Learn the 10 Signs of Death approaching. Also find Practical Tips for making your loved one more comfortable—and for taking care of you—during this hard time.
Here's something fun John and I've been meaning to build for a while now: A Death Star Funko Pop Shelf! This wasn't actually for us - no WAY we have that kind of free wall space - but for our friend Steph, who is cuckoo for Funko Pops. She gets new Star Wars ones every month, and initially fell in love with this shelf from The Sew*er, The Caker, The Copycat Maker: Isn't it gorgeous? That one requires soooo many cuts, though - super labor intensive - plus John and I really wanted to incorporate some lights for that extra wow factor. So instead we decided on a simple silhouette with jagged sides, which we would then back light with color-changing LEDs. The whole thing took a day and a half to build and paint, and cost about $60. More than half that cost was for lights you can find cheaper online, though, so your cost should be closer to $45. John's mounting system holds the shelf away from the wall a few inches, which allows room for the lighting hardware and that glorious glowy goodness. Sadly I don't have a template to share with you, since John made this up as he went along, but I can walk you through the build photos and show you how to make your own. YOU WILL NEED: - (1) 4x8 sheet of 1/2 inch MDF, cut in half. (One half will be the Death Star silhouette, and the other will be the shelves.) - (1) 16-foot LED light strip with remote, like this one: These are the same kind of lights we used in our steampunk circle shelves. They're only $15 on Amazon, but we were in a rush, so we paid $35 at the local electronics shop. (Boo.) You'll also need: - Wood glue & short wood screws - Hot glue gun & hot glue (to attach the lights) - Painters' Tape or masking tape - Table saw - Jigsaw - Router - Primer & gray paint Since we had to transport the unit in the car, John built ours in two pieces, with the seam behind the middle shelf. If you're building yours onsite, though, you can keep your circle in one piece. So, start by drawing a 46 inch circle: (You could go up to 48 inches, but our wood was a little banged on the edges.) Use a compass or a small bowl to mark the smaller circle at the top left. Next use the painters' tape to mark out your shelf spacing: We made the top shelves a little farther apart, to accommodate larger Pops. Next use more tape (preferable something an inch or two wide) to mark out the jagged edge: You can see the clip art we used as a reference, but we mostly just winged it. Trace everything with a pencil, then remove the tape: Now the awful part: go out in the 90 degree, mosquito-infested heat, and cut everything out with the jigsaw. While you're at it, cut the shelves, too. (No process pics here because I graciously allowed John to do all the hard stuff. :D) Our shelves are 3 inch wide MDF strips, but be aware some of the extra wide specialty Pops (like Luke's land speeder) won't fit on 3 inches, so you may want to go wider. Again, ours is in two pieces. You can see here how the middle shelf covers that seam: Next route all the edges except the jagged side. If you don't have a router, hit the edges with a palm sander to round them a little. (This is technically optional, but it looks more polished this way.) You could just use wood glue to attach the shelves (it's more than strong enough), but our wood was a little warped, so John had to use a few screws, too. Once the glue's dry, spray on some primer and then apply a gray satin top coat: We used a small mohair roller to paint ours, but spray paint's another good option. Just watch out for drips on that jagged edge! Once the painting is done, it's time to flip the unit over and install the lights. The lights have an adhesive backing, but you'll need that hot glue to help bend them into shape around the circle: You can see John added extra pieces of wood under the hanger and on the bottom to give the unit more distance from the wall. The hanger itself is hard to describe, so here's a visual aid: The bottom piece is not attached to the shelf unit, and gets screwed into the wall (into two studs.) The top piece IS attached to the shelf unit, and slides into place on the lower one. This system is super strong and secure, and makes hanging the whole unit a breeze. (A-ha! Apparently the hanger is called a French Cleat. Thanks, commenters!) Even with harsh sunlight on it, the color LEDs look fantastic: And the remote lets you change them to all sorts of pretty colors: Although the blue wall paint makes the yellow LEDs look bright green. Heh. After dark is when the shelf REALLY shines, though: Oooooh. Aaaaaaaah. How's that for a geeky night light, eh? The remote lets you dim the lights, too, so they're less bright/overwhelming. Or there's a flashing option, if you want to throw a disco dance party. :D We calculated our shelf can hold around 42 regular size Pop figures. Steph has 32 on there now, so she has a little room to grow. Also, if our silhouette design is too simple for you, you could always paint in some panels and detailing on the Death Star - or paint it solid black, or pink, or whatever strikes your fancy. Make it your own! Then send me pictures! Hope you guys enjoyed our latest build! Now I'm off to start sketching our next idea. Mwah. Ha. Haaa.
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Ways to Make 5 We've been working on our fluency of addition and subtraction facts to 5 and my little scholars are getting so good at it! I found this gem on Pinterest and today we made our own version. We made an anchor chart for the ways to make 5 and we'll soon make one for ways to make 10. My little scholars each made their own rainbow of ways to make 5 to keep in their math folders. They recorded the ways to make 5 on the recording sheet. You can grab the ways to make 5 printables here! We played a fun little partner game to build their fluency of facts within 5 called "Hiding in My Hand." Give each pair 5 pom poms or other small manipulatives. One of your little scholars will divide the pom poms up (2 in one hand, 3 in the other or 4 in one hand, 1 in the other, etc.) and show their partner the pom poms in one hand. The partner has to figure out how many pom poms are missing, building their fluency of facts within 5. We also used these Duplo blocks to show the different ways of making 5. Ways to Make 10 I've also started prepping my ways to make 10 activities. My favorite materials to use for teaching this unit are pom poms and bingo daubers. We'll play "Hiding in My Hand" with 10 pom poms and do some other activities my little scholars will love! We'll be making our Poppin' Pairs of 10 books. My little scholars will keep these in their math folders and at the end of the unit will be able to take them home. I make up songs for almost everything, so teaching ways to make 10 is no exception. We'll be learning this song, "I Can Make 10." This song is in Poppin' Pairs of 10 unit. Bubble Gum Drop might be my favorite activity in this unit! My little scholars will open a plastic container, dump out the pom poms, and record the combination of 10 on the recording sheet. We'll use these mats during small group. These mats are from my Poppin' Pairs of 10 unit. I got these trays from Goodwill and have found so many uses for them! We'll use them to make ten during small groups. I also made copies of the ways to make 10 rainbow for each of my little scholars to keep in his/her math folder and a recording sheet to write all the ways to make 10. You can grab both the rainbow and recording sheet printables here! Check out my Poppin' Pairs of 10 unit that includes 4 center activities with recording sheets, "I Can" cards, 2 mini books, posters, a chant, a song, printables and more! Pin the image below to save this post for later!
If you want to remember someone who's passed anniversary or comfort a friend that's missing a loved one then use one of these death anniversary quotes and messages
One of the hardest things to explain to a child is death, but as much we wish it weren’t true, it’s a natural part of life and it happens to every living thing. For many children, the death of a pet is the first time they have to face this painful chapter of life. Grief is an extremely complicated emotion, usually involving a mixture of confusing feelings of pain, sadness, guilt, anger, and fear of their own death, or the death of family members. 1. Honor the pet. Most cultures have ceremonies or rituals to honor those we have lost. It helps us accept the loss and recognize the importance of the loved one in our lives. Children may find comfort in such a ceremony or in some sort of memorial of their beloved pet. 2. Embrace memories. The finality of death doesn’t erase the memories we have made. Helping children record and visualize their memories can help them see how the pet lives on in their hearts. 3. Identify feelings. As I mentioned earlier, there are so many feelings bundled together in the form of grief. Helping children sort out each feeling and understand why they feel those things, can help them embrace all feelings as normal. When we are able to define feelings, we can separate our actions from them. Often, when a child acts out, he or she is having trouble not only articulating but understanding what they are feeling. Having emotional intelligence begins with being able to define feelings and see how emotions often come in groups and that they, therefore, have roles to play in helping us through difficult times. 4. List ways to sooth sadness. Just like we take aspirin when we have physical pain, we find ways to sooth emotional pain. Sometimes those are healthy tools, and sometimes they’re not. Helping children find healthy ways to sooth painful feelings can help lay the groundwork healthier responses to adult feelings. Helping children make a list of things that make them feel better can give them a toolbox to reach for when they don’t know what to do with what they are feeling. 5. Tell them crying is good. Speaking of soothing painful feelings, our body has a natural reaction to feelings of sadness and anger—crying. Often we think we are soothing children by telling them not to cry, that there’s no reason to cry. However, crying is important, in a very real way. It even releases a bit of a natural pain killer. I believe that when we deny our bodies of their own instinctive reactions, we confuse our emotions and delay our emotional processing. With grief, in particular, delaying the process of grief can extend our pain. 6. Make sure they understand it’s not their fault. We often immediately identify feelings of sadness and anger when it comes to grief. Those are frequently the first to present themselves and the most dominant of the feelings we may have when we’ve lost someone or something close to us. One of the trickier emotions is guilt. Guilt usually comes in a package with its own protective shell of confusion and shame. It is especially important for children to understand they are not at fault when a pet’s death is outside our control. Misplaced guilt can have long-term effects on children’s self-esteem. Death is a natural part of life but even adults often find grief to be a difficult journey at any age. Humans have forever been trying to find ways to avoid death. And while medical and technical advances have helped to extend lives, we’ve yet to find a way to keep living things from eventually dying. There are so many ways to help children process the death of a pet. I’ve outlined a few here, but I have created some practical activities you can share with children ages 6 to 10 in the activity book Memories of You. It’s important to help children visualize in a very real way what they feel and need, and this workbook uses art and writing activities that can help children understand what they are feeling, how they are reacting, and how to move forward. Here are some ways you might use this activity book with a student: Send a book home with parents when they request help (this is one of the most effective ways to use them with students). After a counseling session, hand one to students and have them work in it independently. Use it as part of your individual counseling sessions (do a couple pages each session). Print them and select certain pages to work with students or small groups. Make selected activities be a part of a whole class lesson (i.e. teach lesson about self-confidence then give each student their own book). After sessions with students, have a folder where they complete five pages and then during next week’s session discuss those five. Give them another five until they complete the entire book. To download a copy of Memories of You, visit my TpT Store HERE.
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The death of a pet can be truly devastating, and while it's important to show someone who is grieving that you care, it can be hard to know what to say. Here are some simple messages you can use in a card, a text message, or on the phone to console your friend after the death of their beloved pet.
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