Apple Quilling

Now that the students have their class money (I will explain at Back to School Night), and we have a full class, we are rapidly learning the classroom routines. Last week was a little bumpy behavior-wise, but this week things have been pretty smooth, working on classroom behavior and procedures-it turns out the students do NOT like to pay fines. They like to have their money. Tomorrow the kids get their first chance to spend their hard earned class money, in our class store! The excitement is immense!

Thursday is our art day. We made apple trees! I taught the students about quilling, which involves wrapping paper strips around a pencil, to make it curly. There is a special quilling tool, but pencils work great for little hands.

We glued the curls onto our trees, and ta-da, instant apple trees with cute, 3-D apples!

Oh, and it was picture day today by the way, and this student (Marcus) wore a suit. We referred to him as the "business man" all day. He wanted his jacket to stay buttoned even when he sat, but I explained to him that business men are forever buttoning and unbuttoning their jackets because they are too tight buttoned, while they sit. He was very professional today, and he did a great job on his apple tree, and he looked pretty spiffy too!

These girls are busy at work! Curling and glueing, curling and glueing.

Here's a tree, up close! Isn't it cute? It's such a simple thing to do, and the kids loved it.

A bunch of completed trees. I will hang them up, just in time for Back to School Night on Sept. 20. Raise your hand if you are sick of me reminding you of that big event! I will make a deal with you, you come to Back to School Night, and I will never mention it again (this school year anyway). Seriously though, I really really want to see you that night!

Student quote of the day: "My mom told me that if I have to finish my work on the bench, then I will lose my computer and TV time...so can you not tell her?" I almost had to leave the room because I thought it was so funny. Now parents if you have any guesses of the student who said that, you just keep them to yourself. He and I made a deal that if he could work quickly for the rest of the day, and get ALL of his work done, then his mother never needs to know. And hey, it worked! All work is complete, including his apple tree. The bonus though is that I got a GREAT laugh out of it. I just love little kids.