I had volunteered to do the Art Vistas lessons for Connor’s class this year, and this time I am sharing the job with two other moms.  Monday was our first lesson, and Connor was as excited as I was.  Shortly after drop off in the morning, the moms and I met up at the cafeteria to set up.  After recess, the kids started marching in with their teacher.  Connor was smiling widely and he gave me a big hug before he sat down on the ground with the class.  Then I quickly got us started.  I gave an introduction and shared with them an overview of elements of art, ie. colors, shapes and lines.  We discussed primary vs. secondary colors, warm vs. cool colors, different shapes and lines.  With the concepts they learned, the two moms reviewed a couple of famous paintings of trains with the kids.  The children were very engaged and eager to answer questions.  Connor raised his hand a lot too.  Next, we moved on to a hands-on project, and I reviewed the steps with the class.  The children used the pre-cut shapes to make a collage of a train and added more details with crayons.  Everyone worked hard, and their artwork was very creative.  Connor used lots of shapes to make his train and I was worried if he would have enough time to glue them down.  While we were giving five more minutes warning, Connor quickly picked up a row of shapes at a time, placed glue on the paper, then returned the shapes back.  He was very efficient.  At the end, we saw some well decorated trains and some creative ways of using different shapes from the class.  The final products were amazing, and the kids seemed to enjoy their time.  The lesson ended in exactly one hour perfectly.  Connor gave me several hugs before he followed the teacher and the class back to their classroom.  The moms and I were happy how well the first lesson turned out.