Dave Out Loud And Crazy Uncle Dave posts here.  I am still in the process of transferring all my Random Acts posts here as well.  I will still be continuing posting sports content and videos and they will be labeled Crazy Uncle Dave or Dave Out Loud but they will appear in this blog.  I am exploring leaving blogger altogether but could never really get the hang of Word Press.  Until that day happens Leap of Dave becomes theone stop shop for all my blogging hijinks.  With 13 years in the books I am hoping for smooth sailing and many more fine years in my blogging future.

We now continue with album in reverse: Allen Levi Concert: Song # 7, Love Isn't Earned

The Mountain Dew Code Red of Trailers

I work at a local movie theater. Generally I sell tickets and concessions. From time to time, I do a job called patrol. Patrolling the theater is exactly what it sounds like. On New Year's Day I got about 16,000 steps just at the theater from noon till five,walking in and out of every screen making sure the film and the filmgoers were behaving properly.

As you can well imagine, by the end of my shift I had seen a lot of each movie and my fair share of the commercials and the trailers that play before the films. The nature of my task precludes me from watching any more than bits and pieces of these. On Saturday I heard multiple snippets from a trailer where a kid said "the Code Red Mountain Dew of hats".  This got my attention since Code Red Mountain Dew if not my all time favorite soda is certainly in the team photo.

It especially perked my ears as for the past few years I have only been drinking pop on special occasions. To be fair up intil 6 months ago special occasions meant anytime I was thirsty. By the new  definition Mountain Dew code red references in trailers are the only way I am digesting said drink these days. 

The best perk of job at the theatre is it allows me and my family members to attend movies for free. On January 2nd I availed my self of said perk and my wife and I saw a movie in the theatre for the first time of the  year. The trailer With the code red reference was the last one shown before the feature. The name of the film is the unbreakable boy. It looks like it will be part Wonder and part I Can only Imagine and I would probably think that even if the trailer didn't mention both those titles by name.

It is one of those trailers that seem to show the entire story of the film in the trailer. These of course can be problematic once you get to watch it in it's  entirety. However, if it is showing the entire story, it is a story I look forward to watching. It comes out in March and more than likely it will be something I will watch for free in a few months. It actually looks like something worth paying for.

Oldest Living Baseball Players Cup of Coffee Edition

 

George Elder the oldest living baseball player

Elder played 41 games for the St. Louis Browns in 1949

Though meager this greatly surpasses the 16 living players with 10 or less games 

Yesterday I saw the Kurt Warner biopic, American Underdog.  At the beginning of the film Warner (portrayed by Chuck star Zachary Levi) voices over how common the dream to play in the NFL is and how staggeringly difficult it is to achieve.  He also mentions that the majority of players who do make it only last a season or two.  The same of course could be said about any professional sport.  For me it was baseball and I knew by little league that I would never played for my beloved Cubbies or White Sox. 

This dream became a reality for every major league baseball player even if it was for just a handful of games.  Of the current list of the oldest living players , 16 of them only played for the proverbial cup of coffee (10 or less appearances).  

This Year - JJ Heller cover - Noel Dumont

I know I just shared this song less than a week ago but I adore this cover version by Noel Dumont.  

Happy New Year!