“I didn’t sleep much last night,” Bargo said. “It was just anticipation.”
She was worried she’d trip over a computer cord, concerned her students wouldn’t have time to get to their first project of the year, and a little burdened by the fact that one of the children might blurt out an inappropriate comment.
Suffice to say, currents were smooth. “I already feel warmed up,” she said after her first class. “This gets the adrenaline going.
“On the first day, they’re just going to take in the environment,” Bargo said. “I just try to keep it simple.”
Bargo had plenty of time to get to her first planned project for her students. The activity, a painting style called “splatter painting,” was based on the work of artist Jackson Pollock. One can imagine how “splatter painting” appealed to a room full of second-graders.
“Maybe we should have used the aprons,” said Bargo, smiling, during a moment of down time.
During her first class, Amanda Principal Candace McIntosh-Dillon stopped in to observe.
“She didn’t get rattled; she kept her cool,” McIntosh-Dillon said. “She brings a nice perspective of art and how much we see it in the real world.
“Many times, the art that kids are exposed to is what they see in the schools,” McIntosh-Dillon added. “If you aren’t looking for it, you’re not going to see it.”
While going over the rules of her classroom, Bargo warned about the “Breather Chair,” where kids may need to go and sit to “take a breather” from time to time.
After that, every set of eyes in the room were locked in her direction.
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