Decimals & Percents Mini-Unit

A few quick activities, all FREE on TpT!

Montessori Style Decimal Board

Halloween Multiplying Decimals Task Cards

Multiplying Decimals Review Activity

Long Division with Decimals Practice Sheets - for guided notes

Dividing Decimals by Whole Numbers - for independent practice

Converting Decimals to Percents Math Puzzle

Converting Between Fractions, Decimals, and Percents

Converting to Percents Scavenger Hunt

Early Voting Information

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov 5 from 6 am to 7 pm. If you'd like to vote early, here are the options in our county (elections.il.gov and jacksoncounty-il.gov)

Jackson County
Jackson County Clerk’s Office
1001 Walnut St
Murphysboro IL 62966

every weekday
Oct 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29, 30, 31
8 am to 4 pm

Nov 1
8 am to 4 pm

Nov 2
8 am to noon

Jackson County
Carbondale City Hall
200 S Illinois Ave
Carbondale IL 62901

Oct 21, 22, 23, 25
9 am to 3 pm

Jackson County
SIU Student Center
1255 Lincoln Dr
SIU Campus
Carbondale IL 62901

Oct 24
9 am to 3 pm

Oct 30 & 31
10 am to 5 pm

Nov 1
10 am to 5 pm

Yes, you can vote at the SIU Student Center on Halloween before you go trick and treating! How cool! NO excuse or reason is required to early vote.

Special Note: The Illinois State website and the Jackson County website info did not match, so I called the County Clerk's office to get confirmation of the correct dates & times. So I am confident that all of the above is correct!

Indigo

In Feb 2019, the last time I taught the Fibers & Clothing block, we had a special guest for dyeing with indigo. I've never had the courage to set up an indigo vat (eek!). We went over to SIU to meet with Dr. Sedonia Sipes, who taught us about shibori (the Japanese art of folding the fabric before dyeing) and helped us dye our items with indigo. All of those photos are here.

This time around, we also had a special guest for indigo dyeing but it was an even shorter trip. During a party, I discovered that my next door neighbor had an indigo vat! (Yes, this is what I do at block parties apparently. Network with people, and set up future field trips and special guests.)

So we walked through the crepe myrtle bushes to her yard and she taught us how to do it.

Thursday Oct 10

Our lesson in shibori! Each child got a cotton tote bag to dye as they wished.

Some children used rubber bands, some children used clothespins, and some had a combination of both in their design.

Thursday Oct 17

Day 2! It's time to dip our folded tote bags in the indigo dye bath!

gloves are essential!

soak your items in water first, so that they dye evenly

the items will come out bright green at first (left),
then will shift to blue (right) as the dye reacts with the air

holding back a friend's long hair so it doesn't go in the dye!

During recess, I washed each tote bag in my Art Sink and then removed all the rubber bands and clothespins. Here are the before and after pictures.

Note: The bags with the teal color on them had been folded and wrapped up so tightly that oxygen simply hadn't gotten to all of the fabric quite yet! As we watched, they shifted to the true indigo blue color.

Lastly, I ran the bags through the washing machine with a little bit of mild laundry detergent, and we hung them out on the clothesline to dry! Many thanks to Ms. Jasmine for doing this extraordinary project with the children!

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