In spirit of Labor Day holiday....
photo via VintageToGoEasy
other patriotic themed item, here at The Destiny of Things
Here's is the little I received:
Anything that teaches history that I can add to my parties is a sure buy for me.
I wonder if this person is a teacher because this is exactly what how I used them in the classroom. These were party napkins for studying the 4th of July and then celebrating about it! How I managed to end up with some 20 years later is a mystery to me!
Inside a large box was a another plastic box and inside that was a ziploc bag of napkins I had used for parties that we had every Friday to celebrate the end of the week for good behavior and homework or any other milestone.
We called them Friday's Academic parties and basically the last 45 minutes of class time on Fridays was set aside for less formal teachable lessons that I would build excitement and momentum for a week into a culmination of fun each Friday.
We had 15 min for set up, 30 minutes of party time and 15 minutes for clean up. These lessons consisted mainly of chemistry lessons or cooking and eating for example making a liquid turn to solid, like making ice cream in a bag in 15 minutes.
Some student favorites were making paper origami cups to drink water out, making green swamp juice and turning tongues green while drinking out of an origami paper cup, each week for a month making different versions of Stone Soup from the stories and using our favorite stones, Green Eggs and Ham, Gingerbread houses with graham crackers, tea parties and so much more!
And of course, many times educational or matching themed napkins were involved.
photo via VintageToGoEasy
other patriotic themed item, here at The Destiny of Things
Students also loved studying the US Flag through history and especially copying all the different star patterns and making up their own patterns for their own flag, like Betsey Ross.
And for this party we made patriotic red, white and blue mini cheesecake cupcakes by dropping in a vanilla wafer for crust in a cupcake paper tin and everyone would take turns beating the ingredients and we'd rush it to the kindergarten class to use their oven and bake it for 15 minutes (during my lunch) and everyone got to frost their own with fresh blue berries mixed with cherry pie filling garnished with a little US flag!
It's an easy simple recipe, email me if you need it or the ice cream in a bag. It's another good yummy chemistry lesson of a liquid turning into a solid for third graders studying the 3 types of matter.
photo via The Destiny of Things, available here
These also work well for reenacting little dioramas for landing on the moon!
Lastly some history on Labor Day from wiki with the last sentence being the kicker:
Labor Day was promoted by the Central Labor Union and the Knights of Labor, who organized the first parade in New York City. After the Haymarket Massacre, which occurred in Chicago on May 4, 1886, U.S. President Grover Cleveland feared that commemorating Labor Day on May 1 could become an opportunity to commemorate the affair. Thus, in 1887, it was established as an official holiday in September to support the Labor Day that the Knights favored.
The form for the celebration of Labor Day was outlined in the first proposal of the holiday: A street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations", followed by a festival for the workers and their families.
This became the pattern for Labor Day celebrations. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the civil significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the Labor movement.
The holiday often marks the return to school, although school starting times now vary.
To take advantage of large numbers of potential customers free to shop, Labor Day has become an important sale weekend for many retailers in the United States. Some retailers claim it is one of the largest sale dates of the year, second only to the Christmas season's Black Friday.
Ironically, because of the importance of the sale weekend, some of those who are employed in the retail sector not only work on Labor Day, but work longer hours. More Americans work in the retail industry than any other, with retail employment making up 24% of all jobs in the United States. As of 2012, only 3% of those employed in the retail sector were members of a labor union.
In high society, Labor Day is (or was) considered the last day of the year when it is fashionable to wear white or seersucker.
photo via VintageToGoEasy
other patriotic themed item, here at The Destiny of Things
Saying Goodbye: I am thankful that most of my napkins from that era have sold. At home and for parties, we use eco friendly cloth in place of paper napkins and paper towels. I might have to celebrate with a batch gluten free vanilla wafers and organic cheesecake cupcakes when my last package of paper napkins are ordered!
photo via VintageToGoEasy, available here
Cloth napkins and linen towels here
What I Learned:
1. I do miss the idea of teaching from Academic Parties and if teaching could be like that all day long five days a week and my class came with a kitchen I might go back to it.
2. It is getting easier and easier to let go of my hoard, especially since I think enough clutter has gone to even unclutter my mind! And I find myself practicing more mindful conscious buying, since my "Hoarding without Hoarding" experiment went awry.
I will not rely on my idea of hoarding as a business to become my definite future. As soon as all my hoard finds new lives and homes I am going to move on to something else and trust that the "something else" and I will find each other.
photo via VintageToGoEasy
tulip cloth towel napkin, available here
Our cloth napkins and towels start off looking this nice, but over time I end up
tea dying them, mending them and patching them up!
Thank you Etsy buyer from VintageToGoEasy for sending me a little note with your story that gave me the insight to stop my experiment of "hoarding without hoarding" as a business and stress relief.
I usually binge and rationalize my "hoarding without hoarding" or "catch and release" experiment in times of stress which is winter holidays and the months of July and August. More about that in another post!
Thank you Etsy for helping me release over 837 hoarded items and supporting my Hoarder Rehab via VintageToGoEasy, The Destiny of Things and JunkDrawerLoveEtsy!
Thank you US, Netherlands, Ukraine, France, UK, Argentina, Canada, Germany, Latvia, Russia, Moldova and others for taking part in my HoarderRehab and The Destiny of Things!
Click on the shop names to visit my hoard listed daily: HoarderRehab with 183 items , The Destiny of Things-195 items , VintageToGoEasy - 170 items and now JunkDrawerLove - 166 items! Maybe you'll find something to take home and share
your story too! Thanks for looking!
photo via VintageToGoEasy
nautical cloth towel napkin, available here
Related Stories: Other items used in classroom parties...
US Flag Related:
Most Read Story of the Day: If You Give a Mouse a Cookie Character and Book: The Destiny of Things, Story 176
Most Read Story of the Week, Month and All Time: My Louis Vuitton Collection: the end of my collection is the beginning for someone else. The last piece of my LV collection, my 80s LV gold cornered wallet is available here at The Destiny of Things!
Have a happy thankful safe Labor day weekend holiday!
No doubt that the "something else" and you will find one another when the time is right. I have found that as we continue moving onwards and upwards, one step at a time and sometimes doing so blindly that "Grace Happens" and we end up right where we are supposed to be!
ReplyDeleteWhen I read about your teaching adventures I think how fun it would have been to be one of your students. I bet you impacted more lives than you ever thought possible. Wouldn't it be nice to hear the stories now ... To know that you did make a huge difference.
Hi Kennedy!
ReplyDeleteSuch a lovely article! Friday Academic Parties what a fun time for your students.
I also make what I call mini cheesecakes to take to get togethers, sometimes I even make graham cracker crust and use that instead of vanilla wafers. Keep up the good work.
Ali
Thank you for the inspiration and encouraging words! It give me that little extra motivation to keep going, even when I don't want to!
ReplyDelete