Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Dog House for Student Papers

Ever notice how your husband students only listen to the first part of what you say? So if I say to students "Put it in your cubbie." It means the same as "Put it in my basket." OR "Put it in your folder." Well, I tried something to curb that tendency. I got a "dog house" and named the dog in the house FRED. So if I want the kids to turn in a paper I say "Feed Fred." Here is the new and improved Fred. He still needs his name tag.

My husband and I made him out of wood. It was quite an undertaking. Ethan Allen himself could not have crafted a finer dog house / paper holder. Because he's dead. We are pathetic woodworkers. We had a pneumatic nailer which was fun. The top of the house is hinged and barely attached (we're working on a solution). Fred is 12 x 12 so papers will slide in his mouth easily. I'm okay with how the painting turned out but I got too tired to add a tail in the back.
Here's another angle so you can truly admire Fred.
We had extra wood and TONS of nails so we made a dog house for Tricky the Sight Word dog. He hides the new sight words in a small dog house. No more cardboard for FDK. Solid Wood.
This house is sized for our flash cards. The kids will remove "Tricky" from the door (he's a beany) and then reach in for the cards. Some teachers will do anything NOT to clean up the disorganized mess they left in their classroom last school year.