Week 7

            This week, my group was able to do some exciting  activities. We had the privilege to teach Mrs. Halka's third grade class. We were finally able to do our project with a class. I must say, it was a great success. The project only required our team about ten minutes of preparation time before the class came. The students painted paper that we hot glued onto the bugs. They were also able to draw and cut out their wings that we also glued on for them. The third graders' bugs also got an antennae that they got to add beads to. The kids had fun doing something different, and they turned out great. We also had the great experience of working with the younger kids in the school. Next week Thursday we will be doing our craft with Mrs. VadenBourg's class.  I hope it goes just as well.

            The slide show we showed the third graders was easy for them to understand. They responded well to the questions and seemed to understand the concept of recycling and its importance. We also had the chance in this easy craft to show them how easy and fun recycling can be for them to do at home. We used simple materials that most kids have easy access to. Our hope is that we have influenced them to try to recycle and do more fun crafts at home. Some of the materials that we used for the project were also recycled and reused. We used laminating sheets that were going to be thrown away for the wings. That way they were able to color on the wings and make them fun and creative. 

            As a group, we learned a lot. First of all, we learned that being an art teacher is hard work. Those third graders required a lot of maintenance. I can't imagine how hard it must be to teach so many kids all day long. Secondly, when you are trying to communicate with younger students you must make things easy to understand and comprehend. Another experience we can learn from this project is that encouraging participation and inspiring others can be harder than you think. This was one of our harder challenges. We figured out that the best way to encourage participation was through videos that are short and informative. Now that we are almost at the end of our project, I feel confident that we have met our goal of inspiring others and the next generation to recycle.