Pinterest saves the day! My ancient clay cutting wire tool broke in the middle of 5th grade clay today.
Fortunately, I had pinned some great DIY clay tool photos from The Teaching Palette.
I made my wire cutter on the fly from Two binder clips and 26 gauge floral
wire (left over from wire sculpture).
Thanks Teaching Palette for a great blog post. And thanks to Pinterest for a quick way to retrieve it.
I finally made a project from a Pinterest pin!
I made the button stamps, originally from the Martha Stewart website. Here is the pin:
Http://Pinterest.com/pin/274367802268427792/
I used buttons on corks. I used hot glue and the held up just fine with the 2nd grade’s free play clay today.
I also made stamps from cork and some small white fired clay decorations. They made a nice texture as well. Thanks Pinterest!
Old school 1979 World Book encyclopedia
Back in the (pre-internet) day…
Parents bought their school-age children an encyclopedia to help with home work/book reports etc. They were a bit pricey, and for some it was a real luxury to have a set on the shelf at home.
My parents bought the 1975 World Book encyclopedia for me and my siblings. In 1975. When we were kids.
They are now essentially worthless. Old sets are donated to thrift shops and libraries all the time.
But you should have a set in the art room!
You see, some things never change. Cats look like cats, the same as they did in 1975. Open the World Book Volume C and you will see tons of breeds of cats on a single page. Kids love this!
Take that volume back to your seat, kid. Draw the Abyssinian cat.
What does a lighthouse look like? Go get Volume L. A skeleton? Volume S. You get the picture.
Sure, I could look them up on the Google images. But I have only one computer, and I have a whole set of World Books.
If you run across a complete set at a thrift shop or garage sale, grab it! Or better yet, let your colleagues/friends/neighbors know you would like a vintage set. Someone in your town is surely cleaning out the attic this weekend.
Photo calendars = Reference photos!
OK…December is here. Now, before all your colleagues go home for winter break….write the following on the lunch room whiteboard:
“Can I please have your old photo calendars?’
All art teachers should have a bunch of reference photos. I can’t tell you how often a kid comes up to me and asks what a coyote/gorilla/panda/dolphin looks like.
Calendars are a great free source of reference photos. Don’t let your friends throw them away! You want 12 months of horses, dogs, dolphins, flowers, etc. You will separate the pages and sort them
A lot of people have art calendars featuring 12 months of Monet, Van Gogh, etc.
You will get a second chance to build your reference photo collection in late January: all the new calendars will go on sale! By February, any leftover photo calendars should be dirt cheap.
