Whew! Year 10 teaching is in the books, and it was a record year. First of all, I don't remember it being this hot for so relentlessly long while in school. Our school carnival was Monday and I was thinking the bouncy castle would fuse onto the scorching pavement. We could have cooked the burgers on the cement. Yuck! I couldn't help but think of the heat advisory that Bloombergito issued while I sat in my rotisserie classroom.
Secondly, I don't remember a year that dragged on as long as this one did. Even having been absent 30 days for my surgery plus a week off due to Sandy, this academic year just would not end.
And, finally, I have to comment on the students. This bunch was far and away the least motivated than any other bunch, Sure, there were many clunkers in years past, and of course there were stand out students this year. But, as a group, they could not be less interested in school. I'm tired of trying heroically to teach those who cannot be bothered to improve themselves. It's really akin to ramming one's head into the wall, and then having an administration Mack truck hit and pin you to said wall. It's painful.
But, now's my favorite part of teaching: vacation! We're whooping it up over here. Now's the season where I get to do all the things I put off during the school year. Of course, two months is never enough time to do everything on the summer to-do list, especially with a healthy dose of amusement parks, barbeques, beaches and pools and swimparks, and all the other summertime fun. Miniatures are on the back burner for a bit. Especially since I have discovered Polyvore.com AND Candy Crush Saga. It's time to chill....
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Thursday, June 13, 2013
School Miniature Project and Christmas in July Update: Celtic Knot Rug
Knot bad for my first try. |
One day, I will make a full scale version of this |
scale, along the lines of the Roost beauty that was a) expensive and b) no longer available. I actually started spiraling twine to make a Roost knockoff, but I abandoned it due to technical difficulties. To complete the mini rug, I followed a pattern from the
Balconies are mostly attached |
Street lamp |
Saturday, June 8, 2013
School Mini Project in High Gear
I did the cutting of the windows and doors, everything else was completed by students. Obviously, the shutters did not go through quality control, since they are of extremely different sizes. |
Still-to-be-completed walkways, fountain and streetlamps, underneath the 7 x 3 = 21 fact family (yes, I teach sixth grade) and an attempt at a fleur de lys. |
The students drew these from artwork printed off the computer. They're charming (the art, not the students - ha ha!) |
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
School Project Starts in Earnest
I'll never look at a broken umbrella the same again. Since the populace in the neighborhood in which I teach is not in the habit of using trashcans nor of sweeping up, there are a lot of little goodies everywhere. One day, I thought I had stumbled across some sort of charger, so I picked it up. Another day, there was a nice little umbrella made with a satiny pink fabric, and thought it would make a wonderful accent pillow, so I grabbed that, as well. During my umbrella deconstruction I realized that the thing I thought was a charger was actually the mechanism for opening and closing an umbrella.
My New Orleans scene in school is in need of streetlamps, so those little circular black things will serve as the base, with a bubble tea straw post and a
Christmas bulb top. I did some sawing and drilling today and hope to create balconies out of those pieces. And from the tops of pencils I've created mini stamps to cut out leaves and fleurs-de-lis to decorate the balconies, which are strawberry baskets cut in half decorated with phone wire. Everything is in pieces and ready to be assembled. I am actually having fun "teaching" now!
Umbrella moving part + Christmas bulb = ? |
Bubble tea straws + |
Pencil eraser holder cutters with the polymer clay shapes they created |
Strawberry basket balconies with phone wire curlicues. |
Sunday, June 2, 2013
The Before Trilogy
Awkwardly sharing a beautiful song in a listening booth |
The romantics knew that this was the how the couple ended up. |
Set in Paris, the saga continues |
Seeing if he dissolves into molecules. Lovely, lovely, lovely. |
Finally, they are a couple. Does this spell trouble? I'm dying to know. |
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