Fine Motor Friday: Giraffe Edition

FINE MOTOR Leads to FINE ARTS!!! 

Part 21: The Giraffe Edition! 

FRIDAY!!! Oh, Happy FRIDAY, FRIENDS!!! 

From a bubble wrap print (always a classic: open-ended + ubber successful strategy) to a preschool 'thank you' card following my recent Author Illustrator school visit..... let's really stick our necks out and s-t-r-e-t-c-h!

Yes folks, G is for Giraffe.......... and "Tall Giraffe -- makes me laugh." 
Those six syllables are the crux of the lyrics for my song, which morphed into a traditional picture book. So I 'see' giraffes in my travels. Sometimes the giraffes have been loving crafted in anticipation of my arrival and sometimes they are just there in the general mix and hubbub. In any case. They do indeed 'make me laugh.' Let's start with the littles and move our way up to the bigs. 

Each of these painted giraffe projects were created in the preschool setting -- in anticipation of my arrival. Notice that each are created by allowing the child to 'stamp' the spots into place. From Michigan to northern OH, these creatures have been cut out by staff members so that the young hands can focus on applying the spots. Then the finishing touches are added. 

Each of these 'stamping' projects were activities in programs serving children with special needs. There's a LOT of fine motor control necessary to hold a crayon and ultimately a pencil to write one's name. Activities such as this give a lot of 'bang' for your fine motor buck. There's a LOT of immediate gratification with the stamp process. Motivational in nature. Theme based. Attractive on a jungle bulletin board!!

Imagine my excitement -- arriving at St. Paul Catholic School for our annual end of the year Author Illustrator school visit in kindergarten. This A.MAZ.ING bulletin board was outside the k-rooms in the public hallway. The students have traced around their shoe to create the giraffe head and around their arm to create the neck. How clever is that?

I just checked Wikipedia and they suggest that there are several terms to be used for a group of giraffes. You have your choice of herd, corps or tower when referring to the group traveling together. This herd of giraffe become quite three dimensional emerging from their home in the tall towering trees. LUV LUV LUV it!!

Take a closer look at these individual pieces! Even within a 'craftivity' such as this, I hope that you can see how there is such a range of interpretation and expression on each face. Details that each student brings to their work make a novel completed project. Again, the lyrics of my song (the text of my picture book) begin with, "Tall giraffe -- makes me laugh." That is the 'haunting refrain' that concludes each of the cumulative verses.  

By the time I've gotten these collages together, there's not a whole lot of 'Friday' left in this week's Fine Motor Frolic. I think that I'll save the older elementary kiddos work for another installment. You'll have the "Giraffes Can't Dance" response to look forward to PLUS giraffe style masks. 

Tonight's sunset is calling my name. Remember to always let the children see YOU in the process of writing!!

In order to support fine motor development in children, we need to give them the time and opportunity to 'write.' What better way to do that than having them keep a journal? A treasured keepsake at the end of their school year, a document of their experiences and thinking plus a commemorative document of their progress: win, win, WIN!! 

Here's the 'tag' to the first 20 installments of Fine Motor Friday. Just click right here!!  There's a couple of installments that have made it into the TOP 10 list over there in the left hand column! WHOOP WHOOOP!!

If you're looking for even MORE giraffes, I have a Pinterest board with a couple hundred more ideas -- awaiting your investigation! LUV the coloring page housed over there!! I'm now up to 18,000 P followers!! Yup. It's the one social media that I 'get.' 

Have a great weekend everyone. Come back on Sunday to see the article I've been compiling for the last three weeks. It's a hum-dinger! If I do say so myself. 

-- Debbie --

Ready for the Contest??

We're getting closer & closer to my big, first ever blog HOP!!! My fellow educators have now received their copy of my INDIE award-winning book and are in the midst of writing their thoughts to share with you & the wider world of blog readers. I will have the super post up here on Thurs morning, at the latest. Together we will be selecting 11 lucky 'winners' to receive a signed copy of my "Red, White and Blue" picture book. There will be all sorts of ways to enter: posting comments, tweeting notices, following my blog thru FB networked blogs -- you name it.


I also have recruited a school counselor and she is writing a blog post from her unique perspective and training. I have asked her to weigh in on how we can be helpful to our students, our children and others during this time of observation of the 10th anniversary of the historic event of September 11th. You'll want to read her insightful comments, I'm sure.

Meanwhile. Don't you just LOVE this bulletin board display? It is truly the most amazing compliment and support to walk into a school building and find an artistic response from the students to my work, to my picture book hangin in the hallway for the whole building to appreciate. This awesome display was my morning greeting for my end-of-the-year ANNUAL visit in Westerville, OH with some of my favorite K-Klasses on earth! None of us could remember exactly, but we think this was either my 6th or 7th year to make my GCAC Artist in the Schools visit to this pair of inspiring teachers and their eager ones.

Since I've had a track record of returning year after year we all know how to work well together. The students are already familiar with my books & songs before I walk in the door! So I get to be the diva, rock-star author-lady, that they've been waiting to meet all year long!!! (Click here for suggestions on setting up a successful author visit.)

What's even more incredible is that these Buckeye kids were using the marble painting method to create their fireworks display, when two states to the west in Illinois, Carie was having her kindergarten kids use marble-painting as the methodology to create their collosal community quilt. Great minds think alike!!! How small world is that??

Kinder-Kut Ups

Who has more fun than I get to have? I nominate my days for consideration in the-very-best-day-of school category. These early birds are being attentive to my requests and following my directions, responding to poetic instructions given in awesome action alliteration, creating choreography to storytelling simplicity.

Happy Hand Highlights

While I'm still walking on air from the recent announcement of my first national book award, I thought this would be a great segway to go back in time again and finish some end-of-the-year spring posts from my various author/illustrator visits to schools. I love walking into an elementary school building to find awesome art projects prominently displayed on the walls. Those graphic hands were created by the mature artists in the building. I love the way these hands of my kindergartners reflect the artwork above!!

On this particular day I had been called to work with the kindergarten students. I like to see their hands at work through our time together. I focus on engaging the students with as many senses as possible..... keeping them engaged as we sing and read and sign and act and march and read and jump and sing and read and sign. This earlier post I discuss the advantages of crossing the midline at length. I love these smiles, caught in the act of strengthing the connection between the hemispheres of their brains!!

Click here for my post on suggestions to arrange an author visit.

Successful Author Visit

In my quest to provide helpful insight to educators everywhere, I thought I'd take the time to reverse engineer a fantastically successful author visit I made to an elementary school thru Greater Columbus Arts Council's Artist in the Schools program, that took place as the year drew to its close this spring. Consider this my second installment of directions:

DEBBIE'S DOZEN DIRECTIONS: Author Visit!!

1. Consider stream-lining the 'Author" visit thru the school librarian. The librarian is likely to work with all the grades in the building. A happy alternative might be to have the Art teacher take the helm for the same reason. My suggestion is to choose a 'teacher' who interacts with all of the students in the building, someone who has a vested interest in the day going well for the 'most' students possible.

2. Schedule your visit with the author or illustrator (or author/illustrator) with sufficient time that your designated 'all-building' person has ample time to introduce the visiting author's work to the widest cross section of classrooms and grades as is reasonably possible.

3. Reach all financial arrangements ahead of time and in writing. Don't be afraid to ask for clarification of details. Be certain to address travel expenses where appropriate and communicate all details ahead of time so that everyone is on the same page and in total agreement. Communicate if there is to be an invoice from the author & to whom it is to be addressed specifically.
3.a. Communicate how and when the payment will transpire.
3.b. Make certain that all paperwork is in order for a timely payment to unfold.
3.c. Double check how the physical check should be made out and communicate when it will be available.
3.d. Communicate all financial plans to necessary school district personnel for final approval.

4. Communicate to your guest-author the specifics of the visit day's schedule with clarity. The length of the presenter's program and the grades to be included in each program spelled out, at the minimum. (It's always helpful to make the author aware of any classes with acute special needs or other such concerns.) Communicate to teachers what their role during the program will entail.

5. Communicate to your guest author the specifics of the setting of the visit. If at all humanly possible have the author remain in one setting for the duration of the day and bring the students to that one spot. (Be certain to communicate with the PE teacher -- if you are taking over their gym for the day, or whom ever you are displacing from their space.)

6. Print out a schedule of the day for all school personnel ahead of time. (This allows the custodial staff, office secretary and every other building specialist to be aware and recognize if there are any flies in the ointment ahead of time and resolve such issues in advance.)

7. Consider how lunch time is to be handled and have a clear plan. Some authors may like to have 'quiet time' away from conversations, others may appreciate visiting with students in the school cafeteria, others might enjoy chicken salad from Panera, hand delivered by the librarian's sister. My advice? Have a plan. A teacher pot-luck is always a winning concept.

8. Consider making the author's work available to the student body. How will this be handled? An order form sent home ahead of time with orders tabulated and the proper number of books brought to the site already signed and on hand is a win/win/win. If individual books are to be personalized allow time in the day for this task to unfold.

9. Communicate regarding any specific needs from the author as it relates to the size of the audience. What sort of microphone/speaker system is available? Is there need for a screen/darkened space for the sharing of slides? Have a tech crew ready for smooth set up.

10. Consider how long it takes to get your audience into and out of the gym/auditorium and build ample transition time into the schedule so as not to lose valuable program time.

11. Consider how students can funnel their questions to the guest-author. Possibilities include having questions written ahead of time and funneled thru the host-teacher to the author or having the classroom teacher 'work' with students regarding the asking of questions or a third alternative is having the author make individual classroom 'visits' following a large group assembly to ask questions in a more intimate setting. How does your author like to handle questions from the students? Devise a plan.

12. Extra credit for the host-coordinator who has the insight to get the visiting author's name onto the outdoor/public school sign. Great PR ++bonus ++ for the neighborhood to know that exciting things are taking place in the building. BIG smile-maker for the author to be greeted upon arrival with their name-up-in-lights. [YES!!! That's me, just before the dog walk and way ahead of sunglasses day!!]

TOTAL Bonus #13. If your author mentions in an email that they are now a total diva & returning from Europe just to make your school visit, mentioning having missed peanut M&Ms while across the pond....... surprise them with a happy canister to show you care.

**********Oh yeah!!! And if you have an 'author's wall' in your library remember to invite your guest author/illustrator to add their John Hancock and line drawings to those that have come before. Have no fear, your students will remind you if this is your first time in the saddle and you attempt to forget -- so sit back and relax!

Mirth & More @ Maryland

That first picture above is such a fascination to me. What you see are four different versions of the same image: all 'impresions of my book, "You're Wonderful!" First there's the original quilt in the young girl's hands that I designed and sewed from fabric, the printed version on paper -- in the actual book in the boy's hands. Then there's a pixel-ated version on the computer screen of the laptop from a digital capture and the fourth version is the one projected from the laptop onto the SmartBoard. I wish that the projected version was captured more clearly in the photograph..... but you get the idea. Hmmmm. Does the photograph of the whole configuration make it officially a fifth version?



I love getting to come to kindergarten for their 100 day party as their guest author/illustrator. We always sing my song "100 Days" that I wrote & recorded specifically for just such an occasion. We channel our inner Elvis and count by 5's for the chorus, which is always the favorite part of the song. "One hundred days, one hundred days: we've been learning, one hundred days!"  This little dittie of mine is from my fifth recording, 'Debbie's Ditties 5: Jump, Jam, Jive!'


Here's the art that's out in the hallway to announce the amazing day. These were done at home, under the supervision of the parents watchful eyes and counting direction.

I'm guessing that there was a lot of parent interaction on the sketch of the building. The marshmallow clumps look amazingly like the reality. Pretty monochromatic & a tad bit bleak.

Love me some kindergartners. Love me some kindergarten teachers! Love me some Artist-in-the-Schools hug time. Till next year!


While I was out in the hallway taking pictures of art I just had to capture this one of the older students tessellations. It would be the perfect project to create after singing my "Pattern Song."

Editor's Note: A year later, a new celebration of the 100th day. A year later, we have the tidal wave of Pinterest!!! I've pinned these images so maybe you 'found' me as a result.

Here are the links to a mini-series on 100th Day ideas from 2012.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Here's the link to my Pinterest collection of all things 100 DAYS!

***By the way, I have a song by that name, written just for this monumental occasion.

It's on my fifth CD: "Debbie's Ditties 5: Jump, Jam, Jive"

 

Moving on to Maryland Ave.

Another return to another site of previous fun. I think this might be annual visit number five in a row for me, maybe six. I have always had the greatest time with these kindergartners and their teachers and now that we've moved to the library 'classroom' I've gotten addicted to using their Smart Board. So cute that the kiddos 'taught' me how to advance my power point slides, by touching the screen itself. Love when the k-kiddos are more tech savvy than this grandma! LOL. Seems that this is the first February visit that I've made to their building, where I haven't had to slog thru the snow with my gear. Funny, the specifics that linger in my memory.

Concluding K Chorus!!

One more hurrah!! Wacky Wednesday winds down: WONDERFUL well wishes of wonderment & wiggles........ wheeeeeeioioioioio!! Until next year. We think that this may have been my tenth or twelfth year in a row. None of us thought to keep track in the beginning. So much fun. These teachers have seen me grow up over the years. Adding recordings, then my first book, then the DVD, and a second picture book & now the newest: "Red, White and Blue!"