Sunday, March 24, 2013

Pinterest: 100, Kelsey: 1


A strange and wonderful thing happened this weekend. I actually made something that appears on Pinterest.

After viewing little stools made from file crates on the blogs of people who actually have it together (here, here, etc), and, more importantly, seeing these stools in action in the classrooms of two of my awesome coworkers, I decided to try to make them.

Something you should know about me: I am not very good at making things.

Something else you should know: I hate, hate, hate asking people to do things for me, especially things that inconvenience them.

I overcame the not being good at making things part of the equation and bought my crates, fabric, and batting to fill the cushions. The hard part was asking someone at Home Depot to cut pieces of wood to the right size for me, because I have an unfortunate lack of power tools in my apartment. Both coworkers assured me that the people who cut their wood had no problem doing it, and one even had it done for free from scraps. So, I sucked it up and headed in with my crate.

Long story short, it took FOREVER, about 7 prototypes, and a very long line of people behind me before the right size piece of wood was created and duplicated for each of my crates. I felt about an inch high. Everyone was super nice about it, but I can't stand to cause anyone any inconvenience at all, so I hated every second of it. I grew up with my dad and grandpa doing woodworking stuff, so next time I will have to save this kind of project for my dad and I to do.

Anyway, in the long run, they didn't come out bad at all! Feel free to experience my creative process below.

My supplies: Crate, hard-won wood, batting, scissors, remnant fabric, tacks, hammer.

Then you kind of awkwardly tack on the fabric and cram the batting in while you watch White Collar


Should end up sort of like that. 

And then put it on the top of the crate!

I had to make a "boy one," of course (Go Dawgs)


The finished set!









The score is still far in the favor of Pinterest, but I think I'm gaining.


P.S. 5/6 of these broke the first day. PINTEREST WITH THE REBOUND!

Monday, March 11, 2013

The Tao of Bubbles

Some blogs contain adorable printables and activities. Some blogs have great lesson ideas and clever organizational strategies. Some provide inspiration to be a better, more creative, more engaging, more technology-using teacher.

My blog may not have these things, but it does have wisdom. It has hard-earned wisdom that I have paid for with my blood, sweat, and tears this year. (Okay, I haven't bled. I've sweated and cried though.) Allow me to lay down a little of the wisdom I gained last week:

Wisdom #1: Class pets will die. This will probably occur riiiight about when most of the students are in love with aforementioned pet.

Wisdom  #2: Every child in your class will have a theory about how the pet died. "T fed it an eraser." "N squeezed it too hard." "C poked it with a pencil." It's better to just say, "Hamsters just don't live that long. It was her time," and ignore these theories.

Wisdom #3: Children expect a respectful burial and funeral for the class pet. Under no circumstances should you suggest that you might throw the dead pet over the fence behind the school before it starts to smell. Never say that.

Wisdom #4: If, for some reason, you DO happen to throw the dead pet over the fence, lie about it to the kids. If you don't, children that you have never spoken to, never even seen, will approach you on your morning duty, at recess, and in the hallway to ask if you REALLY threw the pet over the fence. SAY NO.

Check back with me in ten years or so to see if I am creating instructional resources. Until then, feel free to learn from my mistakes.

Also, please enjoy this video one of my students made of me petting a a turtle and uploaded on MY youtube account, which I apparently left logged in- oops. I guess this means we'll be trying videos for our next project!