I spent way too much time going down the Pinterest rabbit hole this evening trying to find suitable activities for my munchkins on Monday. They desperately need to practice cutting and coloring skills. The kids asked for more Pigeon books and I’m happy to oblige. This week we’ll do crafts based the The Duckling Gets a Cookie book by Mo Willems. I think the only things I’ll need to buy are foam brushes for applying Modge Podge and glitter. My challenge to myself has been to NOT spend money on craft supplies unless absolutely necessary. I left a lot of stuff behind when I left my school library. One of the very few things I wish I had kept is the expensive bottle of extra fine white holographic glitter.
Making sample projects ahead of time gives me the opportunity to modify tutorial directions to better fit my students or the materials I already have on hand. I typically time myself while I make the project and then double that amount of time to set aside as work time for the kids. I’m wired for make & take, but most of the other enrichment teachers don’t send things home each week. If for some reason we don’t finish the cookies this week, I’ll merely take the projects home and the kids can complete them the following week.
What does our schedule look like for a 90 minute block?
Story-time: 20 minutes
Crafting/activity time: 35-40 minutes
Free time: 15-20 minutes (play with Legos & other toys in classroom, read to self, free draw)
Our hard stop is 11:45 a.m. to take pictures, clean-up, pack-up and get to car riders by noon.
I’ve loosely planned out projects through the end of the semester. We have Sadie/dogs, Pete the Cat, two weeks of fall activities, pirates, monsters, Sadie/candy/Halloween, Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving and 3 weeks of Christmas/winter holiday crafts with a Sadie visit in there somewhere. This allows me to be able to select 2-3 picture books to read each week and reserve them in advance. Remember, I’ve challenged myself to not to spend money on craft supplies or books unless absolutely necessary? For the occasional book it makes sense to buy, I can buy used from local thrift stores or online shops. Paperback copies are actually preferred nowadays since I have to tote everything with me to class.
For spring semester, I will be adding a session for Grades 3-5. Based on what I’ve seen so far, I will merely plan similar topics & activities for both groups rather than two completely different sessions. That’ll make things WAY easier for me.
Come Stitch With Me 