I’ve been enjoying my first summer off since high school.  I always took summer classes, or worked, as a college student, and worked at mostly year-round schools.  This was the first year that I was able to just be during the summer, and it is fantastic!

So, what have I been doing?  Well, I have been writing a lot of curriculum for the upcoming school year, but that has been really fun.  I did a lot of reading, I’m almost caught up with my book club, but my stack of comics never seems to get smaller.  I went on vacation to New Hampshire with the mister.  In addition to spending quality time with my parents, we did several day trips to Boston and Maine.  A highlight was a visit to Knight’s Quilt Shop in Maine.  There has also been crafting, lots and lots of crafting.

Art Journal

One of my goals for next year is to do an art lesson at least every other month.  To that end, I downloaded a bunch of art lesson resources and am drafting a year-long curriculum binder for my class.  Since I learn best by doing, I created samples of most of the lessons that I will be teaching starting in the fall.  A great resource is the Art Projects for Kids blog.   I was able to download an elements of art pack along with a pack that covers great artists for $5 each.  All of her projects are available for free, but since she has hundreds of projects, it is easier to buy the packs rather than search through to find what you need.

One of my favorite lessons is the Britto inspired cat, using layered color to add texture:

I’m still adding new samples and lessons to my art journal, and it continues to make me happy each time I work in it!

Inference Rooms

I love miniatures.  I had a dollhouse when I was a child, and was devastated when it was given away.  On a recent trip to Michaels, I found myself in the miniatures section and was drawn to some of the craft themed items.  Next thing I knew, my basket was full of adorable little things that reflected my personality and interest.

I looked at this basket and wondered what to do with all this darling little things, and then it hit me- teaching inferences.  At the start of our reading program, we teach about how to make inferences using evidence from the text.  Last year, I used my purse as a way to concretely teach this concept, but could I use these miniatures instead?  I bought a wooden box that I could use as a diorama, and some good glue, and went home to paint and plan.

Unfortunately, I had bought so many things, that they didn’t all fit in one “room” so I found a little house-shaped shadow box at Target and decided to up the difficulty factor of the lesson.  I sorted the items into two “themes” and created two different rooms.  Will my students be able to infer that both rooms represent my interests?

The yellow room needs a little something more, so I ordered these from Amazon to go on the walls.

This was a really fun project to work on, and I hope that the lesson works!

Stitching

I subscribe to Stitchy Box as a way to get fun threads and fabrics for stitching projects, and every so often they have special kits for sale.  I bought a lovely thread palette kit designed by Keslyns, and have been stitching away at the medallion for the center.  I am almost finished, and can’t wait to finish putting the palette together!

Our guild did a “make and take” at the county fair, so I had a lovely evening chatting with the ladies and making this little fellow:

I still have about two and a half weeks left of summer, so happy crafting!