Last night, besides being the number two big thing in bidding farewell to the Class of 2013 eighth graders, it was also a culmination of a trimester's worth of work, planning, researching and writing (well, nine years if you consider these kids all started kindergarten together writing their very first phonic-heavy words.) It was the Education Fair. The kids choose their own topic to research, write about and present. My 14 y.o.'s topic was the History of the Electric Guitar. He pulled an A for his paper (a hefty 8-pages) and his display earned him a Commendation ribbon. Besides the giant posters of influential rockers using one each of the major guitar manufacturers (which he will put on his walls - I think that's half the reason he went for the giant posters, was to decorate his room) he created a story-board with photos of founders and guitars, and a PowerPoint showcasing guitar-lick-heavy clips of music timed to photos of the musicians who made the most of their guitars.
The Ed Fair always impresses me with not only the capabilities of these kids, but the wide range of topics, like: Alcatraz with its full-sized model of a cell; Animation with the presenters own animated short movie; the history of Elitch Gardens (an historic Denver amusement park) with its miniature display of the former grounds and two of the most successful Ghost Towns in Colorado with TWO miniature displays of the towns - trains, mountainsides, "sparkling" gold and all. I could go on. They are amazing.
So congrats to them all, but especially for the hard work of my own eighth grader. Way to go Tom. You wrote an in-depth paper and produced a beautiful display. So proud of you!
While I could have drawn inspiration from my son's love of bright colors - he has paired that shirt with a fuchsia pink tie. Aahhh. . .my boy! I chose instead to go with one of my favorite color combos found on the Apron Strings Color Theory board. I love teal and red. . .so versatile for summer or winter.
There were quite a few examples of this pallet in Apron Strings kits, but I chose to go with both the September '12 Bigger and Smaller kits. From the Bigger kit, the Authentique Fresh line was straight off the Color Theory board - blues, red and greys. Here, Nancy Longo uses it on her layout about a lodge that makes me think "winter" or maybe "cold", the word Nordic just conjures that up, but clearly they are dressed for warmer weather.
From the Smaller kit the My Mind's Eye Miss Caroline's Dilly Dally line was heavy on the blue and red. Here Kristin Perez's layout leans a little more in this direction, but you can see the added gold color.
Now remember, if you don't have these particular kits, you can still play along. Just grab another kit with the color inspiration, or dig into your own stash to pull the colors together. Then share your work in the comments section for your chance to win the May goodie pack.
We woke to morning showers that are supposed to continue throughout the day - dang I love it! So I'm guessing soccer practice will be off. Fine by me. And I'm sure my 14 y.o. prefers that. The completion of his Ed Fair work is a big deal and I see him taking some serious down time today. . .after his homework is done, of course.
Happy Thursday,
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