Green Crafts/Back to the Land

Here are some excellent books I recently borrowed from my local library. They are perfect for eco-minded kids, parents, teachers, and crafters.

This is the Bible of hands-on green activism for kids - and it's not preachy. I'm going to buy a copy. Flipping through the book I see numerous lesson plans in the making. Visit their web site at http://www.50simplekids.com

The text is engaging and accessible for junior readers.

Here's one of the most charming books I've come across in a long time. I found this book at the S. Walter Stewart library mixed within the craft books. It's not so much a craft book as a handy craft book. The author is English and she pretty much treats the book as a reference to making things you need when living out in the country. This would be my dream.
The book is from the early eighties and has the beautiful pre-amalgamation cardinal EY Library book stamp on the cover page. It all seems so quaint now.
The author is clearly a back-to-the-lander and her family looks earthy.
In the book, you learn how to work with twigs and branches to create everything from walking sticks, to bow and arrows.

A necklace and a rustic birdhouse.

A pretty girl covered in flowers.

The pictures are stunning. Here is a table used to press flowers.

Of course, the author teaches you how to make your own flower press.

What a wonderful scene: homemade preserves and good bread in front of a roaring fire.
Here's another great bookL The crafter culture book. This does not have such an eco bent, but there are still some great ideas inside. Some of them involve materials that can come from repurposed objects.

This sweet bird mobile is on my must-make list. I may run another craft club this year for the older students and attempt to make this.
Here's a surprisingly funky top made out of a pillowcase. If I ever get to teach kindergarten, that will be me: wearing a pillowcase and strumming on an old banjo. "Hey kids, let's sing about trees!"
ReadyMade takes its title from surrealist Marcel Duchamp's belief that everything can be beautiful. This book definitely has an eco-slant and makes the bold proclamation that it will teach you to make everything. Well, just about.
These cool picture frames were made from discarded hardcover books. The pages were stripped, and mylar and photos installed.

Empty tubes used for magazine storage.

Another great idea: self-publishing. Hey, I'm doing that! At least three kids in my class have their own blogs (I'm talking about ten-year-olds here). I hope to link their blogs to our classroom blog. My goal is to move away from the standard paper projects and move into more electronic text creations and using reclaimed materials for projects.

Ancient Egypt

In Social Studies we're learning about Ancient Egypt. This week students in my class made their own papyrus by soaking strips of cheap yellow paper in a flour and water mixture. They overlapped strips horizontally and then vertically.

They figured out what they wanted to say in English and then tried to find the Egyptian hieroglyphs. They did a rough copy and then transferred it to the papyrus in pencil.

They then went over the pencil using India ink and food colouring. In the past, I've let the kids make their own colouring by crushing berries, but that adds a lot of extra time and mess to the activity. The colours are not as bold either.
This student used some silver paint. The pieces were terrific in the end. I'll try to take a picture of our bulletin board when the artwork is up. This activity was super cheap and packed with learning. I hope to have the students mummify fruit in January.

Wringing Hands or Turning Pages?

In these times of belt-tightening and cuts, many classrooms don't have as many books for the classroom as they should. We have tons of books in our classroom because I've been snapping them up at yard sales, rummage sales, thrift stores, using Scholastic bonus coupons to buy new books, buying withdrawn books from libraries, and buying new books just because I think the kids will enjoy them. There is a school of thought that says you should not spend a penny on your classroom out of your own pocket. I don't subscribe to this point of view.

Yes, in an ideal world schools would be swimming in money and classrooms would be brimming with books. That day is not likely going to come. More realistically, a portion of the school's budget could go to classroom libraries each year and over time, book collections could be built up. Until then, teachers can still do a lot to create a text-rich classroom. It doesn't cost much and it's a lot of fun. You just never know what you'll find.

At a church rummage sale this morning, I found this retro Choose Your Own Adventure book (above).
Here's my classroom stash from today's rummage sale. In the picture, you'll find two brand new Monica Hughes books, some creepy tales which Grade 5s love, and a book by award-winning author Andre Alexis called Ingrid and the Wolf. The books cost me about $5.00 for the lot.

Here are mosques we made in our classroom for Eid. The French kindergarten class had made similar ones, but I made it harder by asking the class to trace the mosque using a half template and a Mira. The shape was a little tricky to sketch, but most of the kids got it.

Make No Bones About It

As part of our Human Organ System study in Science, we've been investigating the skeleton. The children became fascinated with bone marrow and I've followed their lead and devised experiments and hands-on activities to learn more about bone marrow and bone health.

Yesterday the students created models of bones using white salt dough (for the compact bone), thin dish-washing sponge (for the cancellous or spongy bone), and salt dough coloured with red food colouring for the bone marrow.
The children made diagrams of bones last week and this helped them create authentic models. It cost approximately $8.00 for twenty-nine children to make these models. They'll mount them on reused styrofoam trays next week and label the parts next with stickers and yarn. I think I would remember the parts of a bone better if I actually made one, versus filling out a worksheet.

My JK Son's Family Tree

My little boy started Junior Kindergarten this year. I love his classroom and his teacher is part of a fantastic group of educators who team teach in a big pod. Here is his family tree that was on display. I love how he included the cats.

Best,

Erin

The Cheap Teacher

Here are some recently acquired goodies for the class that cost little, or nothing.

I garbage picked (or is that repurposed?) this tea tray today. It was at someone's curb, with a "Free Stuff" sign on it.
It turns out to be a primo quality St. Michael tray from Marks and Sparks. I'll use it for plants in my classroom. It's a slightly gaudy creation from the seventies - but then again, so am I.
I finally got my classroom library fully organized this year, but I was lamenting the lack of biographical and autobiographical books. Look what I scooped up at the St. Luke's Anglican book sale: a book about Anne Frank, a biography about Dr. Seuss, and Roald Dahl's autobiography for kids. I'll be reading them all. Three for $1.00. Not bad.
I'm not sure if the content of these S.E. Hinton classics is too mature for my Grade 5s, but I had to buy them. What gorgeous editions. When I was 11 or 12, my sister, Lise took me to see The Outsiders at the movie theatre. My mom flipped out when she found out. Not quite E.T.
This book looked interesting. I'm not familiar with this series, but I will read it. It's a shame that so many teachers wait until African Heritage month to discuss issues connected to slavery.

"Cell"-abration

Yesterday our class made models of the human cell using salt dough.

I gave the students beans and licorice, buttons, rice, and string and let them go to town. Next week we'll mount them on foam trays and label the parts.

I had forgotten I had this tin in my room. I bought it at an estate sale a couple of years ago for next to nothing.

In the tin was another tin.

I found shells and vintage buttons.

Many of the kids used buttons to represent the nucleus.

After school at Value Village, I found some amazing books for the class, including books on ancient Egypt, prehistoric people, an Art Attack book of crafts and Tomson Highway's Dragonfly Kites. If you buy four books at Value Village, you get the fifth free. It's always worth having a hunt for books at this store.

Dragonfly Kites is part of of series. I've also read Caribou Song, which was wonderful. I read Dragonfly Kites to my son last night and we both enjoyed it. The illustrations are wonderful too.

This book is a dual-language book (English and Cree).

I found this Chinese Fish at Value Village for $2.99. It will bring colour and cheer to our classroom.