This last week was a wee bit stressful.
There was a fire drill on Tuesday during my favorite Pre-K class.
We had Family Picnic for Pre-K through second grade on Wednesday. I was off campus for the morning taking a chosen few fourth graders to the Orange Show on an Art-A-Peel field trip. The kids had a wonderful time learning about mosaics. Urban Harvest provided help and herbs and the kids made small planters that will look great for Mother's Day. I came back in time for lunch and then spent the afternoon supervising third and fourth graders in the cafeteria.
Thursday was supposed to be Family Picnic for the third through fifth grades, but it was postponed due to bad weather. The park next door to the school was full of standing water and appeared to be somewhat between a bog and a pond. The date was changed until this Tuesday, May 8.
Thursday was also the day to turn in artwork for the Spring Art Exhibition. I managed to have everything matted and ready to go, complete with release f0rms from parents among other paperwork. I raced over and dropped the art off after school.
A quick stop by the house and I headed over to the Museum of Fine Arts for the Houston Art Educators' Town Art Meeting. This just happened to be the last week of the Metropolitan Museum of Art show and the Chronicle had run an article about the show that morning. Thursdays the museum is open late and admission to the permanent collection is free, so you can guess what a madhouse that was. Traffic was bumper to bumper with folks trying to get to the museum in addition to the usual rush hour chaos. The parking lot across the street was full and marked off due to a church event. The parking garage was full. I headed over to park about two blocks away near the Holocaust Museum. Rain, slick Houston clay on the sidewalks and puddles not to mention the bumper to bumper traffic made my walk the museum seem longer than it actually was. The meeting was worth the trip. Twenty-eight art teachers, including yours truly, unwound by creating collages in altered books.
Thursday and Friday one of the other specialist teachers (I prefer specialist to ancillary) was out. Substitutes are as rare as hen's teeth in my school district, so the rest of us got extra classes both days.
Friday was Cinco de Mayo at school.
For the good news, one of my students won a scholarship to the Glassell Junior School of the Museum of Fine Arts. I sent word out and his parents took him to the sketching competition at the sculpture garden. His mom came by on Thursday morning and thanked me. That's a pretty rare event and it certainly made my week. This kid really deserved the scholarship. He is incredible.
I brought home paperwork and had the best of intentions to get some of it done over the weekend, but I rested instead.
All I can do right now is place one foot ahead of the other and keep on trudging. One day at a time this last three weeks will end before I have the chance to really take it all in.
This morning I got news via e-mail that there is another opportunity to display student artwork next week, a last minute moment to show off what my kids can do.
This week should be fun. Tuesday is Family Picnic and Saturday is the Austin High School Feeder Pattern Fine Arts Festival. The Vanguard Program is at the end of this week, so I never know who is actually coming to art and who is off rehearsing. I can definitely use the time to put some order to the chaos of finishing off the year, but it is stressful not knowing what is up from moment to moment.
To top it all off, I'm thinking about riding on a friend's art car in the Art Car Parade on Saturday. Hurray for Art Cars!
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