Today I checked the calendar and noticed we are down to a few weeks of summer until we as teachers have to report back to school and begin to unpack and set up for the new school year. I looked in the pantry this morning and noticed the cups of peeled crayons that I put there back in May and I thought it was a good time to start melting those down. At the end of the school year I have the students help me peel old broken crayons and toss them in a cup. Then sometime during the summer I put them into my mini-muffin tin and melt them down for the following school year. The kindergarten, first and second graders really seemed to enjoy using these homemade 'chunks-of-crayons' that look a little like a colorful Reese's Peanut Butter Cup! They came in handy for many crayon rubbings throughout the school year and looked fabulous with watercolor over them. So here's the start of me 'thinking' it's almost that time again! I had a special little helper BTW...my daughter Kyla will be 3 in October.
BTW-I hope all of my fellow art teachers have had a wonderful summer and are enjoying these last few weeks. We start back on Aug. 15, it seems earlier each and every year! When I was just an elementary student we never started back until late August. I think our first 3 days were before the Labor day weekend, now we have a few full weeks until Labor day. I guess with more breaks and holidays and teacher workdays the start of school just gets pushed up!
