Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Paper, Paper, Everywhere!
I am trying to organize all of our painted paper, but what to keep? How small of pieces do you keep? What do you throw away? I admit that when I first started teaching, I threw away a lot of paper. The longer I teach or the older I get or the worse that budgets get, I have a much harder time throwing away things that I can see that we could use. The problem is, will we? Tell me what you do with your scraps.
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i try to limit my scrap saving to 3 types: paper strips (leftovers from the paper cutter) for weaving, then solid pieces divided into warm, cool, or neutral, and finally patterned or painted papers. i don't keep anything really small, wrinkly, or sticky. that being said, you'd never know i had any kind or organizational system in place if you walked in my room today : )
ReplyDeleteI try and just get a fresh batch every year. Then recycle the rest. It is a great end of the year project to have some of the older classes paint paper. Then you cut them up and they are ready for the next year.
ReplyDeleteBecause storage is such a big issue for me (I have none, unless you count the bookshelf in my home study) I can't keep much at all - but oh! what you could do with all that lovely painted paper!!
ReplyDeleteI did a similar post to this back in March. You can find it here: http://plbrown.blogspot.com/2012/03/cleaning-frenzy-and-request-for.html
ReplyDeleteI mentioned this because I got a lot of responses that might spark some great ideas for you. In the end, I used them for all sorts of stuff including shredded paper clay, and flower bouquets, and at the end of the year I did four things with what was still left behind:
1) I recycled the small scraps.
2) I cut the larger scraps into manageable sizes and put them on a table in the hallway and let kids take paper for summer artwork.
3) I had students in grades 3-5 make small sketchbooks to take home and use. (They were so excited!)
4) I left the leftovers neatly for my replacement. In particular, I took large ziplock bags and we sorted scraps into them by color families for use in collages etc.
Hope this helps!
Just remembered one more thing - I had a lot of long narrowish strips (3"x18" for example) that we. Used for some painted paper projects, in particular, 1st graders painted and textured white paper strips which then became the wings of the dragonflies they had on a display at the art show.
ReplyDeleteHi Angie! I too had the same issue last year. Your post inspired me to post my solution to the scrap paper issue on my blog Pictures and Paint Brushes. Check it out and I hope it helps :)
ReplyDeletehttp://picturesandpaintbrushes.blogspot.com/2012/10/painted-paper-everywhere-my-solution.html
We use the hand rule - if it is bigger than their hand, keep for the scrap box, otherwise, recycle.... It is hard, but otherwise I would be overrun!
ReplyDeleteChris at hockadayart.blogspot.com
I sort larger scraps for collages projects, but then last year I found two amazing ways to use up those little scraps scraps. Paper making with my older students (easier than you think) and shredded paper bowls with the little guys. I use our schools paper shredder to speed up the process. Both projects were really fun! Here are the links for the projects I followed:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/bzedan/sets/967347/with/45144980/
http://www.womansday.com/home/craft-ideas/craft-project-birds-nest-bowl-104471
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ReplyDelete