The power of fun art and kind words

Yesterday I taught an art lesson to the second grade class I volunteer at every Thursday. I introduced the kids to Georges Seurat, and his method of painting (pointillism). I tossed in a little bit of geography (France vs. US locations on the globe), a little deductive thinking (I had them look at three examples of Seurat’s work, and try to figure out the common theme amongst all of them), but mostly, I had the kids practice fine motor skills (wrapping and gluing), time management and focus (staying with a project longer than five minutes – literally), and expressing their creativity.

The kids had an absolute blast with the lesson. They love art, but this was unlike anything they had ever done before, and they totally clicked with it. About halfway through the lesson, the classroom teacher walked over to me and said, “Look at them. Every single one of them is smiling. This is what second grade should be; enjoying school.” I nodded in agreement, then grimaced a bit; because I know that even at eight years old, school is a struggle for many of these kids.

Anyway.

So I got home yesterday, went about my day, la la la. Whatev.

This morning I fired up my email – and in drops a note from the second grade teacher. She wrote: “Hi Stef, D was looking for you after you left yesterday. He said, ‘This was the best morning of my life! I really liked doing this art.’ Thanks again.”

Melt my freaking heart.

It’s moments like these that make my soul sing, that keep me moving forward in this thing called life.

Thanks D. Thanks buddy.

Stef

P.S. Later yesterday evening I had a completely different – yet also fun – experience at yoga. I just got a chance to write about it on my yoga blog; you can peruse it here if you’d like. (And if you’d prefer not to, that’s cool. I’m just glad you stopped by here.) : )