From years of classroom use, I had forgotten if this was a large piranha or small baby shark.
photo via JunkDrawerLoveEtsy
From my listing:
This was one of the best teacher props ever! Horrific Halloween decor or thriller teacher classroom decor! It was used multiple times of the year for various lessons. Students never seemed to get tired of inspecting it.
My
students love for this was a toss up with the REAL puffer fish! (Puffer Fish photos and story here) This
is an amazing odd curiosity to bring excitement and suspense when
beginning any lesson pertaining to animals, fish, ocean life,
carnivores, continents and oceans, etc! or really any lesson that starts
to get boring!
Keep it hidden behind your back, while you introduce talk about dangerous creatures, like man eating fish and such. Have them brainstorm some, while turning to the side a bit here for a slight peek and there, start talking more quietly til your whispering...
AND THEN all of sudden say, "and I've got one to share with you today!" and just whip this out in a clear plastic box, inside a large zip lock bag with a Sherlock Holmes magnifying glass and you will hear the oooooh and aaaaahs, just like I did! Give your passing around rules, express how fragile it is and take turns with the inspections! Always provide adult supervision when being handled by students!
Keep it hidden behind your back, while you introduce talk about dangerous creatures, like man eating fish and such. Have them brainstorm some, while turning to the side a bit here for a slight peek and there, start talking more quietly til your whispering...
AND THEN all of sudden say, "and I've got one to share with you today!" and just whip this out in a clear plastic box, inside a large zip lock bag with a Sherlock Holmes magnifying glass and you will hear the oooooh and aaaaahs, just like I did! Give your passing around rules, express how fragile it is and take turns with the inspections! Always provide adult supervision when being handled by students!
So this little guy was handled by over 500 students over my teaching career and it's intact!
photo via JunkDrawerLoveEtsy
The person who ordered it sent me this email about it:
I purchased these tiger shark jaws (that's the species) to add to the
collection of items in my teen son's shark-themed bathroom. We live
about 300 miles from the beaches here in Texas, so we don't get to the
water as much as we would like. I am so thankful to have found your
specimen on Etsy! The jaws probably did come from a juvenile
shark...they are the troublemakers that nip folks on the ankles at the
beaches here. They haven't learned the difference between bait fish and
human legs with ankle bracelets!
Thanks so much and I am looking forward to receiving my order.
Blessings!
Thanks so much and I am looking forward to receiving my order.
Blessings!
Later I received this note:
Precious and dainty...didn't think you could say that about sharks'
teeth, did you?! We found the perfect keepsake frame and hope to have
this on the wall today.
Nope, how cool is that! My precious and dainty tiger shark jaw in a shark themed room! It sounds like a little shark museum. My students and I would have loved to seen something like that and would have loved to have known that the jaw may have bitten some ankles! Good to know it's safe behind some glass now!
photo via JunkDrawerLoveEtsy
Saying Goodbye: I can't even remember when or where I got this little guy, but one of my first themed teaching lessons was "Friends or Foe of the Oceans" which led to the Seven Seas and Continents. Anyways, I'm so thankful this has gone to a better life and home. It's now free from my "ocean" box.
Now if I can only let go of my shell collection, many which are from when my mom and aunt worked at Disneyland in the 50s. Below is the second most classroom favorite thing from my "ocean" collection. It came off one of my mom's huge seashell beach basket purse.
photo via JunkDrawerLoveEtsy, available here
What I Learned:
1. My hoarded items seem to be easier to let go these days and I'm thinking of having a sale to speed up the process, but then again, I don't well when too many things leave too quickly. It's too much for me to process at once. Dilemma.
2. I have been making more time for art projects, but I really don't like what I've been making. I continue on in hopes I will find something soon.
What do you do when you have a creative block? I'm moving on and trying different things, but my ideas are not turning into the realities I've imagined! Been looking for other things to try on Pinterest, which is quite addictive! Today I started looking for inspiration with Japanese packaging and ended up here!
Distressed six armed starfish!
photo via JunkDrawerLoveEtsy, available here
Thank you Etsy buyer from JunkDrawerLoveEtsy for sending me two email stories to help me with mine! I am so happy to say that dehoarding is becoming easier and easier, but only time will tell! I'll have to wait and see what happens during the winter holidays this year! I think I'll do better this time!
Thank you Etsy for helping me dehoard over 780 items with more going out each week!
Thank you US, France, India, Germany, Canada, Ukraine and many others for supporting my Hoarder Rehab: The Destiny of Things!
Click on the shop names to visit new hoard listed daily: HoarderRehab with 184 items , The Destiny of Things-192 items , VintageToGoEasy - 173 items and now JunkDrawerLoveEtsy - 167 items! Thanks for looking! Maybe you'll find something to take home and share
your story too!
Related Stories:
Most Read Story of the Day: and one of my favorites too Retro Plastic Mermaid Cocktail Drink Charms: The Destiny of Things, Story #116
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!
"Live is not about getting and having, it's about giving and being."---Kevin Kruse
Hi K K,
ReplyDeleteLoved this shark tale! Wish I had been a student in your class, you must have been a wonderful teacher and you're still passing on your wisdom through your many shops. The perfect ending would be if your buyer would send along a picture of her shark museum bathroom! Ali
Wouldn't that be fun to see the shark museum bathroom! Thank you for your kind comments.
ReplyDeleteGreat story. It is so good to hear that saying goodbye is getting easier and easier for you. That is terrific!
ReplyDeleteI see in one of your photos that the tiny shark teeth are photographed on a wooden tripod stand. I have a bunch of them too. They are mostly used as sphere stands in my house.....
Yes, thanks to Etsy, my Hoarder Rehab blog and supporters like you and Ali dehoarding is becoming easier and easier. I'm so thankful something is working this time around!
ReplyDeleteWhere do you find your wooden tri pods?