Crunch Time.... Clock Partners

Oh. My. Goodness.  Where did my summer go?  I am sitting here on the couch on my last day of summer.  Tomorrow I return for my first day of in-service.  Who starts in-service on a FRIDAY??  Who does THAT???  and more importantly... why did the school district to that to us?!?!  ugh....

I know I sound like I am complaining.... well yes.... I am complaining but not about starting school!  Just in-service on Friday....but I AM really excited to start this school year off!  In fact I am pretty stoked about teaching one subject (SCIENCE) and working on getting all my tweaks out from last year and trying out new labs and all sorts of finds on pinterest :)

Which brings me to my latest find.... clock partners.  Last year I had my students keep the same table partners for 9 weeks, and usually if they did partner work, it was with the person they sat across from.  It became boring fast, but I didn't want to let them just go willy-nilly and go around working with anyone they chose.  We all know what happens when we do that!  Nothing.... except talking.... about what happened last night.... not about what we are learning.  Ugh.  6th graders.

So I saw something on pinterest about Clock Partners.  The students pick who their partner is at each time slot and they make sure they are on their partners clock at that same time slot.  This will be perfect during the first few days of school, especially when we are setting up our Science Notebooks.  So today I made my own Clock Partners worksheet.  We will fill it out, color it,cut it out and paste it somewhere in the front or back of our journals.  I usually don't decide where to place things until the day of.  So if you would like to use it, it's all yours!  Click here for the Clock Partners worksheet!  You can also see more of my files to share in the green tabs on the left.

Enjoy your last few days.... hours.... minutes.... of sweet summer time!

Craft Time... Baby Elephant Pictures by Busted Button

Isn't this this most adorable gift ever!!! Yes.... Yes it is..... So naturally I had to make one because this isn't mine.  And I have about a MILLION friends having babies.  Does anyone else feel that way... like everyone is having babies????  Couples turning into bunnies???  I digress...

This too-cute elephant is a PIN from the most wonderful PINTERST but more importantly it is made from the blog BUSTED BUTTON. She even has a tutorial on there that was really easy to follow. Click on the links to check out her tutorial, and also her site!  It's AWESOME!!!  Check out her Art Portfolio... she does some great artwork. 

I did have to make a quick trip to Hobby Lobby.  Side note:  wait to buy your frame when they go on sale for 50% off.  This happens usually every other week.  I took lots of picture when making it, so I will go through real quick and tell you how to make this gift.

Grab your wallet.... and go to Hobby Lobby.

Buy this 3 pkg of canvas boards for 6.99.  You'll find them in the canvas aisle.  Use the 8x10 size--- you need this size for your fame and how big the elephant is.

I had to buy buttons.  Unfortunately buttons are one thing I don't hoard collect.  Ok..... honesty is the best policy.....hoard.   But believe you me, I will now.   I sorted my buttons because I am psychotic and love to see organized colors.  But this also helped me see that I can not make another yellow elephant.  

If the frame is on sale, buy it.  If not just wait til next week.  Also if you are not a hoarder of paint, you will want to buy some acrylic paint while your at Hobby Lobby.  Now go home.

And make a stencil of an elephant.

I drew out mine but you can maybe find one on the Internet???  Its not hard to draw... YOU CAN DO IT!

Trace your stencil.  Try to keep your elephant either a little off to the left or in the center.  You will have balloons that take us some of that space on the right.

Paint your elephant the color of your buttons.  You can add some water to make it a little less thick.

I put my buttons in baggies so now they will stay organized.   Get out that hot glue gun... LOW temp!!  You will get glue on yourself and we all know what those high temps do to our skin.  No bueno.

Place your buttons... I liked using my bigger button on the bottom.... don't worry we are going to layer this elephant.

See... Its layered with buttons.  And that stupid hot glue string.... start pulling that off.... and layer some more until you cant see much of your paint anymore.

I don't have black buttons, so I used a dark purple one for the eye.  Also you see that little line of darker pink buttons??  That's his ear... or her ear.... I would feel sorry for him if he was pink.... poo

Use a sharpie.... THIN.... and draw some lines for the button balloons/flowers/ whatever circular thing you want to call it.

Glue them down. 

Gotta add some button grass! 

Place in your frame!  I could not put the glass in first and have everything fit, so I just kept the canvas being the top layer, but put the glass behind it along with the backing of the frame.

I've done 3 so far...

And I have a at least 2 more to go.....
Again.... when did people become bunnies???

Happy Crafting!