Free Textbooks

 Have you heard of Open Textbooks?  These are free Canadien textbooks.  Here is a bit of background about Open Education.  Take a look at this Chemistry textbook.  Here is Brit Lit.

Illuminated Letters

Did you know Dick Blick has art lessons?  Here are the plans for Illuminated Initials. Here is the link for lesson plans from Dick Blick, a popular source of art supplies to schools.  

Medieval Art: CD Faux Stained Glass

 I am hunting down ideas to make Brit Lit fun.  Here are the instructions for faux stained glass CDs.  I am pretty excited to see what the kids produce.  Stand by!

Brit Lit: Rubbings

Update: Here are instructions from Dick Blick to make relief rubbings.

 I want more art in Brit Lit.  Brass Rubbings date back to the thirteenth century.  I want my kids to make rubbing plates.  Here and here are my inspiration projects.  Here are detailed instructions from the Monumental Brass Society if you can access brass inscriptions.   We will try black and gold crayons.  The traditional wax is heelball wax.  You might try Faber-Castell Bees Wax crayons.  Anything worth doing is worth over-doing.

Brit Lit: Leaf Prints

 I want to add more art to Brit Lit.  Artistic kids are much more engaged when I add art to the curriculum.    Let’s make Leaf Prints and Hammered Leaf prints.  One of my goals is to add art and artists to Brit Lit.  During the Victorian era, William Morris was famed for his leaf prints.  Let’s add some art to make Brit Lit even more fun.  I’m going to let my kids chose leaf prints, rubbings, or hammered art.

Late Summer Ideas

Do you need a few fun ideas?  Good Will online has a listing for KiWi Co Drawbot kits.  There are six identical kits.  You could invite cousins for an afternoon—likely a good idea.  Invite a cousin who can troubleshoot.  I find kits like these indecipherable.  My favorite kit is Edible Chemistry or Fizz Whiz and Jammin Jelly.  I buy a kit for the tiny containers.  The kids love to mix potions.  (Hint: add sugar.). The chemicals are sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), citric acid, sodium alginate, calcium acetate, and magic crystals or red cabbage powder.  I refill the tiny containers.  Here is a combo of sodium alginate and calcium lactate.  It’s hard to find food grade calcium acetate.  The calcium lactate works equally well.  Here is the type of red cabbage extract I use to refill the little bottles.  My last suggestion is to build catapults.  Set up targets in the basement.  Gather supplies and invite the cousins for an afternoon of fun.

TI Graphing Calculators

  This Fall, my husband is teaching Algebra II and Personal Finance.  Algebra II in particular has loads of calculator exercises.  I plan to have a few for Biology, too. We’ll do some calculator exercises.  We lend out calculators to our students.  I just bought two more TI 83 graphing calculators from Good Will online to have on hand during classes.  I paid $29.97 with shipping for two TI 83 plus calculators.  My target price is under $15 each including shipping for calculators which work.  My target price for a TI 84 calculator is $30–which is why I only have three.  Good Will online has a number of listings.  Don’t forget to check the shipping and handling fees, which vary widely among Good Will stores.