Acceptance Affirmations

Each month Waitsfield School will focus on a different Social and Emotional Learning theme. This month's theme is ACCEPTANCE. After talking about what it means to accept yourself and accept others, students chose their own "Acceptance Affirmation" to write and paint on a puzzle piece.

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#gradesfiveandsix wrote their #acceptance #affirmations to share with the school for our monthly school-wide #socialemotionallearning theme #weallfittogether @waitsfieldschool

A post shared by Nora (@artclass_allday) on Oct 8, 2019 at 11:02am PDT

We are ALL Wonders!

Waitsfield students have become very familiar with the book Wonder, by R.J. Palacio.  We discussed the themes in this book, including not judging others by their appearances and being kind to all people.  We drew self portraits in the style of the book cover that show our inner character traits, which may not be visible from the outside. 

We are ALL Wonders! 

Fall tree cooperative paintings

First and second graders worked in groups to create these colorful fall trees. We talked about the importance of working together, sharing the materials and making sure that everyone participates. These skills are even more important than the final products that we create. 

Developing your Character Strengths

(Click on the image to enlarge the Periodic Table of Character Strengths)

*What are five character strengths of yours?

*Who do you admire and why?

*Before you act, think: Does this reflect this who I am and who I want to be?

Go to letitripple.org to learn more about character strengths

Elmer the elephant

Kindergarten artists read "Elmer," by David McKee.  This is a classic story about a patchwork elephant who wishes he were like all of the other elephants.  He learns to celebrate and appreciate his differences.  

Kindergarten artists used cut painted paper to create their patchwork Elmer elephants.  We also painted large Elmers as a group. 

"With My Own Two Hands..."

Check out this video of Ben Harper singing "With My Own Two Hands."


What can you do with your own two hand to make our world a better place?  Each of us has the ability to make small differences that change our world.

First and second graders watched Ben Harper sing "With My Own Two Hands," then talked about ways that they can make a difference in their world.  They also learned to sing this song in music class and will be performing it at our school concert this week.

The Snowy Day group mural

Kindergarten artists read "The Snowy Day," by Ezra Jack Keats.  We identified all of the snow activities in the book. 

They worked together to create this beautiful snow mural using white and silver paint.  

As always, we place a huge importance on practicing social skills in art class, such as sharing and cooperation, in addition to honing our art skills.  This type of lesson is great for both.  

Hopefully our snow art will inspire our winter weather to bring on some fluffy, white powder! 

Kindergarten Stations

In kindergarten art class we explored different types of art materials at stations. We used construction paper crayons, dot markers, white boards and free draw with markers. In addition to improving our art skills, we are practicing working together, listening and following directions and caring for our art materials.

Building Citizenship

I believe that it is essential for our schools to prepare students to be engaged and active citizens. We are lucky enough to live in a tightly-knit community that thrives on community involvement and strong support for our neighbors. One of the main focal points of our art program is guiding students toward active citizenship. Check out this great article about ways to promote community involvement. Are there any items on this list that your family already has done?  

Click here to read about the Building Blocks of Citizenship

Kindergarten Rainbow Fish

Kindergartners read "The Rainbow Fish," by Marcus Pfister.  This is a classic children's book about sharing and friendship.  They used oil pastels, watercolor paints and shiny papers to create Rainbow Fish.