Thursday, March 23, 2017

Earth Day Family Project

Today I am bringing you a fun Family Project for Earth Day. Each year, my grade level gets together to plan this fun event and to get families involved in celebrating Earth Day.

Each kindergarten teacher selects a "theme" for their class' projects; such as robots, ships, transportation, rocket ships, castles or animals. My favorite theme to do is animals.

We send the following letter home to inform our students' parents of the project. Click on the picture to get your copy.


As part of this project, students are expected to create a How-To Book, so that any student could recreate their masterpieces! Attached to the parent letter we use this wonderful FREEBIE from Kristin Kring {You can find it HERE.}.

As an extra activity at school, I had my students separate their animals by the habitats they live in and then create a habitat display for their animals as a group project.

Below are some examples of my students projects.




The last day of school before Earth Day, we have our entire Kindergarten team tour each classroom to see all of the wonderful Recycling, Reusing and Reducing that took place! It is one of my favorite projects each year!

Looking for more Earth Day resources? Check out these BLOG POSTS HERE and these units!
   

   

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

The Magic of a Can of Spray Paint

This past summer we transitioned from living in a townhouse to a single family home. I was beyond excited for the move. One of the things that I was most excited for was finally having the space to display all of my favorite treasures that have been passed on to me from my parents, grandparents and great grandparents.

I searched and searched for furniture that would fit the space. I needed something that would be able to house and display all the special pieces that I had. I just couldn't seem to find what I was looking for, until one day when I happened to find the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. I found a piece that needed some TLC, but with help from my parents and friends, I was able to fix it up!

The piece had mirrors and to me they immediately dated the piece. I came up with a quick, inexpensive solution that I want to share with you.

First, I removed all the mirrors from the piece and cleaned them thoroughly.

For this job I used tape, a quatrefoil design stencil {from Michael's} and Krylon Frosted Glass Finish Spray Paint. Make sure to do this project in a well ventilated open area.


Next, I laid the stencil on top of the mirror and started to spray paint the mirror, moving the stencil as I went until the entire mirror piece was painted. 

*Sorry for the reflection on the mirror!*

Then, I let the mirror dry and reinstalled it into the piece. Here is the outcome!


I hope I inspired you to give a not so pretty piece of furniture a second chance! A little can of paint can go a long way! :)