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ISGB.org – Time for The Gathering Again

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It’s that time of year…The Gathering of The International Society of Bead Makers. This year it will be in Rochester, NY on July 29 through August 1. If you haven’t gone to a Gathering and you’re  a bead maker, you must go. It’s short notice for this one unless you’re on the east coast. Ive been to a few and have learned some amazing things as well as had a fantastic time. Alas, I will not be at this one. I’m opening my glass studio called The Glass Studio next month (but that’s a whole other blog post!) and have a big bead show the same weekend. But I guarantee I’ll be at next years.

So what happens at one of these Gatherings? Lectures and demos and parties and a Bead Bazaar and tools and supply buying and all kinds of great times! The theme this year is the Origins and Influence of the Glass Bead. Sounds good to me. So check out their site and the booklet and try to get over there if you can.

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Peach Themed Learning Activities

August is National Peach Month, and it’s the perfect time to learn about, learn with and eat peaches!

According the Utah State University’s Extension Service, peaches originated in China more than 8,000 years ago. There are more than 2,000 species, and they are good sources of vitamins A, C and E. Their fuzzy hair is known as trichomes, which helps protect the peaches against insects and retains moisture. Pretty sweet!

Learn about the life cycle of a peach with this printable pack from Every Star is Different. (Free to subscribers)

Twisty Noodle has a lot of great peach-themed worksheets including a tracing and coloring page, a dot to dot coloring page, do a dot page and practice writing the word peach. You can also learn to draw a peach from Hello Artsy and find more fruit coloring pages, including peaches, at Little Bee Family.

Kids of a certain age will want to read James and the Giant Peach (and/or watch the movie) and you can do activities related to the book for your peach unit study as well. 

Simple Living Creative Learning has a James and the Giant Peach printable pack that includes 153 pages of math, literacy, pattern recognition, sorting and tons more (this isn’t free but it’s a great resource for a kid who loves this book). 

Where the Magic Happens Teaching has another paid printable set of activities for doing James and the Giant Peach in the classroom, including a banner, quotes, poetry sheets, a STEM activity, lapbook and more.

Peanut Butter Fish Lessons has a good post about reading James and the Giant Peach with kids and using it to make predictions, track descriptive and figurative language and fun ideas for activities related to different chapters of the book. I love how it pulls in a lot of different kinds of synthesizing what you’ve read, from writing a news report to making a poster or acting out a scene. 

And if you need a little sensory activity after all that, make some peach-scented playdough with this recipe from Laughing Kids Learn. 

12 Perfectly Peach Recipes [Edible Crafts]

Healthy Halloween Dessert: Ghost Peaches [Edible Crafts]