After a flurry of vacation and setting up my classroom, I had time this weekend for another Monday Made It.
I downloaded a free "Welcome Back!" banner from The Bubbly Blonde's TPT store. I only printed out "Welcome" since it will be the students' first time in my school, and I didn't want to waste paper. Since the the black and white theme really didn't go with my bright colors theme, I used my beloved circle cutter to cut out the circle containing the letter in the middle.
Then I cut out pennants from my theme scrapbook paper. To do this easily, I cut from the top corner to the bottom middle. I did the same thing from the other top corner, leaving me with a pennant shape.
I glued the letter to the pennant. Then, of course, I laminated it. I strung a thick string across my wall, using Command hooks at either end. I used corresponding Mod Podged clothespins to clip the pennants to the line. I plan to keep the line up all year and use it to display students work, holiday banners, or other fun things.
Finally! Milk Crate Seats
Monday, August 6, 2012
- 12 comments
After much procrastination, I finally got around to making my milk crate seats for my classroom. I can't remember the countless places where I got my inspiration for my version, so please let me know if something sounds familiar.
The main problem I had in getting these seats started was finding fabric I liked that went with my theme. I didn't want another pattern clashing with my other projects, but I really didn't want solid color either. Then somewhere along the way, I thought that a plastic tablecloth would be the way to go so I could wipe it off. But it had to be durable enough for fifth graders. So yeah, that was a challenge.
So here's what I did. I used:
Cover with pieces of the shower curtain and staple again.
Attach the 12"x12" particleboard squares to the underside of the seat. My dad screwed mine together for me.
I will be keeping a clipboard (if it fits) and a mini pencil box with pencils and highlighters inside. I considered stapling a pencil pouch to the underside of the seat to hold small supplies, but the mini pencil boxes were cheaper.
In summary, I probably spent $15 per seat, and I'm not sure that I'd do this again. But, they are cute and match my room. Just hope that they don't get destroyed the first week! Pretty sure the first student to poke a hole in them will get a detention. Fair warning...
The main problem I had in getting these seats started was finding fabric I liked that went with my theme. I didn't want another pattern clashing with my other projects, but I really didn't want solid color either. Then somewhere along the way, I thought that a plastic tablecloth would be the way to go so I could wipe it off. But it had to be durable enough for fifth graders. So yeah, that was a challenge.
So here's what I did. I used:
- 12"x12" milk crates from The Container Store (These were much sturdier than the cheap ones from any other store that I saw. The downsides are that they are a little more expensive, though I did get them on sale, and they don't have the inner lip on which to rest the seat.)
- 14"x14" pre-cut pieces of 1" thick foam (I was thinking that I wanted the seats to be 14"x14" because my seats would have to sit on top of the crates. Lo and behold, Hobby Lobby had pre-cut pieces of 14"x14" foam! Score!)
- 14"x14" pieces of wood (I think mine are 1/2" thick. I can't remember. Everything in that aisle at Lowe's was a blur. Overwhelming!! Luckily, the guy at Lowe's cut them to 14"x14" for no additional charge.)
- 12"x12" pieces of particleboard
- clear plastic shower curtain liner or tablecover, cut about 16"x16" each (the thicker, the better)
- fat quarters of fabric (18"x21")
- staple gun with LOTS of staples (Man! These used to freak me out, but I used them a bunch this summer and have gotten over my fear...kind of.)
Cover with pieces of the shower curtain and staple again.
Attach the 12"x12" particleboard squares to the underside of the seat. My dad screwed mine together for me.
I will be keeping a clipboard (if it fits) and a mini pencil box with pencils and highlighters inside. I considered stapling a pencil pouch to the underside of the seat to hold small supplies, but the mini pencil boxes were cheaper.
In summary, I probably spent $15 per seat, and I'm not sure that I'd do this again. But, they are cute and match my room. Just hope that they don't get destroyed the first week! Pretty sure the first student to poke a hole in them will get a detention. Fair warning...
More Projects and Currently
Friday, August 3, 2012
- 10 comments
And another batch of Pinterest-inspired classroom goodies...
This is where it might be helpful to check out the website I referenced for pictures. You start the painting process by making a small pool of paint on the bottom of the pot. After that oozes a little, you squeeze another color into the middle of the previous pool, and so on. My pot was concave on the bottom, so the paint had a hard time getting over the edge. To encourage the paint to go over, I slightly tipped the pots in all directions to get the paint going. The first few colors never made it over the edge, so I added more of those colors once the paint was oozing down the side. You don't need to use as much paint as you think. If you made big pools, then those colors dominate and cover up whatever came before. I found that the finished product was better if I used only a little paint and kept rotating through the colors. Personally, I didn't like how the orange and yellow looked, so if I were to do this again, I would only use dark or light colors together.
Then you let it dry a long time. Like maybe a day or two, just to be safe. Then I remembered that I wanted to use one of the pots for an actual plant and I needed to expose the drain hole. So I took my craft knife and cut around the bottom and peeled off the inner circle of paint. This was the concave area that collected all of the paint anyway, so I was concerned that the area may not totally dry anyway. Problem solved! Then I remembered that since I wanted to put a plant in this one and I was going to use a saucer that I had spray painted white, the paint might do something funky if it was sitting in the drained water. So I used the Mod Podge acrylic sealer to spray it and make it shiny. I have no idea if that will help or not, or if it was even necessary, but I didn't want to take any chances.
- I don't like pens. They are too permanent and too "final."
- I don't like my students to use pens for any assignment, so I just don't like to have them available.
- The flower tape that I used to wrap a test pen was too sticky and bothered the heck out of me.
- The green colored pencil looked like a stem without the stickiness.
And the August Currently from Oh' Boy Fourth Grade...
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