Stained Glass Art

Every Friday we try to do a craft of some sort since we do a lot of work during the week. This week I wanted to do something new that I had seen done in the past. Stained glass art! Hearts were perfect for this month of February and it wasn’t too hard to do it. Below you can see what the final product looks like! Cute right? 

When you are finished and they are all dry you hang them in the window as stained glass art. Picture for that will be coming Monday as they were still drying before I left. 

Okay so there are a few things you need for this. It may seem like a lot but it really isn’t. You need this materials listed below. You will need to first make an outline. I printed an outline of this heart below and then cut out the outside and the inside. Make sure you fold it in half. I then traced the half of a heart onto a file folder so I would have something more sturdy to trace on. When that is done I had a wonderful parent volunteer trace this folded heart onto folded black pieces of paper for the outline. The kids then cut the outline just as I cut the original. It has to be folded in half so then they can cut out the inside easier. :) 

The next few things you might need prepared, well at least prepared right before you do this with the students. You will need paintbrushes, liquid starch, and wax paper. The wax paper is great if you have it already cut out for the kids before you start. It goes under the outline. Then they use the paintbrushes to paint on the starch on outline/wax paper. In the middle you put tissue paper until the whole heart is filled. Make sure there are no wholes so when you peel the heart off the wax paper it doesn’t rip. Let dry then peel the heart off the wax paper slowly then done! It turns out beautiful and goes on the window or hang up in your room. 

It was so much fun and my kids loved it! Let me know if you try it or need to ask a question. :) 

First Year

"Welcome to the first year of teaching! Where you will be exhausted, working all hours of the day, night, and weekend and not having a life!”

Pretty much I feel like this is a quote that might have as well come attached to my contract. Seriously who knew the first year of teaching would be as much work as it is? At least I have a great team working with me to make things go much smoother but I seriously had no idea. This is something that should be apart of the teacher courses in college. While in college they should make us take classes on the REAL pieces of teaching. Like dealing with crazy kids and crazy parents and how much you really will be working! I knew teachers worked way more then paid for but I seriously had no idea how much I would be working. It can be so exhausting sometimes. Anyone else feel this way or have any suggestions on how to survive the rest of my first year of teaching?