I can’t believe it. This is Oscar’s last week of kindergarten. I’m feeling kinda sentimental.
After school with friends at Midtown Terrace
Caltrain field trip to San Mateo. Four kindergarten classes assemble in downtown San Francisco, board, ride, and de-board without a hitch! We so rocked that!
(click any of these smalls to see larger)
CAS is Community Arts & Sciences Day. It was a extremely well organized day, run by parent volunteers. I volunteered to be an escort, so I chaperoned a group of 6 kids to different workshops.
First we did a session called “insects” (my favorite, first thing in the am).
Not pictured: a hissing cockroach. Not kidding.
Next our schedule sent us to “Silly Putty” – run by Lucas & Rachel’s dad Robin!
Next was a fun flash mob of dancing, led by the Italian teacher, Barbara
Some older kids were doing fencing, which looked fantastic!
This was an arts ‘n’ crafts workshop, making “Eco Friendly Pins”.
With more than half the stuff made in China, I kept my critical
comments to myself, and enjoyed helping Oscar.
The last scheduled workshop was on the upper yard, with the SF fire dept. I secretly wished we had gotten assigned something that Oscar didn’t know so much about already. But it ended up being hilarious, because Oscar was the know-it-all who answered every question (correctly) and told at least 10 stories. A firefighter in the making.
Last was the Egg Drop, which was great to see. Oscar didn’t make an egg package, but maybe now that he knows the deal, he’ll be excited for one next year.
Its done! Amanda has done a terrific job. We’ll be auctioning this beauty off to raise money for Clarendon. If you want to take the quilt home it might cost you – but you won’t know, unless you come to the Clarendon Auction this Saturday night! And if you’d like a last minute raffle ticket – let me know!
Here’s the way the kids contributed to their quilt:
We started by asking them to draw a tree. Amanda, our art teacher Ellen, and I all agreed that ‘nature’ might be a good theme for the quilt. Beyond the tree, the kids were invited to add other fun natural elements.
The line drawings were done in pencil, on canvas that I taped to cardboard at the suggestion of Ellen. That was genius because then the kids had a flat surface that was easy to work with. Then Amanda and I traced the drawings in Sharpie.
(click to see larger)
In Room 5’s art class, Ellen provided us with some terrific fabric crayons that the kids used to color in their drawings. We limited their color palate in the name area, to attempt a more cohesive look, but also to give them a parameter they had to work within.
(click to see larger)
After this step, I removed all the tape and ironed the squares so that the heat would lock the color in to the fabric.
(click to see larger)
Finally, Amanda took home all of the squares (22!) and began sewing the quilt. She sourced the fabric, cut, battened and sewed it all together. I’ve made a quilt before, with the help of my mom, and let me tell you it is not easy! I think she rocked it:
(front and back)
So come to the auction and bid on this baby!
What a wonderful keepsake of the kid’s first year of school.
Oscar’s kindergarten class studied Vincent Van Gogh last fall.
This little work of art came home at least two months ago, in the backpack, but I am just posting it now. I don’t know how Ellen (the art teacher) had the students go about painting the rooms. I can make an educated guess that they weren’t supposed to copy the room outright. I’ll try and ask her about the process tomorrow.
And, just in case you want to reference the real thing:
The Bedroom (French: La Chambre à coucher)
Beware the steep San Francisco street named Warren Drive!
I didn’t get pumpkin photos because I was busy hoofin’ it back to get my truck, to drive the pumpkins home. The hayride was fun, and the kids were Really cute.
