Onwards

Sorry for the delay between posts, folks. Sometimes life gets in the way. My twin brother was in a pretty horrific car crash that, for a day or two, left us wondering if he'd make it. He broke ten ribs, his pelvis, a bone in his back, collapsed his lung, and ruptured his spleen. He spent four days in the ICU, and after a week in the hospital, is miraculously going home today.

So my classroom has been on the backburner. Today, though, I was finally able to get some things started.

IdeaPaint is awesome, but it is labor intensive, and requires plenty of prepping and patience. You have to sand the surface both before and after you prime, and then, after the sanding and priming, you get to use the actual IdeaPaint product.

The empty canvas-- floors freshly waxed



 

 First things first, I had to once and for all decide on what dimensions I wanted to be dry erase. I had played with a myriad of possibilities. The first, naïve idea was to have floor to ceiling become dry erase. Aside from the gigantic cost of such a project (probably close to $2,500), it was wholly unnecessary; the entire point of the dry erase was to make it easy to collaborate and express your ideas. No one was going to want to kneel awkwardly on their hands and knees, maneuvering around electrical outlets and dataports to jot something down (at least not my students), or stand precariously on a chair to draw something at near-ceiling level.

I settled on a 4.5 foot tall strip going around the entire room. The dry erase begins at a little above knee level, and goes to a little above the height of a door. That may or may not sound like a lot of space, but when you consider it's entirely uninterrupted horizontally, it's gigantic. This picture demonstrates, I think, the scope of the project. For a sense of scale, the first wall alone contains three times the writing space the whiteboard at the front of my room has.

Jackson loved helping outline in painters tape.

The writing surface doesn't fear corners.

 

 

So my four year old son and I began to outline the desired dimensions in blue painter's tape. We used a level to maintain a straight edge, and were able to get about half the measuring and taping done. Then we started sanding; IdeaPaint suggests sanding before and after priming to ensure a perfect profile onto which the paint may cure. I opted to use 150 grain sandpaper for the pre-prime scuffing and the recommended 120 grain sandpaper for the post-prime job. In both instances, it's important to use a dry, clean cloth to wipe away the very fine dust/debris left behind.

 

Easy.

 

 

We were only able to sand a relatively small section today; we will work throughout Wednesday and Thursday to measure, tape, and sand. Friday night (after a round of golf with my dad and brother), we will prime the walls. Finally, Saturday will be painting day!

 

In ten days this will be the first IdeaPaint classroom in the state.

 

Again, I encourage any and everybody to leave ideas for protocols, activities, games, procedures, or strategies using the surfaces of both the walls and desks! I hope everyone is having a great summer.