Summer Fun Crafting ~ Making Our Own Wands

I meant for this blog to be about teaching. Well, mostly about recording some of the activities that are taking place in my classroom. But, it's summer time, and I am home with my three children. I am spending some time connecting (following) other teachers on twitter and researching ideas to use in my own classroom. But, I am also thoroughly enjoying some quality time with my children. Yesterday morning I surprised them with a fun activity. Being fans of Harry Potter, I told them we were going to make wands! You would think these were real wands if you were listening to their reaction of whooping and hollering.

We made a quick trip to the local Hobby Lobby store to purchase some more acrylic paints and a replacement glue gun. It was a fairly easy task that didn't involve too many supplies and I had some pretty happy kids! The end result yielded us some pretty cool wands, some realistic looking ones, and a couple of nontraditional (colorful) ones.

If you would also like to make some Harry Potter wands, watch this video or read these instructions. Good luck!

Class Picture

I found this idea on Pinterest by photographer Christine Kay. Here is a link to her original idea. I knew I had to do it as soon as I saw it. What a great and unique way to remember the students in my homeroom this year. I sent it to the parents of my "kids," and they loved it too.

I am no photographer, so mine does not look as good as the original, but I was happy with the outcome. It took some guess and test, but I ended up making a collage of the pictures on a document. I filled in the background as black and kept the pictures a little apart, so it looks like a thin border between the pictures.

Memory Pages

I find it's always a little more difficult to keep students engaged those very last few class periods in the school year. I find myself searching for something that will keep the natives from getting too restless. At our school, students had to return their much loved ipads and some (or most) were beginning to think that summer had already begun. This year I ended up creating my own worksheet, a memory page for them to keep as a record of our year together. It turned out to be a pretty successful win-win situation for everyone. I was happy that they took their time to write down their favorites, funny moments, and even a "shining star" moment. Students were happy to chat with friends, reminisce about the year, and just decorate their page when they were done writing.

Here is a picture of Emily and her finished page. See my Teachers Pay Teachers store page if you would like to download and use the page too.