Here are some examples of Native American Indian inspired Job Sticks by some 3rd and 4th grade students at Fisher.

Because our time in the Art Room is so precious, we need to follow procedures to help class run smoothly. On the first day of Art I will ask each student to write their name on and decorate a popsicle stick. Each class will store their sticks in a cup. When I need a student helper, I will pull a stick and ask the student to do a job. This procedure also helps me to learn student's names.

The photos to the left are of a stick I decorated several years ago. It is decorated like an American Indian game stick. In class we will be talking about American Indian game sticks, and how our name sticks are like them.

It is always good for us to think about the similarities between the art we make in the art room and art made by an artist or a particular culture. The Iowa Core Curriculum emphasizes how students need to learn about people all around the world. Students need to learn that other cultures are very different from us in some ways, and very similar to us in other ways. By better understanding the nature of people and cultures around the world, when students grow up and graduate, they will be ready for jobs in a global market.

I am so excited that school is about to start for the 2010-2011 year! I will really miss my students from Anson and Hoglan, but I'm thrilled to be returning to Woodbury after 6 years away! I'm also excited about the adventure we're going to have at Fisher this year with all the changes to the building. Learning and creating are about to flourish again!

I'm at the ISEA Summer Conference and Mr. Stansberry gave a presentation about blogs. I decided to visit the blog I started 9 months ago. My hope is to make this into a fun place for my students and their parents to visit. Perhaps this will be a new beginning.