I really struggle to find the right projects on Mother’s
Day. I think it is because I am a mom, and it means so much to me.
I want to give my students’ moms something special--something they will
treasure and that still has an impact 10 years from now when their kiddo is
going off to college and is moving out.
Last year I watched almost all the students in my school parade
out on the Friday before Mother’s Day. I would say a good 80% of them
were carrying a planted flower in various types of containers. I am not
dissing the plants and flowers. Okay. Okay. Maybe I am
anti-flowers because their life span in my care seems to be about 2 weeks.
So what is a teacher to do? Pinterest search.
Check. Teachers Pay Teachers. Check. Examine what I did in
the past. Check. Blogs. Check. Ask teacher friends.
Check. I am still not really inspired. What is left to do?
Create a project that combines some of the best elements from the other
hundreds of Mother’s Day gifts I viewed.
I brought my camera to school and took photographs of my
students. I focused on close-ups of their faces. Any camera can do
this and almost all phones will take great pictures. Here are a few tips
to take a great picture.
1. If you are in the sunlight, use a flash. This will
get rid of shadows. Find the shade if you can.
2. Get close. A picture becomes more personal the
closer you are.
3. Take more pictures than you need. I delete more
than I save.
4. Crop and resize pictures. Most sites will let you
upload a picture and then crop them for free.
5. Try making the pictures black and white. Black and
white pictures are timeless.
Here is a good list of tips from Kodak on taking excellent
pictures.
I then chose 2 of the pictures of each student to print out.
Cropped, turned black and white, and then sent off to my local photo
shop. (I used Walgreens.)
At Hobby Lobby (any framing shop), I bought some matting
board. They had about 20 12x12 boards in a package for less than
$10. I then added white acrylic paint, double stick tape, and ribbon to
my cart. Poster board would also work and can be bought is smaller pieces.
I painted each student’s hands with the paint and had them make a
heart with their fingers. (See picture). Then we placed their
handprints on the matting board upside down so the heart would be right side up.
I added the pictures and had the students write, “I love you!” the
date and their names on the mat. Attach the ribbon... a project any mother will cherish!
Bonus Post! 5 Random Reasons that I love my mom!
Of course there are the usual reasons that I love my mom: she is loving, beautiful inside and out, and I wouldn't be who I am without her. But here are some random reasons that I love her.
She is also my biggest fan and follower! But most of all I love the way she loves me, my children, my sister, my
nephews, and my dad.
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