WaPo on Ficker

This is a very cool WaPo story on my good friend and uberheckler Robin Ficker... read it here. 

This is the man who brought the art of heckling to an art! (and that's why he's being discussed in an art blog!)... I call his art movement Hecklerism!

Go Robin!

Good bye Big E!

Tomorrow a powerful and storied gray lady of the sea, USS Enterprise (the real one, not the Star Trek one of the future) will retire after multiple decades of service.

Fair winds and following seas!

 

Spiderman will be at Aqua next week

This is "BERNABE MENDEZ from the State of Guerrero works as a professional window cleaner in New York. He sends 500 dollars a month" from the amazing Dulce Pinzon's Superheros series. This piece and several others from that series will be part of the "Superheros and Super Villains" exhibition at Aqua Art Fair in Miami Beach next week - room 116!

Heading down to Miami Beach

Here's the gallery van all packed up and ready to head South to Miami Beach for the Aqua Art Fair during next week's Art Basel week in Miami.

First of all, I'm glad that someone else is driving that puppy and second, you can't even fit a pin in that van!

As usual, I'll be reporting daily from the fairs; we leave on Saturday!

Yellow Brick Road Social Skills

“Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore!”

 
Learning social skills can feel like the journey to the Emerald City. Join Dorothy and her friends on the yellow brick road and practice a variety of social skills. Yellow Brick Road Social Skills is a packet for social skills in children preschool-middle school. 

Although The Wizard of Oz, is a familiar story for us, many of my student's weren't familiar it.

I got this version of the story to read with my students from Amazon. It's not exactly the same (silver slippers!?), but combined with YouTube clips, it gave my students enough schema about the story to make the unit meaningful.

I made the packet really broad so that I can adapt it and make it work for most of my caseload.

 I included a parent letter, encouraging carryover and support. 

Use this reference poster in your room to refer to the skills discussed during other activities. 

 YouTube links for short clips associated with the activities in the packet are included. 

Good witch/wicked witch: 27 cards, homework sheet, sorting mats, blanks. Rate statements as kind or unkind and then sort them onto the appropriate picture of Glinda the Good Witch or the Wicked Witch of the West.

Cowardly Lion:  36 cards, 9 special cards, sorting mats, homework page.  “Expected”/”Unexpected” behaviors. Read each scene and behavior. Determine if that behavior is expected or unexpected for that scenario.

Dorothy Perspective Taking:  27 cards, 9 special cards, student mat, homework page. Read the scenes and statements then determine what other people might perceive from the experience.

Tin Man: Be Flexible: 27 cards, sorting mats, 9 special cards, homework sheet.  Think about compromise or stepping into uncomfortable situations.

Scarecrow Sarcasm:  36 cards, 9 special cards, sorting mats: Identify sentences as sarcastic or not.

 Emerald City: 27 cards, 9 special cards, game board. Skills with friends game, just add game markers.

 Toto Conversation Starters: 18 conversation starters related to the story. 

Blank cards are included throughout each activity.

You can find this activity in my TPT store. Please leave feedback if you grab it! 

I'll send a freebie version to the first three people to leave a comment below! Thanks!

Wanda Jackson reviews "Under The Influence"

The Sentinel's Wanda Jackson pops in with a nice review of the "Under The Influence" show that I recently curated for Prince George's County. See the review here.

A nice surprise is also coming to some of the selected artists: The county is going to buy several of the works for the PG County Art Collection... names later!

Opportunity for Artists

BlackRock Center for the Arts Call to Artists 2014
BlackRock Center For the Arts is accepting entries for exhibits January - December 2014. You can download the prospectus by clicking the link to the right or go to www.blackrockcenter.org Deadline:  Friday, December 21, 2012 Entry Fee: $35 check or money order made payable to BlackRock Center for the Arts Eligibility: Open to all artists 18 years and over residing in  Maryland, Virginia, and Washington DC.  Special Consideration: Artists who are willing to conduct a lecture or workshop for a BlackRock standard fee will receive special consideration during the selection process.     About the Gallery BlackRock Center for the Arts gallery is 1500 square feet of gallery space.  Its high white walls and beautiful windows allows in just the right amount of natural light. We take pride in the outstanding artists we have exhibited over the years, which have been reviewed by Claudia Rousseau, Lenny Campello, and other art critics in the area. Eligibility The Call to Artists is open to all artists residing in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC over the age of 18 for original artwork only. All work must be ready for sale and to be presented in a professional manner to the public at the time of delivery. (See Terms for Exhibit for details.) Pedestals are available for three-dimensional work. Selection Process This call will cover exhibits in the Gallery from January to December 2014. An exhibit may include one applicant or a combination of applicants, based on the judgment of jurors (i.e., 1 or 2 wall artists may be combined with a pedestal artist). A jury will select the artists and create eight exhibits to be included in the exhibit year. This season, the jury panel is comprised of Lenny Campello (artist, writer, blogger), Marsha Staiger (artist, Torpedo Factory), and Tim Tate (artist, Washington Glass School). In addition, the panel will have an alternate juror, Krista Bradley (Executive Director of BlackRock).	CLICK HERE FOR PROSPECTUS Send to: BlackRock Center for the Arts Call to Artist 12901 Town Commons Drive Germantown, MD 20874 Questions? Contact: Kim Marshall Gallery Manager kmarshall@blackrockcenter.org All correspondance by e-mail, no phone calls please.

Superman will be at Aqua next week

This is a detail of "Superman" by the very talented NYC artist Carla Goldberg. This brilliant mixed media sculpture will be part of the "Superheros and Super Villains" exhibition at Aqua Art Fair in Miami Beach next week - room 116!

Winter Activities {Round Up}

I'm so happy to have many new followers. I wanted to take you back and give a round up post of all the SRN winter and holiday posts in one spot! 

Use the links below to find over 22 different activities for speech and language intervention! Speech therapy ideas are included in each post, so catch up on anything you might have missed! 

Elf on a Shelf

Snowflake Synonyms

Menorah Conjunctions

Preschool Christmas Trees

Tree Synonyms

Winter Inferencing

Christmas Packets

Multisyllabic Snowball Game {FREEBIE}

Winter Packets (Part 1)

Winter Packets (Part 2)

Hot Chocolate Activities {with freebie}

Snowball Verb Tense

Follow the links to catch up on all my winter and holiday activities for speech therapy!