Lafayette LOVES Dot Day... Kicking off the School Year Celebrating Creativity and Having the Courage to Make Your Mark!

Dot Day is just around the corner... wwwhhhhaaaatttt????

Here's the inside SCOOP with sprinkles on top!!!

When is it: Every year on Saturday September 15, although Lafayette will celebrate this year on Friday, the 14th. 


What is it?: International Dot Day, a global celebration of creativity, courage and collaboration, began when teacher Terry Shay introduced his classroom to Peter H. Reynolds’ book The Dot on September 15, 2009, and is now celebrated by millions of children around the world. 
Why at Lafayette: What a fabulous way to build community and celebrate the importance of creativity!

What to Wear & DO: On September 14th, wear your dots to show your school you are creative and courageous! Participate in interactive games, bubbles, and art creations throughout the day! Here are a few photos from last year's Dot Day!

Brightening a Plain Space

A work in progress! Last year's 4th graders created flowers for the garden out of clay which I later found out had to be high fired to vitrification to withstand the outside temps and weather! I promised them I would install them someplace INSIDE the school. 

Better late than never... 

As the now 5th graders graduated from Lafayette, their beautiful clay flowers were installed in the 5th grade stairwell in a space that begged for an art piece!

I've been told we need to add butterflies and such to our mural, and perhaps some texture to our foliage and trunks, so this is a work in progress... but wanted to share my relief and excitement at finally having them hanging!!!

Art for the Bear's Garden

What is even better than art in our building? Art in the garden, where the stones and beads catch the sunlight! 

All our first through fifth graders have been working to create an art installation for our Bear's Garden this past year...

Thank you helpers!

Last Friday, in honor of Earth Day, on a delightful sunny day, we began to place our beautiful stepping stones, insert our pollinator poles, and hang our "messages for Lafayette" beads in the fence.

Some of our installation crew, young and old!

 More clay pieces and beads are still to be installed but we are so excited at how alive and sparkly our garden already looks!

Horsing Around as the Project Wound Down

Thank you to Hope Scheller and Don Rutledge and of course Laura Nelms for helping make this project happen!!!

Fifth Grade Parents... St. Paddy's Day is Your Lucky Day!!! Make it Happen at the Auction!

Each year the traditional Lafayette quilt is a labor of love created to raise money for our school at the Lafayette Auction! The lucky high bidder this year will own a unique and priceless memory of their child's time at Lafayette made of the lucky greens in honor of St. Patrick's Day. 

Every 5th grade student has sewn a patch, then interested students worked with parent Don Rutledge and me during their noon hour to machine sew the patches together.

Some of our noontime sewers!

  Finally, we had a quilting bee where the knots were tied to hold the puffy "sandwich" together.

Tying the knots in our quilting bee!!!

 
I took it home for the weekend to bind the edges and brought it back to school for all the 5th graders to sign on the back with silver ink! Don't miss this chance to own this wonderful creation!!!

Plateaus, Valleys, Volcanoes, Oh My!

Landforms were the focus unit in grade 2, 

artist Ted Harrison was our art connection and inspiration! 

Landscape painter Ted Harrison was inspired by his beloved Yukon to create colorful abstract landscapes. Second graders explored all the landforms visible in Ted Harrison's landscapes, discussed the northern lights that he often pays tribute to in his skies, and also the way he uses many values of a color and analogous colors next to each other. 

Ted Harrison's "Walking Alone" 

A selection of student work inspired by Mr. Harrison's landform landscapes

...And our new display! 

Thanks to "Colors of My Day" blogger for the inspiration for this lesson!

Top of the Heap Comes With Benefits!

5th graders earn some definite privileges as the senior students in the building! A popular option for budding artists includes working on the pottery wheel during lunch and recess. Yes, it's messy and I often question my sanity at making this option available, but the students' enthusiasm makes it worthwhile!

Also popular? Working on the computers!

Currently 5th graders are creating digital quilts inspired by code quilts from the Underground Railroad using the Pages program on the Macs. 

Next up? Every 5th grader will be sewing a piece of our own quilt, inspired to be sold at the auction on St. Patty's day so watch out for the lucky greens!!! 

Last year's creation: