Chapter One, My Charmed Caribbean Life...

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Owls and Fans

For the past couple of weeks the little kids (grades kinder, 1st, 2nd & 3rd) at the school have been making paper fans and cutting and gluing owls in art class. Here are some results. The kids love both of these projects and approach each class with enthusiasm so we have loads of fun.

we made fans with crayon colored paper, glue and popsicle sticks

here is the fan partially folded out...

voila! her is the fan completely folded out into a circle--they loved this! this young girl is a 4th grader who came by after school and saw what the littler kids were making and wanted to make her own fan--so I gave her the materials and this was her result,

Next we made owls using only circles and triangles cut from colored paper and glue...the little kids needed many reminders to not use too much glue (and oh! how I wished I had some glue sticks, but instead I have a whole gallon of Elmer's glue;-) but they had fun making these and were very proud of their results. The second and third graders cut out their own circles for the eyes--practice with scissors! but for the 1st and kinders I cut out all the pieces and just had them glue.

I love how she added eyelashes!

All in all ---it was a very good, fun, and creative week in the St Luke's Primary art classroom. I never pictured myself as an art teacher and so I am happy to discover how much I enjoy teaching the children here on Dominica Island arts and crafts. I guess I never realized just how much I have learned over the years by just being creative---thank you Peace Corps for putting me in a place where I am passing on what I have learned...without having to get that art ed degree I would need in the US to teach art.

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Back to School!!!

Some of the things I love about St Luke's Primary here in Point Michel on Dominica are
 the colorful fun murals all over the school's  outdoor walls and the landscaping and planters everywhere. I spent some time today snapping some photos of some of the murals and other scenes around the school...

old tires painted and used for a planter...

map of Dominica on the courtyard

flowers everywhere...

the historic Cathedral is at the center of the school

more tire planters on the walkway to my art classroom...

I like that this mural about water cycles has the faucets as part of it...

 

so true...and none are wasted here at St. Luke's where each child is valued and encouraged....

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Making Paper Beads at Camp Glow

Yesterday I spent the day with some fellow PCVs at Camp Glow--a week long residential leadership camp for girls funded by a Peace Corps grant. I did crafts with the girls and we had fun creating beads from paper. We used old magazines and glue.....

First cut some long skinny triangles..

then roll the triangles...

add a bit of glue..

Here is fellow Peace Corps Volunteer Carrie with her bead all wrapped and glued--we wrapped them around a pencil or pen...then just slid the bead off...

and before you know it, you have a lovely strand of beads...

The craft activities were interspersed between sessions lead by PCVs on relationships, setting goals, and conflict resolution (led by a guest speaker). I am giving a big hand clapping for Carrie who organized and is directing the camp--a big job which she has done superbly.

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More Summer Camp Fun!

Today I taught some of the older kids how to crochet and we also made friendship bracelets from yarn. The younger children just braided (or plaited as they say on Dominica) their bracelets, while the older girls used the more difficult knotting technique I taught them. All the girls here are experts at braiding since they learn at a young age to braid their hair elaborately so they picked up everything I taught them quickly.

hard art work crocheting

plaiting (or braiding) a bracelet, while my friend crochets...

showing her how to crochet

She's a real expert at friendship bracelets now....

showing off her handiwork...

I didn't even need to show him how...

Hey! I can crochet!

the kids liked these activities so much we will be doing more of this tomorrow....

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Summer Camp Fun!

Today at the summer camp we created owls from toilet paper tubes and markers----simple materials---and a very easy fun project. When I first showed the kids how to do this--I got the usual "I can't draw, Miss" remarks. I just said, "You can draw a circle and a triangle, can't you? look--- that is all this is!" So then they just went ahead and started drawing, and they were very pleased with their results---aren't these cute??

I took some nice photos of the children hard at "work" being creative...

and here are a few of them showing off their owls.....

All in all.....it was a fun morning. and we ended up with a big group of owls with plenty of personality....

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