art class

I enjoy Wednesdays. It's my volunteer day and I feel purposeful. Last week I taught the 2nd graders to make Baklava. Eliza was the only one who knew what it was, including the teacher. They loved painting the phyllo dough with butter and claimed they even liked to eat it raw. In Max's class I try to sings songs associated with the letter of the week. Today was M week so we learned the "itsy bitsy monkey" (he climbed the coconut tree instead of the spout). In 5th grade we are studying the post impressionist painters. We did Seurat last week resulting in beautiful pointilistic pictures. Today I took in a tub of chocolate pudding and we learned about the textured art of Van Gogh. The kids loved it and the painting were so cool. When I showed them the self portrait Van Gogh did, one of the boys asked why the artist painted himself with a green face. Thus followed an amazing discussion about Van Gogh's mental state. One student hypothesized that Van Gogh painted his body to match the background to show that his body was normal, but that his mind, which really sticks out, was the ill part. Another student suggested that he was trying to tell his audience that he could blend in with everyone else, that he was normal. They all agreed that a green face communicated illness and unhappiness. Absolutely none of our lesson will be on the state standardized test.

I'm not trying to toot my own horn here, I just remembered today the joy of teaching. I wonder if it is time for me to go back to work?