our first chandelier and last class project

I am no artist.

I do appreciate art.

And I want my kidlets to know about art,  think like artists and create.

I want our classroom to be full of art  to inpire the kidlets and that they have created.

One of the projects that has been rattling around in my head is a a Reggio inspired chandelier.  I am inspired by the chandeliers that Sally from Fairy Dust Teaching shared.  And this fabulously amazing chandelier I saw in a restaurant (that makes to-die-for rum punches) on a tiny Caribbean island.

I wanted to make a hanging work of art that would become part of the classroom. A last project that we would do together. A bit of history left in the classroom.

With one week of school left before summer holidays, I decided that if it was going to happen this year, it had to happen right away.

After wondering how I was going to get five year old fingers to work with florists wire, deciding that I did not want to use pipe cleaners, wondering where I was going to get a bunch of cool beads that would not break the bank,  I figured it out.

Scrapbook paper, hemp string and wooden beads - all leftover from previous projects.

The kidlets drew their self portrait with a black marker on 2" white squares.

They chose a piece of coloured hemp string and put some beads on it. 

A piece of scrapbook paper was chosen as a backing.  

The self portraits were hung on a piece of drift wood that I hung in our window.

While, on a macro level, I am pleased with this project (and the kidlets are pleased with their stamp on the room), there are some adjustments that I want to make.

I want to bring the driftwood home during the summer and spray paint the hooks something that is not gold and shiny.  A couple hooks fell out; time for the cordless drill and a bit of glue.

We will have to talk about where we will hang the driftwood next year when the new kidlets come to kindergarten.  Where will we find it's permanent home?

A permanent reminder of a year well lived.