Where has the summer gone???!!! (Summer Program Week 1)

Um...staff development days next week on Tuesday and Wednesday...start of the school year on Thursday??  I know a lot of you are already back to school, but up here in New York, we wait until after Labor Day to start.  I have been meaning to post about the four weeks of summer program I worked at school in July, but in typical fashion as it seems once you have a child, it gets pushed aside!  My goal now is to do four posts about what we accomplished in July for art projects so that I can post my back to school pictures and such next week!

So here we go:

Week one of the summer program had record attendance.  I believe we had about 26 students ranging from grades 4-7 attend the first week, therefore the projects I started with were pretty basic and simple.

For the first two days, we made signs.  I purchased these blank signs from Oriental Trading.  I showed the students how to trace and cut out the shape of the sign on scrapbook paper, and then how to Mod Podge it onto the sign.  A few students also used the fancy duct tape to decorate their signs.  We used various ribbons, buttons and flowers to embellish them.  I also looked up how to make chalkboard paint (because mysteriously, my can of chalkboard paint disappeared from my elementary room...hmmm).  I took a poll for colors and mixed chalkboard paint using acrylic and grout (the kind without sand).

Of course, the zebra print with Camille written on it was mine!  It matches her room! ;)

The second project we completed during the first week were these mini trays.  Again, these were purchased through Oriental Trading.  On the first day, the students painted them and then laid out a pattern with mosaic pieces to grout on the inside.  A few students opted to do chalkboard paint again instead of the mosaics, or painted the backside with the chalkboard paint and then mosaic-ed the inside.  I used a standard indoor grout that I had in my cupboards and then these mosaic pieces from Nasco.  On the second day, we mixed the grout and put the pieces into place!