long may she wave

I tried something this week I've never done in my 12 year teaching career. . .paper mache. I'll admit it, I'm afraid of arts and crafts when it comes to 2nd graders. I couldn't bring myself to do it alone. So my trusty artsy-fartsy friend Davina, a now retired teacher who was right next door at my old school, came as a guest art teacher this week. Our 2nd grade history book is all about patriotic stuff. We study the holidays, the songs, the symbols, etc. She has made these with her class the last 15 years. I always thought this was the coolest art project ever. I wanted to make one myself, but I was always busy teaching my own class when they were getting crafty over there. So I invited her to come to my room this year. She came to lead me through the baby steps of making these flags. It all starts with wallpaper paste and paper bags. The paper bag gets trimmed to an appropriate size. (Don't ask. . .I can't remember.) The rest of the bag is cut into long strips. Two layers of strips get pasted to the bag. Then in order to dry in that fancy-schmancy flag rippling in the breeze sort of way, an empty paper towel roll is placed underneath and the bottom right corner gets flipped up like it's curling and pinned to the floor to dry overnight. Then she left her very cool templates for the stripes and the circle of stars (which we'll add using Q-Tips).

This week we were all about the pasting and the (acrylic) painting. Boy, my kids are directionally challenged when it comes to painting stripes as you may soon notice. This is how far we've gotten. . .

We have to add the stars, then it gets a spray coat of sealer. When that's dry, then we get to muddy it up with some brownish paint so it looks old and tattered. Finally we'll add a piece of twine for a hanger. I'll be sure to post the final finished project. And then you'll be thinking, "Gee. . . that is so cool. I wish I had Mrs. Bergland for my 2nd grade teacher!!!"