Buttons are bustin’ out all over the artroom!
The students and I have been extremely busy, and now all of my 3rd-5th grade classes are enthusiastically making buttons of various shapes, sizes, colors, and materials. They are all over the artroom in various phases…all of my spare tables look like they have sprouted button farms, with rows of cardboard and paper clip contraptions supporting buttons that have been recently painted or varnished. Keeping track of who made each and every button, and keeping them sorted by class has been quite a challenge, let me tell you.
The 5th graders are working with polymer clay with stunning results; I’m nearly done baking all the batches-no small task! Each batch gets 30 minutes at 275° in one of my 2 small toaster ovens. I don’t know how many batches I have baked, but before this project is over, I want to tally the total number of buttons created! The polymer clay buttons lose some luster after they have been cured; their surface appears dull. We use a water-based, indoor-outdoor varnish that dries to a satin finish to add just the right amount of gleam without the glare of a high-gloss sealer.
The 4th graders used Sculpt•it! air dry clay to create their buttons (as did the first button class, Mrs. Deaver’s 5th graders). They look stunning when painted with metallic acrylic paints. The buttons, I mean. (Not the students!) These buttons, too, get a coat of the satin-finish varnish after the paint has dried. We are currently in the midst of the painting and varnishing sessions.
Perhaps the 3rd graders are the most excited of all about making their buttons, which are created from shrink plastic. Many of them have never seen Shrinky Dinks before, and they watch in wonder and joy as I shrink each button individually with my heat tool. Using the heat tool (a.k.a. an embossing tool, which can be found in the rubber stamp section nearly any craft store) is far more interesting and viewer-friendly than shrinking them in the oven.
In addition to the buttons that have burst into being in the past few weeks, my classroom has another wonderful addition: a Promethean ActivBoard! It was installed the week after Spring Break. I was actually out of town that week, attending the National Art Education Association (NAEA) annual convention, which was held in New Orleans this year. (That should explain why I have those festive Mardi Gras beads hanging off my computer cart!)
The ActivBoard is an interactive white board that works in conjunction with a digital projector that is hooked up to my computer. I now have the ability to make digital presentations to my students, and as soon as I figure out the Promethean software and have a chance to develop some good lessons with it, I will be teaching with interactive technology! I am thrilled! In fact, today I finally had a chance to share this Stargazer Studio blog with some of my classes!
There is still much to write about, but I can’t write it all in one post. I am also frustrated by several unsuccessful attempts to post photos…I am determined that one day I will figure out how to resize the photos for optimum viewing. And when I do get that figured out, I have dozens of photos to share with you. I hope you’ll “stay tuned” and visit again soon! And maybe leave a comment…no one leaves me comments, and I would just love to get some feedback that I could share with my students!
