Foam Frames for Matilda

        Aren't those frames beautiful? Colorful? You know, I almost threw them in the garbage can!

A while back, I was cutting out foam base-ten blocks on the Ellison machine because the yellow plastic ones are so noisy. The 9 x 12 inch foam pieces had already been cut into 4 equal pieces ready to go into the machine for units, rods, etc. But, the outer part was just sitting there waiting to be thrown away..... so I got to thinking how they could surely be used for something.... and I put them into a Walmart bag and stored them in my classroom.

Then, I had a student group reading Matilda, by Roald Dahl. They were writing a limerick about one of their favorite characters, and sketching a small illustration. that's when I thought about the bag of foam leftovers - they were in the shape of little frames!

So, the students took a few minutes to try different frames over the top of their sketches. They chose colors they thought looked good. They glued the frame onto the paper and when it was dry, cut off the paper that was sticking out around the edges.

Then they chose where on the limerick to place their framed illustration. They loved the finished products and they didn't cost anything! We put them in the hallway to share with everyone at school.