DIY Crayons- the Suzy way

Hi! So you're interested in DIY Crayons? Or maybe what specifically makes mine different? Or maybe you're not really interested at all... Regardless, here we go!

I'm an elementary school teacher and have plenty of teeny crayon pieces that I'd like to put to good use. AND I love my crazy sister and wanted to help her with making party favors for my nephews' birthday party. So, it ended up becoming a DIY crayon project to serve both purposes.

I'll summarize the main points now so you don't HAVE to look through my weird pictures and read ALL my babbling. Every DIY crayon tutorial I found had the same basic steps so, to make things simpler, there are really just 2 things different about mine--

*I'm an energy-saving slacker*
I wanted to make the crayons WITHOUT an oven. Most blogs say that melting the crayons (in the oven) 'really smells'. Ok. Although that sounds fun, let's figure out something else. Also, it was about 80 degrees  today and I didn't want to use the oven especially when we get FULL sun on our deck. (I won't include the photo of my sunburn to prove it...). I just put the crayons in a muffin pan in the hot HOT sun.

*My moment of genius!*
As I was trying to unwrap a million crayons and thinking of the best way to take the wrappers off... I finally found a better option than a knife, scissors, fingernails...  A kitchen mandoline!! Just setting the cheap slicer I had to the thinnest setting, I easily sliced just a bit of the crayon wrapper off and made it SO much easier to unwrap the mass of crayons.

For more complete directions, read on....

You'll need:
Crayons (new or old, broken or dull)
Muffin pan (a mini muffin pan might be better!)
Some kind of oil (I used vegetable)
Mandoline / slicer
I also had containers for unpeeled crayons, peeled and wrappers.

1. Oil up the pan.
2. Peel crayons- using fingers, knife (doesn't sound safe to me though), or a slicer, like I did!
3. Place crayons in pan in color-coordinated groups, or however you'd like.
4. Leave in the sun. You need REALLY hot sun.

See my revision to the melting method in my next post.

Homemade Ranch Dressing

Just found this awesome homemade Ranch Dressing recipe!
(Via "The Crafty Blog Stalker" . And she piggybacked from "One Good Thing" by Jillee.

Here is a quick summary of the recipe. I haven't made it yet so I don't have photos, and I trust you can 'combine' and 'whisk' without pictures and that's all this recipe needs. :)

HOMEMADE RANCH DRESSING
 

Ingredients:
¼ c. Black Pepper
1 ½ c. Parsley Flakes
½ c. Garlic Salt
2 Tbsp Kosher Salt
½ c. Granulated Garlic
¾ c. Granulated Onion
2 Tbsp Dill Weed

Dry Mix Procedure: Combine all ingredients in gallon size zip bag or large mason jar. Store in an airtight container. Makes about 3 ½ cups of dry mix

Dressing Procedure: Whisk together 2 Tbsp of dry mix with-
2 c. mayonnaise
2 c. buttermilk
1 ½ c. sour cream
1 tsp. lemon juice

Refrigerate for 2 hours. Makes 1 ¾ Quarts

"Who Has the Microphone?"

I changed up a game I found I don't even know where.
I sometimes still play it as "Who Has the Penny?" but I do really like using the microphone I have in my classroom. It gives them a chance to use it, hear their voices, learn how to hold it, etc.
And- yes- I take a Clorox wipe to it vigorously afterwards!
 

Storybots!

How did I just find this!?  Jibjab for kids! Click on the link below for a very cute, simple video example of what Storybots can do :) http://www.storybots.com/starring-you/view/xv23asrrLK

My kind of art- Mosaic Collage Thingy

I don't remember how this project first came to my mind.  I started with a religious calendar with stained glass window images.  I didn't want to just recycle them but I didn't think my students would appreciate them as prizes.  So, I decided to cut them up, rearrange them and make something inspirational.  I love multicolored things and mosaics... and symmetry and... I just decided to try something and hope it'd be kinda therapeutic and I'd end up with something cool.

In addition to the calendar pages, I used:
*paper box lids (free things, somewhat similar to canvas)
*white copy paper
*shiny origami paper (I found hidden in my 'craft' stash)
*glue
*tape
*ruler
*scissors/exacto knife
*lots of time

I think the pictures below are pretty explanatory (it's probably clear that I take way too many pictures...).

One of the original calendar pages

After a crazy amount of calculating and measuring to get the least wasted paper, I cut up the pages...

From strips into squares and then sorted by main color (gold, blue, dark, etc)

Getting an idea- before I had the box lids to cover

(Walter helping....)

Then I covered the box lids with white paper

Then I arranged the squares to estimate how many I'd need and how to cover...  I planned to use one color for the background and another for the letter.

I glued squares around the edge and worked my way in.

 

So far, so good.  But, I did find that I didn't have enough of the original squares to use as background AND letters, so I started thinking on what else I had and could use.

  That's when I found the shiny origami paper. :)

One color for letters?  Looked wrong...

Multicolored letter!

Moving along, I covered all the lids with squares, resorting colors (since I only needed 4 groups now) and finding I didn't have TOO many squares, but almost exactly what I needed.

The blues had the fewest so I actually didn't even cover the background completely.  But, I strategically left open spots under where I knew the letter would be.  Then I placed the shiny squares.

Just the H to go  (Stanley inspecting my work)

 

Now Cece has to inspect them.... all finished!

Finally done.  On the wall. :)  Of course, I hadn't thought about the imperfections of a cardboard box lid... so it wasn't the precise calculating that I had thought, but I got them up and relatively even.

 

I know they don't fit into any category of art and are probably right on the edge of even getting to be called art... but this is what I can do.  I think they are beautiful.  Hope is something I have and need a constant reminder to keep. :)

 

Student Progress

I'm constantly trying to organize my classroom better.  I'm a freak about organization.  I have to actively tell myself "I will not straighten those books", etc. :)  I'm also CONSTANTLY hearing "What do we do when we are done?" and "Where do I put this?"  So, I decided to try this idea and see if it would be helpful in any way.  I hope it will help STUDENTS by forcing them to READ THE DIRECTIONS again, after I explain them aloud.  And that it will also help ME to monitor how fast they are completing tasks and who needs more to do or who needs more support.

I think the idea is pretty self explanatory but, to be totally clear--
*I labeled clips with numbers 1-30 (being that my largest class is 38... I plan to add more :).
*I'll write various steps on tag board and put in the appropriate order each time.
*Students move their clips to the row of the step they are on.
*One thing I've noticed after just ONE CLASS using it- I'll be more detailed with my written direction.  Instead of just "Finish Paper", I'd have "Finish paper. Put in "IN" box".  (That is one of my most frequent question/answers.  They ALWAYS hand in to the "IN" box. ALWAYS.  Why do they always ask??)

Again, remember I am a music teacher, so I have over 400 kids.  I like the idea of having NAMES on the clips, but I can't.  Students in 2nd grade or higher typically have a student number in their classroom and have it memorized, so I'm trying the number system out.

I could use 'sticks' instead but I like how these are clip-able, more sturdy and skinny.
It's an idea.  We'll see!

Student gifts

Being a 'specials' teacher isn't the same as being a classroom teacher.  I don't have a classroom party or gift exchange... good thing because I have 450 students instead of just 20-30. :)  But, I occasionally do get gifts from students and I like to give a special little gift in return to say thanks.

Over my few years, I've come up with this little 'trick': I buy little, durable ornaments at after Christmas sales and give those along with a tag/thank you note to each gift-giver.

My students really like to get a special present from me and I've heard parents say their kids think it's really cool to get their OWN ornament. :)  It's quick and simple enough that I can do it for each gift.

On a side note, my mom made a point each Christmas to put a teeny tag on each of my ornaments, noting the year and who it was from. She did the same for my 5 siblings, so you can imagine the amount of time it took.  But, now we each have our own collection of ornaments and can see who we got each from and how old the ornament is.  It's awesome.  I plan to do the same thing with my kids- I hope!

Merry Christmas everyone!  The giving is the best! :)