Spring Fever

It's official. My kids have spring fever. It's official. I have it, too. I hate to admit it, but today I had one of those "is the year almost over?!" days. I hope I'm not the only one that feels that way from time to time. I love my job, I love my students, but today was rough. It could be that I was gone Friday and Monday on a family camping trip. It could be that my grad classes are killing me. Who knows. I've got some plans in the works to beat this, though... Stay tuned!

I've had these pictures on my camera for a few weeks now, and just haven't had time to post them... This is a craft I like to do every year around this time. It's not *tough* but it does take some listening skills and lots of patience. I was SO impressed as to how well my little firsts followed directions for this one!

To make these sunflowers, you'll need to do a little prep work. Until someone starts making bright yellow coffee filters, I'll have to keep making my own. I've got it down to a science, though. I use a whole box of yellow food coloring, and I dilute it in a cheap bowl that I found in the dollar section of the grocery store. If you don't want your fingers yellow for a few days, I'd recommend wearing gloves for this part. I don't because I don't really care all that much! You'll need enough coffee filters for each of your students to have 4 yellow ones. Let them soak for a short bit, squeeze them out, and plop them on a cooling rack to dry. I put newspaper down so my wife wouldn't kill me.

You'll need a few other things, too. Each student needs an oaktag circle to glue the sunflower onto. I found that a tuna can is the PERFECT size. You'll also need to trace a circle on 1 plain coffee filter for every student. You can have them do this if you're feeling brave, but I just like to have it all ready to roll.  Color in the white circle with a brown crayon, and cut it out.  Take 4 yellow filters, fold them together into quarters, and tract the leaf pattern onto the folded pile. Cut on the lines, and you should have 4 flower-like shapes. They do NOT need to be perfect! Stagger them, and glue them one at a time, onto the oaktag circle.  Save the scraps, because you'll need to glue some of them into the middle for texture.  When you're ready, glue the brown circle on top!

Voila! There you have it. I like to hang the sunflowers in the window because they look really cool with the sun coming through, but there isn't enough room in my new classroom. My last room had 6 giant windows that were perfect for displaying projects! I usually put the names of the students onto the leaf, so they know which one is theirs... Fun fun!

Enjoy!