Some fun stuff

Today was a fun day.  There was tons of stuff going on.

First period was our first SBG quiz.  The kids seem pretty into the whole idea and the results were ok I think.

Next period I took a couple girls to do some extra work and they showed up with coffee for me.  Uhh... love them!  They didn't know how I liked it, so they also brought a cup of milk, sugar packets and stirrers.  They clearly know the way to my heart.

It was also the official start of my floor plan project and my pattern project and both were super fun.

While today was the first official day, my kids have been looking through the samples for a couple days and it's been really funny.  I feel like I've been to Home Depot about a million times now to get more and more samples that they keep requesting.  I could totally say no and tell them to work with what we've got, but I think it's fun that they're getting into it so I don't mind.  The people at Home Depot though might think I'm completely crazy.

The first day I was sent to get samples of Brazilian Cherry hardwood.  Today I was sent to get red carpet (because that's what teenage boys dream of apparently) and a better choice for bathroom flooring.  I asked the girl what she meant and she didn't know..just the kind of stuff that goes in bathrooms.  There was no tile samples however (which is why I didn't have any to start with) so I spent about $20 and picked up a bunch of single tiles, all of which are returnable.

Every time I do this project, I forget how much I love it.  And I love it about a million times more with the actual samples because my kids are hilarious.  One boy is going with a combination of pink shag carpeting, green outdoor turf, and a tile look alike vinyl which is just so funny.  Another one is going with wall to wall faux wood vinyl in every single room.  He commented that he wants it to be durable in case he throws up on the floor.  He has also stated he wants it on the walls and ceiling too.  Some are putting carpeting in the bathroom.  Brown carpeting.  They're so weird and I think it's just so ridiculously funny.

At one point I overheard a couple boys adamantly telling a girl that she should absolutely not put carpeting in the dining room.  She is standing firm though and going with the carpeting.  Others are being more thoughtful and putting together really nice looking combos.  I just love that they're having fun.

I started taking pictures of them today with their samples to include as part of their project because them sitting their with their little mood boards was just too funny to pass up.  Some of them also spent a good amount of time doing what looked like quality testing on the different samples to help make their choices.  One told me that he was doing "intimate quality testing" whatever that means.  I told him that was creepy.

In another class I introduced my pattern project based off of visualpatterns.org and it actually went way better than I had imagined.  I'll post more details later, but part of it involves choosing a pattern and extending it.  I created a rubric where an "average" project (think like drawn on a piece of poster paper) will get them at most a 95 which is a great grade.  I told them to get that possible 100 though they're going to have to get more creative.  I have kids that are planning find a good toothpick pattern so that they can actually recreate it using toothpicks.  Others really want to use 3D patterns so they can build them out of blocks.  I showed them the Fawn's website during class and they actually got excited about it which was really cool.

I also decided to leave it really open ended on how they can put it all together.  I gave them some ideas like powerpoint, prezi, glogster, actual physical creation, or whatever else they can dream up.  I'm really looking forward to seeing what they come up with...one girl was talking about some kind of performance as her presentation which could be really interesting.  It's due next Monday so I'll be sharing what they come up with for sure, as well as the specifics of the project.