I'm Back!

I hope you all had a WONDERFUL summer break and are energized to get back to school.  I know I was.  I've taken a 3-week break from my blog because I have been super busy getting our school ready for Meet the Teacher night, Curriculum Night, staff in-services, and so on.  I have found myself to be the official 'decorator' for our building.  I have found that the arts go beyond the classroom, beyond the art table, and off the paper.  Kids get excited to see their home-away-from-home looking beautiful, decorated, and welcoming.  I truly believe that kids need a place where they can feel safe, secure, and appreciated.  I try to do this in our school by making our projects display-worthy & based on themes for decor purposes. and I try to cherish their art the way I would for my own children.

Here are a few snapshots of our building to welcome our students this new school year:
(please forgive the quality...I forgot my camera at home so I used my iPhone instead)

 Every student in our school spent the first 2 weeks in Art class creating a graduation portrait of themselves and writing a paragraph about what they plan to do after they graduate.

 Each grade level has a data board outside of their classroom to track student success and to make the information available for students, parents, and administrators to access.  It really motivates the kids to do better because it shows the pre-tests and the post-tests.  

Our theme this year is Halls Ferry University, as you can see.  We are encouraging our students to set goals, think about their personal skills and talents, and push them to do their very best.  All of our students here at school spent weeks 2-3 working on pennants for the University or College they plan to attend after High School.  You can see those in the above photos.  Our school shows spirit, goals, uniformity, and provides a welcoming environment for students and their families.  In fact, not to brag, but we had over 300 people attend our curriculum night!