I love Open House. But I hate the it represents the end to a great year. Here is a snap shot of my room! What a night...

Apologies in advance for spelling and grammar errors. I'm typing via iPhone on the road! In fact... Most of this blog was created on my iPhone during a road trip. :)

I'm not a fan of the "Open House Bootcamp" approach to the night- you know- a frantic month of project making to ooh and aaw over- Art on steroids. We all know a teacher or two who does it. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with it- the product is amazing!! It's just not my style....


My class is in charge of Open H
ouse- they decide what they want up and where- they even make mini commercials explaining each section of the room. With 5 days left to go, the room is looking good- but today they decided there wasn't enough science stuff saved over the year to display.

Science experiments are not easy to keep hidden away in a file for 6 months, so this little project is a year in review of sorts- Science experiments in room 15.

Each of the four panels displays one experiment- I had the kids brainstorm experiments from Earth Science, Life Science, and Physical Science. They were instructed to choose one from each- the 4th panel is free choice.

After writing a short paragraph explaining the experiment and what was learned, they illustrated it- in 3d! The art piece was 100% kid - and I love it. The writing piece makes it more academic. And it's a twofer- writing skills and science review! Who could ask for anything more?

I only took a few pictures and missed some of my favorites (one kid made a series curcuit out of paper so realistic that other kids asked where he got the miniature battery from) but- these get the point across.

These are all works in progress but- I think it gives a good picture of where this is going.

Keeping up with a blog this time of year has proven to be difficult. I wanted to do a quick post on my latest class project! More to come later.... Perhaps tomorrow via my iPhone mid-road trip.

A rough draft. (Shown above)

Final Drafts!

I usually pair this activity with a quick lesson related to Japan, show some authentic Japanese Art, and of course teach the kids some basic Japanese!