We’re having a bit of a crisis in the art glass industry. Bullseye Glass has had to suspend most of their production due to a cease and desist order by the governor of the state of Portland regarding the usage of heavy minerals in their production. Uroboros has also suspended some of their production. They are both in Portland, OR. Part of the fallout of this is that Spectrum Glass, based in Washington State will be ending production and going out of business later this year. Uroboros produces a lot of glass for Spectrum. They have been manufacturing art glass for decades but now the local government is up in arms regarding soil, and air tests around the areas of their factories. Bullseye has been very active in equipping their factory with the necessary filters that will be required. You can check out the players in this nightmare us glass artists are witnessing by going to Bullseye’s web site as well as Uroboros and Spectrum. Also, this link can lead you to what you can do to let the government know that you stand by the art glass industry. The trickle down effect on this will be catastrophic if we don’t all band together in support of the affected companies. Thank you.
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Reflecting on the Past Year with Kids
I’m in deep denial about the fact that new year is almost upon us again! It’s been the fastest and the longest year at the same time, and I can look back and see some good things as well as some things I wish had gone differently.
Doing a year in review with your kids — whether in the classroom or at home — is a good way to capture some of their memories and the things they really liked about the year gone by.
There are a lot of different printable year in review worksheets you can use if you want to make this super easy. Here are links to a few (often part of larger posts about NYE celebrations with kids that are worth a read, too):
- Teach Beside Me has lots of fun printables fro the end of the year, including a year in review that covers favorite memory, funniest memory and the best book they read, among other topics.
- NurtureStore‘s version has space for a self-portrait and prompts like favorite toy, best day out this year and future dream job.
- Remember favorites, their “best idea” of the year and have room for setting goals for next year with this one from The Keele Deal.
- The year in review from Yes We Made This has room for drawing or writing and includes things like something they learned, a memory they made and a place they visited.
Of course you could pretty easily make your own year in review for the whole family to do that asks questions based on what you most want to remember. (Favorite video game? Best friend? Favorite family memory?)
And if after the year in review you’re ready to look ahead a bit, Mrs. Merry has new year’s resolution printables to inspired kids to look ahead and set goals for things they want to try. You can totally fill this one out as a grownup, too.
[Photo: Mrs. Merry]