The Holidays are coming... is your shopping done?

It's a busy time of year and many parents are wondering " whatever will I buy my friends and family for the holidays?".  Well, check out
Bancroft's online GIFT SHOP

through artsonia.com to purchase personalized items such as ornaments, mugs, t-shirts, pens, notecards, keychains, and much more with your child's artwork on it!

These make the perfect gifts!  

This site is maintained my Ms. Foy and the students as well as thanks to some wonderful parent volunteers and highlights all the artwork our students are creating.  You can create a parent account with an e-mail so you receive an update every time new art is published by your child.  Family from all over the world can write notes about the artwork to the students and become a member of their "fan club". Now, just wait... I haven't shared the MOST exciting part.... are you ready?!

Artsonia.com  donates 20% of all purchases back to the ART ROOM at our school!!

Through purchasing with artsonia.com you are not only giving someone an amazing gift, but you are also giving your child the gift of the latest art supplies and materials!!! 

And so...... LET YOUR HOLIDAY SHOPPING BEGIN!

**If you do not know your child's ID name/number for the site, please find Ms. Foy, or e-mail her for it at msfoysartroom@gmail.com !!**

       

 

What's New in the Life of Ms. Foy?! DUBLIN !!!!

Meet Dublin! No, not the city! Ms. Foy's dog!!

 A lot of my students ask me about where I live, and when I respond with "in a house", they give me a shocked look as to why I don't live in school, well recently (2.5 weeks ago) Paul and I got a dog!  He's an adorable four year old brittany spaniel named Dublin!  He is a wonderful little furry friend and so far my students have LOVED to learn about him and even see a picture or two.  He is a hunting dog and so he loves to look out the window(as you can see, he thinks he fits on the top of the recliner!). 

He's super fun and hyper and LOVES kids and all people and other dogs. At the end of a fun day at the dog park and walking through Alexandria, he  crashes on the couch!  Hope you enjoyed this little insight into the life of Ms. Foy!   Maybe Dublin will get to visit Bancroft sometime during the PS/PK Pets Tools of the Mind theme.

IPAD MINI in ACTION!

Happy Monday!  Check out this quick update on how students are using the Donors Choose Ipad Mini in the classroom!  We have been using it to upload our artwork to an online gallery called artsonia.com! Check out the process here!

Exploring DC with Earl the Squirrel!

Fall has arrived in Washington, DC and we all know what that means, the dreadful sugar highs of Halloween, a month of multiple 3 day weekends, and of course the beautiful changing colors of the leaves!

I can't express in words how amazing the story pictured to the left is for not only exploring scenes of Washington DC, but also of showing the changing of the leaves.  This project is done with my Pre-K 3's and 4's and they absolutely love it.  

    We start by having Earl the squirrel come out (yup, my old TY Beanie Baby-remember when those were cool?).  We then read the story and throughout look at the different architecture we recognize as well as the colors of the leaves.  After reading the stories we make collages with pre-cut green grass shapes and a brown tree trunk, and students glue scraps of paper as leaves.  The most unique part of this process is looking at what students choose.  At this age color is something students take seriously, or are still very playful with.  Some students will stick to digging out only the yellow, red, and orange scraps to achieve a "true" fall tree collage however some students will end up with purple, gree, blue, pink, and a variety of colors on their trees, and THATS OKAY!

I find that many times as adults, we want students to do the projects exactly as we have planned in our minds, and so to some, purple leaves or magenta leaves are not okay, but for me I love to ask the students about why the leaves are those colors.  You wouldn't imagine the responses of what those colors represent whether it is fruit within the trees, animals, or "ummm, because I like this color.".  It's crucial to let your students and children make their own artistic choices. Let them show their voice and express themselves through their art!