The Great Outdoors in the Art Room

Living and Teaching in a small town in Northern Wisconsin is perfect for me.  I am an avid outdoors man and love hiking, hunting, and fishing.  Most of the students in this area also enjoy these things and have grown up doing them, which has slowly had an impact on my class.  We talk about animals and the outdoors a lot, so I thought I would bring in a few strange animals that I had.  I brought in a stuffed armadillo and a pheasant mount and within a week had students bringing me all kinds of interesting an odd animal related things.  I have a buffalo and cow skull, multiple deer skulls and antlers, a snapping turtle shell, two alligator heads, and all sorts of cool weird things that my students have brought in for me to display.  It works out really well for still life drawings :)  I also started an outdoor picture board in my room.  I told students that they can bring me any picture (photo or drawing) that has to do with the outdoors or nature and I would hang it up.  We have tons of cool photos of fish, ducks, geese, deer, bears, and camping adventures.  The students love checking out all the other kids pictures.  Turned out to be quite a success.