Medieval Shield Project

(So, I'm going to pretend like I've been blogging this whole time! Long story short, class was misery and I'd rather not think about those kids one moment longer than I needed to! I'll be moving to a 6th grade high achiever class for next year, so hopefully I'll have more inspiration!)

This past year, I brought back a fun project for my students to work on - the Medieval Shield!

My students get to design their own Medieval Shield, complete with symbols that symbolize who THEY are. I tie it into the Medieval unit, which is about two chapters in our social studies books.... It works nicely with the Feudal System and Knights.

I'll tell you one thing, students love to talk about their favorite topic - THEMSELVES.

The shield has six openings, so I have my students pick six symbols. They have a rough draft shield to sketch their symbols on first and plan out their shield before I give them the construction paper cut out.

Additionally, because I feel guilty if my students are not constantly writing about something... they have to complete at least a paragraph that explains why they chose each symbol. The paragraph requirement depends on the class/level/attitude of the students that I'm teaching. If they can handle more, the requirement goes up. If we can actually get to the computer lab, then their paragraphs have to be typed.

Additionally, even the background color should symbolize an emotion or feeling that the students can tie to themselves. Here are a few links that you can use. I was planning on re-doing my instruction guide this year, however... I'm moving back to 6th grade. So, I'm not going to bother (haha!) since it's all Ancient History, not Medieval!

Family Crest Info

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Teacher Presents!

Two posts in ONE day! Yes, I'm finally finding the time (or forcing myselfto stop being a lazy bum) and post about the Teacher Presents I made a few of my friends this year.

Thanks to Pinterest, which I'm sadly addicted to, I discovered this cool pin for a Teacher Clipboard.  I liked the idea so much that I thought that I would make three of these clipboards for my friends at my school.

I decided I would take pictures of my process to show you all and give some helpful hints!

Items you will need:

• Clipboard
• Scrapbook Paper
• Glitter Letter Stickers
• Paint
• Brush
• Mod Podge Glue
• Any other stickers, ribbons, etc.

First step, youwant to paint the edges of the clipboard. This allows you some wiggle room on your paper. You also don't have to worry

about taking the papers right to the edge of the clipboard. I discovered that in the scrapbooking aisle, you can by the 8.5 x 11" paper instead of the 12x12" and save 50 cents per sheet.  (Yes, here at LIMS, we are all about the savings.)

Next, you want to positon down your paper with sticky squares. I used my left over scrapbooking squares. This just helps you keep your paper in place for the glue step!  As for the measuring part, by using 8.5x11" paper, I only had to determine how much of each paper I wanted to use, then cut once with my paper cutter!

If you use 12x12" paper, then you have to measure the paper to the exposed section of the clipboard, then make your cuts as necessary!

This is the tricky step.

You want touse ModPodge and glue down the paper to the edges. The person who's pin I used said that she glued the paper to the clipboard and then added an extra coat on the outside too. I just coated the entire paper on top to form a seal. A word of caution... the glue caused my paper to get wavy with the dampness of the glue. I was starting to worry and stick extra sticky squares where the paper warped up. All my worrying wasn't necessary because by the next morning, the paper had completely dried flat to the clipboard. (Points to the picture... see how it's kinda damp and shiny? You have to really wait until the morning!)

The last part - the FUN part is decorating and adding in the teacher names!

Here are my finished products!

(Edited: Mor over at a Teacher's Treasure pointed out that I missed the paper cutting step.  I didn't do anything fancy to cut the paper, just eyeballed the amounts I wanted to use and then lined them up.) Thanks for the catch Mor! :)