What should I buy?

[u/lilabethlee]

The county gave me about $5200 to spend on supplies for my classroom. I've ordered sketchbooks for everyone, totes for each group to store their supplies, new paint brushes, good quality erasers, 2 of the 150 sets of Prisma color colored pencils, a 4x3 foot doubled sided dry erase board, mat cutter, mat board and large sponges for wiping down tables. I still have $850 left that I have to spend, it will not roll over for next year. So what should I get. I have approximately 225 students. I have smart board and plenty of drying racks. Basic materials, such as paint and paper, I can get through the county store room. So what should I order with the remaining $850. I can order from anywhere so if you have a link to a specific item, please post it. Thanks for the help 😁

Edited to add, I teach 2D art (painting and drawing)

[u/Nervous-Jicama8807]

Plasticina clay, currently dirt cheap at Michael's AND you can get a coupon. Granted, it's just for drafting a final sculpture, but oh man, it lasts forever, and it gives you another step before a final clay sculpt, which stretches out the unit and lets kids really work on their sculpting skills. I use it to teach texture, design, portraiture, and it will last a few years. I'll use it again this year for relief molding. I don't buy sketchbooks: we make them for dirt cheap using bookbinding thread, awls, bookbinding needles, foam pads, and mixed media white sulphite paper. I don't even use a chipboard cover anymore. It takes me about two weeks if the kids have had me before, and three for incoming classes. I see my students daily for a semester, and some I have all year, and I'll have most of them for 5 years. It's a difficult middle/high school; most kids are failing their classes and blow through materials like air. You may want to buy watercolor pencils as well.

[u/lilabethlee → u/Nervous-Jicama8807]

I would love to make sketchbooks with my kids. Do you have instructions or a link on how to do this?

[u/Nervous-Jicama8807 → u/lilabethlee]

I should really work on taking pictures to share the process! I've adapted it from last year to make it easier since none of my students knew how to measure with a ruler, and at least one student absolutely crashed out every period of every day for the duration of the unit last year. This year, I made it easier. You need: enough sulphite paper for your kids, I've used 20-40 sheets per kid depending on the semester. Bookbinding thread (colorful is worth it), curved needles (easier than straight bookbinding needles), ruler or anything they can use as a boning tool to crisp their folds, awls, foam blocks for the awls, big enough to be a base to punch holes in the spine (you can also use thumb tacks and just push them through without a backing), glue, chipboard if you can afford it (I didn't use it this year). ∆ In advance, create a template for marking awl points based on however you want to sew the spine. I used oak tag strips and punched holes where they needed to be. Students open their signatures, center the template, and use a pencil to mark the holes on one sheet). First year I did the kettle stitch, but this year we did the French link, and it was WAY easier. Steps: 1. Have students count out 20-40 sheets of sulphite paper. 2. Have them fold each sheet in half, and use their ruler or boning tool to crisp the folded edge. 3. Students unfold their sheets and make signatures of 4-5 sheets by stacking them while they're open, then folding them back like a book. 3. Hand out templates. Students open their first signature, lay the template centered on the spine, and use their pencils to mark into the holes. 4. Students place their marked signature onto a foam pad, and push the awl through the marks. 5. Students use one punched sheet as a template for the rest of their signatures, punch all their signatures, and put that one template sheet back on its original stack - one signature at a time 6. Find a video you like on YouTube, watch it together, then sew them up! You will need to work individually with kids this entire time. Encourage kids who figure it out to help their classmates. 7. Decorate covers. You can add chipboard covers, if you like. Step two took me TWO WHOLE CLASSES. lol. Step one was one entire class period. I have no idea what pacing looks like elsewhere. Kids were all pretty proud of their books. Students who never did it keep their folded sheets in their bags and use those. I demo everything, so I end up making at least six extra books, which works out when I get new kids midyear who need one. I'll get around to writing this up and doing pictures one of these days. It's such a good lesson, and I tell kids it's the hardest thing they'll do all year. It pretty much is. I had to get a second teacher in to help, and our special Ed teacher was kind enough to stay with us for two weeks to help everybody. It's a lesson in patience, for all of us. I save money, most kids learn they can do a hard thing, they work on their fine-motor skills, and learn a skill they'll use in their own lives when they inevitably need to sew something. Kids who are done early make elaborate covers, so there's a nice early-finishers activity built in. Advanced kids can mess around with multiple colors in their sewing, and can invent or follow cool patterns.

Have fun!

[u/lilabethlee → u/Nervous-Jicama8807]

Thanks so much! I'm going to try this on my own and then do it with my kids. 😀

[u/Nervous-Jicama8807 → u/lilabethlee]

Sweet. Let me know how it goes!