Play-Doh in the Classroom!

So this is a super fun activity I've done with 3rd and 4th graders in the past.

I was a little hesitant with my 6th graders, but who doesn't love Play-Doh?!

To start of this lesson, I gave each of my students a canister of Play-Doh.

Not the super tiny ones, but the bigger canisters.

I allowed my students about 3 minutes of free-play time.

I found this works best so they are focused on the lesson.

"I allowed you 3 minutes to play, now it's your turn to listen."

Then I begin reading the script. 

The ultimate goal of this activity is for students to create a pencil holder.

They go through the entire writing process from the perspective of a sculptor. 

The script will talk about how alike sculptors and writers really are.

 Here are some of our finished products :)

We had a contest to see who could create the most creative pencil holder. 

I think it's safe to say we had some pretty good ones :)

My big classroom reveal still won't be for another month or two.

I'm still waiting on bookshelves that the school ordered for me to arrive. 

On to week 4!! Mid-Quarter is almost here!

XO 

Crafty Classroom Expectations ... *FREEBIE*!

Let me start by saying that I have ZERO experience with spray paint. I've never even picked up a can before in my life.  Needless to say, I've seen all these super cute projects other teachers do on Pinterest, Blogs, and Instagram and I thought to myself, "Hey! That looks easy! I can do that!" 

I guess I needed to remind myself something I always remind my students:: "What's easy for one person isn't necessarily easy for everyone else."

So last night I created my top 10 classroom expectations courtesy of Lessons With Laughter. She created some super cute ones but they didn't match my color scheme and they wouldn't fit in the frames I bought. So I created my own. I love, love, LOVE them!!!! 

You can download them for FREE here. (Yes, free!)

I found these super cute frames at Michaels for $3.99. They were 70% off plus I had a 20% off entire purchase coupon. So I bought 11 frames (1 extra) for 96 cents a piece!!! Talk about a great deal!

(photo courtesy of Kinder Craze)

I picked up three cans of spray paint from Walmart.

Rust-Oleum in Seaside

Krylon in Citrus Green (which is not green at all but neon yellow)

Rust-Oleum in Berry Pink

And here is where I had trouble. As I already said, I am not a pro at spray painting. I wouldn't even say I'm a beginner. I'm below a beginner.

So here are my top 4 tips for Spray Painting for Dummies.

1. Stand downwind -- Yes, I did have to learn that one that hard way... and so did my poor iPhone.

2. When the directions say "Shake well before use" you better shake well before use.

3. DO NOT use plastic trash bags to paint on to. Not only does the paint not want to dry on the trash bags, but your project will stick to them and when you think you're finished and everything is dry, you literally have to PRY the final project off of the trash bag (thus leaving behind plastic pieces you can not peel off).

4. Although the spray paint cans say your project will be dry(ish) in 20 minutes, believe me... it's not.

Either way.... it wasn't a complete disaster.

This was before I had to peel them off of the trash bag. 

From a distance they look much better. Up close... you can see every little detail. I wasn't able to peel off the tags easily so I just spray painted over them. At this rate, I might just have to sand down and try again. (I think the tri-colored frame actually came out the best and there's only one coat of paint and it was my tester!!)

With a little Mod Podge... this is the final result!!!

Not sure yet how I'm going to present this or hang them yet but I am SUPER excited and proud of how they turned out regardless!!

What are you tips and tricks for spray painting? This dummy would love to hear them!!!