This last week was the first week back to lessons from summer break and I decided to hold a Fall Kickoff.  This was the first time doing this and I LOVED it!  It was a great way to ease back into a schedule for both the students and I.  Here is the flyer I sent to parents to give you an idea of what Fall Kickoff is all about…   2011 Fall Studio Kickoff

At the Fall Kickoff students shared their practice prop projects that they worked on over their summer break.  This was a huge success!  In the past I usually did a practice incentive called Jammin’ In July where they kept track of their practicing minutes, etc… and then if they got the mystery minute (minimum of what I wanted to see) they would be invited to an ice cream social.  That was always fun but I wanted to try something different this year.  And once again inspired by one of Phillip Johnston’s articles from PracticeSpot.com to have students build a project when they practiced.  So I thought we would try it out.  This is now my new favorite and I wanted to share with you some of the projects students did.  Pretty much anything went!

I had students that built things adding one thing at a time to their project each time they practiced or accomplished a practice goal.  Clay projects, lego’s, friendship bracelet, felt family (little details like individual clothes) and even a hand model!

I had students create drawings, scrapbooks and a composition adding little details to their creation as they practiced or accomplished a practice goal.

It was so much fun to see the projects.   Some were very basic and others you can tell really took a lot of time and effort into their project.  I will definitely be doing this again!