Ark: Week 15

What a great week.  TREMENDOUS PROGRESS THIS WEEK WITH THE SERVICE LEARNING PROJECT! 

First, here are a few pictures of Sam 1 working with her 1st graders on the service learning project.  This past week Sam and Ms. Helen worked together and motivated the students to paint patterns (in groups of two) on the back of the boards. As you can see, Sam gave a quick demo to the students of what they could do with shapes and lines (the students really loved watching her paint and they were uber excited to start painting away)!

While Sam was busy working with the 1st graders I was busy with the 6th graders. First I showed the 6th graders a powerpoint of murals on irregular surfaces (which included photos of the Uncle Sam Project). I also did my homework and found other schools/students who have done the same project on carboard--this was a great tactic because I showed the students images of this project that the students all did the same thing--decorate the silhouettes with dots. As a class we discussed how they have a "better project" because they can paint whatever they'd like to about themselves, Ark and their community. The students were really happy and excited that they had their OWN board to paint and could truly express themselves. During the same class I had the students sketch out ideas of what they would like to paint on worksheets that had silhouettes drawn on. The students established what they wanted to paint on their boards which made them feel accomplished and independent. 

The next class the students walked in and Ms. Molly and I displayed all the boards around the room.  The best behaved students were the first to pick the names out of the bucket.   I laughed so hard to myself when the very first name picked out of the bucket was the female student who absolutely hated this project and encouraged other students to also hate it.  She immediately ran to the biggest/tallest board and wrote her name on it and she was soooooooo happy. As soon as all the students selected their boards and we granted permission to them that they could take the boards back, she was the very first student to start drawing right away.  After a few minutes I walked over to her and told her how impressed I was with her eagerness create her board. She told me that she really liked this project and loved her board. I politely reminded her how she used to hate me and this idea and that now it makes me very happy that she loves this project and that she well, likes me a tad bit more. She laughed, apologized and thanked me for "puttin' up with my att-aa-tuuude."  It was a great bonding moment for the two of us and this entire process has been a phenomenal learning experience for both of us. 

Below are some pictures of what has happened this past week: