Antique Jumping Jack Toy

This week the Southern Vermont Arts Center asked me to teach a Friday morning class for young children. The request was that the lesson be inspired by Alexander Calder. It is, fortunately, easy to be inspired by Calder. His work immediately conjures up colorful shapes, whimsy, animated forms, and circus-like figures. Putting this together, I…

Folder Book for Making Books about Countries

This post is about giving anyone who is interested the specs on how to make the Countries Folder Book that I wrote about in my last post, Making Books about Countries for Third Graders. This book has many different pieces to it, which makes it a dynamic project, but requires that the teacher has a…

Biome Book, Post #3

This will be the last of the posts that I am going to write about these magnificent biome books made by Mrs. DePace's second graders.  The books were made from one sheet of folded paper, about 17" by 35", folded as a single Book Base.  This gave students a front cover, back cover, a two…

Biome Books, Post #2

Here is second post showcasing the magnificent Biome Books made by Mrs. DePace's second grade class during my time with them last spring.  Futurer posts will contain more how-to details about these books. From what I recall, the young man who created this page was insistent that he had no ability to create a visually…