Christmas Time is Here

So Christmas time is in full-swing by my standards! I'd just thought I'd share a few of the activities that I do that make it Christmas time to me!

The first is the Miller-Scott banquet at Johnson, which is our annual Christmas dinner at school where the professors and staff serve us dinner, everyone gets dressed up, and then we go to a show put on by the professors, which is usually hilarious. 

Here is the table I sat with!

My sweet friend Maria

And here's my fella!

This always makes me feel like it's Christmas time at school! Along with the end of school, comes finals, but after that it's break! Which means Christmas is definitely getting closer!

Another thing I love about Christmas is Christmas music, and the past two years Chad and I have enjoyed Christmas music by going to Dave Barnes's "A Very Merry Christmas." This year, Chad and I bought each other VIP tickets to go meet Dave Barnes, and get 3rd row seats! It was such a fun night!

We met Dave Barnes on our way into the auditorium! 

 the stage looked so great

Dave played a song to just the VIP people before everyone else entered the auditorium. Super fun!

 And then the actual show, which was phenomenal with so many super talented special guests!

My current Christmas music playlist includes "Let it snow, let it Reindeer" by Relient K, the Peanuts' Christmas, "A Very Merry Christmas" by Dave Barnes, the Beach Boy's Christmas album, the Michael Buble' Christmas album, and I've also included the Mumford and Sons new album "Bable" to remember the Advent and the story of God's people leading up to his birth and the fulfillment of prophecies! I've enjoyed listening to music in a different way this year to remember the story of God bringing his people back to him through the birth of his Son on this earth! What an incredible story that no one but God himself could have ever orchestrated! 

I now have almost all my Christmas shopping and wrapping done, mom and I have decided on a Christmas day menu, and we are ready to spend time with family and friends to celebrate our Lord's birth! 

I hope you have a very merry Christmas and I hope you remember the story of that baby in a stable who became the Savior of the World! Merry Christmas! 

-Liv

Door Decorating with Buddy the Elf

So my roommate and I decided to have a little Christmas fun! We're having a door decorating contest, and decided to use Buddy the Elf! Although it's not perfect, we had a blast! We just covered the door with wrapping paper (which looked super cute all alone!) Then we cut out the costume (making sure it would fit with our dry-erase board). We printed off a large picture of Buddy's face and added a hat! We added cotton balls to his costume and voila'!





Merry Christmas!
-Liv

Turkey Time in PreSchool

Hello friends!
So, I know it's a little late, but here is what I did for preschool art the week before Thanksgiving! The theme that day was turkey's, and there are TONS of turkey crafts out there! This one, I found out, the kids LOVED! And it was super easy!

Tie-Dye Turkey Craft

Materials:
- Coffee Filters
- Markers 
- Construction paper
- glue
- water sprayer
- small bucket or container (but big enough to sit the filter in)

Directions:
1. Let the students (or you can ahead of time) cut out the turkey body, and draw or glue on a beak and eyes
2. let the students color on the coffee filter. Encourage them to fill the whole filter with color
3. Place the filter in a bucket or other container
4. Have the student spray water all over the filter. The colors will begin to blend together
5. Let the filter dry! (Or the colors will bleed through the construction paper)
6. After it is completely dry, glue on the turkey body and you'r finished!

Happy Crafting!
-Liv

Knitting at Grandmas

    So recently I have been to grandma's for Thanksgiving, which means there was plenty of free time for crafting! I sucessfully knitted an infinity scarf and then created a head piece / ear cover. I loved the way they turned out, and others did too! So I got some more yarn and I'm thinking about selling them for about $10.
If you want to make your own, I would not be very good at explaining how to do it, but here's a link to the sites that I used as a general guideline (I did not follow them exactly) I used a thick yarn and a size K crochet needle. I also did less rows (width wise) so that it fit my little head better!

http://daperfectmix.blogspot.com/2010/10/easy-head-warmer-pattern.html (for the head piece)
http://heidibearscreative.blogspot.com/2011/04/knitting-and-crochet-blog-week-day-5.html (for the rose which isn't shown)

This is a picture of the two I have made so far, for my mom and I. I have added a cream rose to mine, but do not have a picture of it currently :)

If you'd like one, or have any questions just leave a comment :)
-Liv

Gifted:Nature or Nurture Survey Overview

For a project for my Gifted class, EDUC 4064,  I had a few people, mostly teachers, teacher education students, and parents take a survey on giftedness, and whether it was based on nature or nurture. I made a Wordle for the responses of the people who voted nurture, and one for the people who voted for nature.There are the key words used by the people's explanation for each side of the argument.
for nurture my results were...

For nature, my results were...

I made a chart of the results as well, which can help see how many teachers, students, and parents believe in nature or nurture. 

Overall, this survey has taught me many things. In many people who voted for nurture, they talked about how Giftedness came from the persons nature, but if it was not nurtured or encouraged it would not progress. I do feel like giftedness comes from a persons nature, and true giftedness cannot come about without this nature and genetic make-up, like many of the nature people stated. I do feel like giftedness should be encouraged, and many teachers stated that they did not feel like the school system did enough for these students. Many people who voted for nurture also discussed that they felt like the growth of a child would not continue if it wasn't encouraged, so the lack of encouragement at school could be a problem for gifted students today. Many also mentioned that giftedness should be encouraged in the home, and I totally agree with this! If the child who has the nature of being gifted is nurtured, then I feel like the child can reach their fill potential as a truely gifted individual. 

I am glad I got to do this report, because it was interesting to see different people's responses to giftedness! 

Olivia Morris

11/13/2012

EDUC 4064

Fuller

Assignment 10.1

Canvas Art -- Lyrics & Letters

So today was Chad and I's anniversary of three years dating. Not a super huge deal, like three years of marriage, but we're gettin there! For Christmas this past year, he wrote and recorded me 3 songs, and I have been trying to figure out something clever to do with the lyrics for a while now. I've seen the posts on pinterest of using sticker letters, putting them on a picture, painting over them and peeling them off and it inspired me! I decided to use his song lyrics, all of which are written in the background, as a theme for this little anniversary craft. You could totally do this with your best friends favorite song, your wedding song, words in your child's favorite children's book, anything! I am no professional artist, I just enjoy doing crafty things :) 

Here's my little attempt at a step by step.

Materials:
- 16x8 canvas (or any size)
- acrylic paint
- paint brushes (I used mainly "fat" brushes)
- 2" (or any size) letter stickers (I got mine at Hobby Lobby)
- a Sharpie (I used black)

(1) , I painted the background of a 16x8 canvas. I blended the red and yellow acrylic paint colors to create this ombre sort of look. (any design works!) 

I did not make the edges perfect, because when the painting is all done you will not be able to tell the difference! 









(2) Next, after letting this dry over night (or however long it takes), I used a regular black sharpie and carefully wrote out the lyrics to the song he had written on the canvas. 

Even though it doesn't seem to show up well here in the darker red areas, when it is completed it sticks out much more! (And the picture makes it look dark)








(3) The third step I did was, after making sure the Sharpie was done drying so that it wouldn't smear, I stuck 2" (ish) letter stickers on the canvas in the order of the words "Something about you" - the main line in the song. 

The easiest way I did this was by cutting out the letter stickers before taking the back off so I could lay it all out and make sure I liked how it looked! I also added, with smaller letters, the date of our anniversary in the bottom right corner. 

(4) Next I painted over the letters with a darker paint then I used on the bottom coat. I painted the edges this same dark color as well, using a more fat brush. 




(5) After the paint has completely dried (so that you don't get smudges), I peeled all the letters off creating my final project! :) 

My letters look a little smudgy because my letter stickers did not stick very well! Next time, I will test my stickers and make sure they stick better, so that I can get a smoother line around the letters' edges. 


But there you have it! Simple Enough! 
 If I can do it -- YOU can do it!



Happy Crafting!
 ~Liv

Firefighter Preschool Art

Last Thursday, I was teaching art in the preschool and they were learning about fire safety! I decided to make a hand-print craft that was turned into 5 cute little fire men on a fire truck! With the help of the die cut machine, I created 20 sets of cutout heads, hats, and ladders (which were actually made from a xylophone die cut :) ) This one turned out GREAT! All I added to the picture was tires and the water hose, but you could even cut out the tires and let them glue it on! All the kids could do it, ages 3-5! 

Pumpkin Party!

So on Monday my hall had a pumpkin party, which means... we make anything and everything that has to do with pumpkins! I decided to make pumpkin cookies! I'm sure someone has discovered this before, but it was a super easy dessert and it tasted absolutely delicious! All I used was a Betty Crocker Pumpkin Spice Cookie mix, followed the direction, and put Pillsbury cream cheese icing on the top! Super simple, cheap, and delicious! Easy peasy for a college student living in a dorm room, who don't have all the things you have in a home! 

Here they are! Not perfect by any means, but delicious all the same!

Welcome to Blogging... Again!

Hello Blogger World!
     I have a previous blog (which I can now no longer access for some reason) but I wanted to make a new one for all my little ideas that I create. Whether it be food, do-dads for the room, or just crafts and ideas for my preschool teaching and elementary tutoring. Every teacher-ed student should have a blog, that way they can remember all their ideas in the future :) Many ideas I get have come from Pinterest, and I will give ownership to others where it belongs :) enjoy!
   -Liv