Ordering Supplies

Today I finally pulled my sixth grade order together. Some of my decisions surprised even myself.

The biggest part of my order comes from Mercurius. I order some things from Dick Blick, as well, but the main supplies we use for the year are from Mercurius.

In the past I’ve really liked the main lesson books from another company called Raand. I don’t believe they are making their books anymore, and regardless, I think I’ve changed my mind. The quality of the paper is quite high in the Mercurius books, and their covers are solid and durable. The Mercurius books are also slightly larger than the Raand books that I used to order.

But, the size of the book was the thing that I surprised myself with this year. I’ve decided to order the larger 32 X 38 cm books (this converts to approximately 12.5 X 15 inches).

Usually these books are used by younger children, but recently I’ve observed some trends in my students’ work that I think will be resolved with the use of larger books.

1. Small handwriting. It seems that no matter what I do — give them liners, have them draw lines, have them redo pages with small handwriting — the problem continues. Some of them are just determined to make their longer compositions fit on one page. Having a larger page to fill will hopefully help with this.
2. Skimping on drawing. Next year I’m hoping to have the students really put their all into their drawings. I’d like to see them completely fill a page with color. Pieces of writing can have rich illustrations surrounding the writing. Full color pictures can have lots of detail. I’m continuing to use the larger Ferby-sized pencils with them, so they won’t be terribly overwhelmed by the idea of filling the page.

I’m wondering if anyone out there has had experience with working in the larger books with older children. I think that the possibilities are exciting, but part of me is worried that they will find that big expanse of white space a bit intimidating.

I’m so excited to work in these books with them!

The second part of my order were pencils. Last time around in sixth grade I switched to skinnier pencils. Though some of my students appreciated them, most of my students begged to return to the thicker Super-Ferby-type pencil. I agreed with them, too. I found that the pigment was much more vibrant with the thicker pencils — regardless of whether they were Lyra or Stockmar brand. Because the Stockmar are more affordable, I ordered those. There were some colors, though, that weren’t available in Stockmar, so I did order a few boxes of Lyras.

After getting this order all placed I’m so excited to get planning for next year. My first task will be to move into and paint my new room. I’ll be sure to post photos of that process.