Time is Running Out!

Do you want a Perkins' School t-shirt?  If so, you'd better get on it.  Your order form and $14 have to be in the main office by this Thursday. (ps--that's tomorrow!) 

Don't lose this opportunity to have a new shirt for the summer and to help the Perkins School fund their art supplies for next year.

Want a Perkins' T-shirt?

Yup, here is your chance to have your very own Perkins' t-shirt.  It's sort, it's cool, and it helps fund the Perkins' art programs for next year.  

If you can print out this order form, you're all set.  Otherwise you can see more information at the Rightside site or contact them directly.

The People have Spoken!

Well, we have our three winners.

If you haven't been following the t-shirt design story, the Perkins School is working with Rightside Shirts to make t-shirts as a way to raise money for well needed art supplies.  All the kids who wanted to, made a piece of art that could possibly be put on the shirts. 

Last week, the kids voted for their favorite designs.  And here they are...

Or, at least here are the artists showing the winning numbers of the designs that were used to conceal their identities.  

Click on any picture to make it larger.

And now, introducing the decorations for our new t-shirts with their makers!  Pick your favorites, ladies and gentlemen, the order forms will be available soon. 

Voting Day: May the Best Designs Win

As mentioned before, Thursday was Voting Day for the Perkins School.  The whole student body was deciding which three of the nine finalists should be the designs put onto our Perkins t-shirts.  Here are our candidates:

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As you can see, each picture has a number.  That number is an easy way for a student to designate which is his or her favorite choice. It also covers the artist's name so people will vote for the design and not the person who made it.  The three drawings that get the most votes will be the winners.

Learning to vote in privacy so you can keep your choices secret (if you want to) is a little confusing at first.

The kids eventually got the hang of it.

A few kindergartens needed a hand, though, when their favorite picture was labeled with the hardest number to write!

Fold up your ballot when you put it into the box and no one knows how you voted.  That's one of the privileges of our democracy.

Some people didn't mind revealing their choices.  And, that's okay too.  

One first grader announced, "I liked number two."  Then a classmate got angry for a moment, saying, "You copied me!"  Sometimes it takes a while to realize it's good for people to be on your side when you're voting for something.

These kids all went for #5.  "I liked it because it was so creative," remarked one of them.  That unattached hand to the right of the picture is pointing to #7.  That was her choice.  Why?  "I love the earth," she answered.

So many kids, so many opinions.  What designs will win.  Come back Monday to find out.

And the T-shirt Finalists Are...

As you know, the Perkins School is having t-shirts made as a way to raise money for well needed art supplies.  All the kids who wanted to, made a piece of art that could possibly be put on the t-shirts.  If you go back to our posts from last week, you can read all about it.

Rightside Shirts has selected nine designs for us to vote on.  The top three will be offered for sale with the profits being donated for next year's art supplies.

HERE ARE THE FINALISTS...

If you can't get a good look at them from this perspective, a couple of our kids also offered to present them to you.

Start the debates.  Think about your favorites.  The vote for the winners will be tomorrow!!!

A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words

Our last post showed you some of the great designs Perkins kids created for our t-shirt art supply fundraising project.  Of course, there were many, many more, but we couldn't put them all on the blog.  Admiring them would take up your entire day.

We did, however, want to give today's space to some artwork devoted to a special subject.  Several students decided to use their drawings to reflect upon a subject that has been on all of our minds--sad thoughts, but also a celebration of our friends, families and city.  

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ART IS...

 Art is...fun.  inspiring.  creative.  fundraising??

Click on pictures to make them larger.

The Perkins School has embarked on a project with Rightside Shirts.  This young nonprofit company raises money for youth art education by selling t-shirts designed by students.  One hundred percent (that's right, 100%) of the profits are given back to the school to fund art programs and supplies. 

The whole process starts with all our kids drawing or painting or sketching anything they want to.  Here are just a few examples of our kids' contributions.

Jeff and Dylan, the co-founders of Rightside, come to collect the art.  Then they have a hard job as well.  They select five to ten drawings from all these masterpieces as possible candidates for the three(?) to be printed on the t-shirts.  

Normally they would just pick those three themselves.  

We, however, do things the Perkins Way.  

We taught our kindergarteners the basics of democracy by having them vote to name the crane that helped build Phase One of Old Colony.  We reinforced the lesson for Ms. Murphy's second graders when they learned how to campaign, vote, and win or lose gracefully while deciding their class pet.  Now, Leo the leopard gecko is beloved by all.

This time we will have a school-wide election.  We will vote to select which designs will appear on our t-shirts.  Democracy at work.

 Once the t-shirts are made, Perkins kids and our community will be able to buy them for $14, with the profits of that sale feeding our budget for next year's art supplies.

Jeff and Dylan will also decide if one of those designs will go onto the Rightside web site (www.rightsideshirts.org) to be sold to the world!  Again those profits would come back to the Perkins to fund art.

What's going to happen?

Which designs will be voted on?

Stay tuned.

Writing a First Book

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First graders have questions.  They also are learning ways to get answers.  Each student in Ms. Hicks' class picked an animal they were interested in.  They read about it, decided what was important to report and wrote it up.
  

 

 They made covers for their work.

 

Then they presented their findings, complete with illustration.

Pick a topic, research it, organize the information, write a draft or two to make it better.  That's the same thing every writer should do--from a first grader up to a National Book Award winner.

 

  

Good work, kids.  Remember, a lot of professional authors don't even do their own illustrations!  

Who's YOUR Favorite Bunny?

Ms. Smith's kindergarten class has gone bunny crazy.  (There are worse things!)  They have been reading many stories about...that's right...bunnies. With all these rabbits hopping around in their heads, the class decided to put it to a vote.  Each child chose his or her favorite bunny. 

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Here is a sample ballot.  Below, you will find some of the kids' choices and their explanations for them.

Many bunnies, many kids, many choices.  We guess that there's a rabbit for everyone.

Eating Our Way to Health

Mrs. B, our gym and wellness teacher, is on a roll.  Boston Bikes, track team, pedometers AND another essential part of wellness--nutrition.  After all, it's not just moving your body that makes it healthy; it's what you put in it as well.

Mrs. B signed up for a program offered by University of Massachusetts Extension Nutrition Education Program.  As a result, Ms. Carole, a Nutrition Educator, came to the Perkins.  She spoke to all the kids about the magic in food and the need to eat right.  Protein, grains, vegetables, beans, seeds and nuts, dairy, fruit--these foods that are good for you are called "everyday foods," she told them. Treats are fine too, but in much smaller amounts.

To remind the kids of the foods they should eat most of (and in what proportions or amounts), Ms. Carole gave each student in every grade a picture to color.   

All too often drawings and pictures get thrown away, even when they contain important information.  

Not this time. Mrs. B made sure that every one of those pictures were laminated.  That means it was covered by plastic so it wouldn't bend too easily and would stay clean.  In fact, it became the perfect placemat for lunchtime.  Now the kids have a daily reminder of the foods that will make them healthy--and, keep them that way.