Starting Out with Sketchbooks

Let me just start out by saying, the things I forget from year to year could fill a book! A large volume at that.  There's always that adjustment period of remembering the pace of the day, but REALLY, I forget so much year to year, and even if I write it down I most likely never look at it later.  This is what happens after this many years, I guess.  So 'comfortable' with what I'm doing that reviewing the steps seems unnecessary until I get into it and think 'whhhhaaa? How is this supposed to work again?'  Case in point: the sketchbooks that my sixth graders make and use all year.  I blogged about it last year two years ago, and last year made the decision to make them half size.  This translates to cutting cereal boxes to 10 x 13" pieces (which I didn't remember resulting in having to cut several twice to get the size right). The first day of art we had time to go over the rules & procedures, then add our wet and stick tape:

Students folded their cereal boxes "like a card"
then put the wet and stick tape (sticky side down) on the folded edge--
this will be the spine of their sketchbook.
Little tip: have them cut the wet and stick to size,
TAKE THE ROLL OF TAPE AWAY
and THEN hand out waters cups--otherwise your
rolls of tape will be ruined.

The second day of art students have started working on their covers (just drawings or designs).  Those are in the works now, and I have BIG PLANS for the back cover.  I made a video for students on Gelli printing with Payons:

The next time they come to art they'll be working on their covers, measuring their space for sewing in their pages, counting out their pages and Gelli printing in small groups (I only have five Gelli plates).
A few years ago, I ordered this:

Sorry for the sidewayness, although it looks ancient,
I really did get it last year.

The plan is to team-teach this part with sixth grade teachers, but I wanted to try it out and so I made this video explaining the setup:

Students won't see my final result until after theirs is done, but we're all adults, right?!  Here's mine after sun exposure and a cold water bath (and drying overnight):

It's going to be GREAT.  While the fast pace of the day leaves me a little woozy sometimes, being an elementary art teacher really is the best. I wish you all smooth starts to the beginning of your school years, interesting students, and loads of cash.  Hey, a teacher can dream, right?!