For paper since you need so many of the same sheet I would try either walmart, or an office supply store and purchase packs of paper, I know walmart has computer type stationary that is acid free (says so in the label, and this is a must for scrapbooks nowadays) and I think they sell for about $1.97 for 20 sheets of the same theme, which would make your classes easier at first, if they were all working on the same kind of page. Dollar Tree also has scrapbook page kits available at some of their stores that include the following:
8 sheets of pattern or theme paper
4 cut out frames or mats
4 matching frames or mats for journaling
8 die cuts
A pretty good deal for $1.00
Since you work at a school, I would purchase solid colors of acid free paper in packs (also available at walmart, or Micheals, hobby lobby , etc.) and use the school's die cut machine and make some die cuts for the students to use, or better yet have them help you make them.
As for testing material, I would start with some questions on acid free materials, what is and what isn't, how to test for it (they make an acid testing pen) etc. What is journaling (telling the story of the photos) What are punchies, die cuts, etc..
I would also get a couple of pairs of deco. scissors, a couple of punches, at least two paper trimmers, since you will have so many students, or have the mats cut in advance. I think the glue pens sold at walmart are the easiest to use, they are in the craft department and several students could share one, I think they sell for $2.44 each, the smaller ones are the best, they are blue in color. I would say you would need at least one pen per 4 students. You will need some gel pens, some templates, and an assortment of acid free stickers, depending on your themes. If you write to many of the scrapbook companies they will often donate you supplies for school activies like this, so write to them NOW. Love Penny and please keep us updated.

If you are looking to buy supplies in bulk, try the Stationery and Scrapbook Factory Outlet (www.sfodirect.com) On this site, you can buy plenty of cardstock, templates, stickers, glue, etc. All the supplies needed for scrapbooking AND there are two options. If you are placing about $20 order you would order from the Consumer Outlet but if your order was a min. of $50 then you can order from the Business to business store -- and you don't actually have to be a business. A friend of mine and I got a boatload of cardstock and supplies here. The prices would be great for a school class. I hope this helps.

Rebecca

Part 1

Kaye-

What an exciting venture! This is just the kind of challenge I love helping come up with
ideas for!! I'll do what I can and you can take and leave whatever you choose. (It seems
Ive written a whole heck of a LOT looking back on what IÂve written so IÂll send it in
several sections.)

Is this an actual semester-long class or is it a section of another class? What subject do
you normally teach? This sounds like an elective for a home ec or art credit. They're
always getting the home ec and art teachers to take on these new tasks. :) Do you have
school funds you are able to use or are you having to use your own money for the
supplies? What kind of classroom do you have? Having answers to these questions might
change how I address some aspects, but I'll try to cover all the bases.

Scrapbooking today is very different from what it used to be even five or ten years ago.
You'll definitely have to do your homework. Instead of just collecting memorabilia and
sticking it to the page with rubber cement, there is a big emphasis on journaling that
explains the pictures or event the pics represent, as well as creating attractive full-page
layouts to display the photos. Often in a two-page layout. There is also a big emphasis on
using archivally safe products so that scrapbooks created today will be around and in
excellent condition for a long time to come.

I suggest starting by exploring the internet. There is more information there than you will
be able to read in a lifetime. There's few places I'd recommend starting. Graceful Bee has
an excellent section for "newbees." The others I listed here also have great sections for
beginners.

Graceful Bee- www.gracefulbee.com
Scrapbooking Obsession- www.scrapobsession.com
A Lifetime Of Memories- http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Village/3771/index.html

And, if you are ever in need of additional links there is always scraplink.com. Their goal
is to link to every scrapbooking site on the internet! This might be a little too intimidating
for a beginner so that's why I suggest going other places first, then you'll better be able to
know what to search for on Scraplink. There are also huge layout idea sections at dMarie
and Two Peas In A Bucket as well as others.

It might be beneficial to have a small "library" of various scrapbooking magazines
available to your students. There are two major scrapbooking magazines: Creating
Keepsakes and Memory Makers. Two others I can think of are Ivy Cottage Creations and
Paper Kuts. They are not as popular, but have a very loyal following. (Creating
Keepsakes magazine has a special through the end of March for back issues $4.00 each,
buy one get one free. That's two issues for $4.00. The normal price is $4.95 each.) CK
and MM also have several special issues and idea books that are excellent. I subscribe to
and am most familiar with CK so I won't really be able to tell you what the others offer,
but you will want to look into them as well as CK.

(continued...)

Part 2

As far as supplies, I'd contact major online suppliers and any local scrapbook, office
supply and craft stores to see of they will work with you when purchasing supplies. They
may give you free shipping, put together a basic kit to donate to you or give you a
discounted rate for purchases since it's for a school. Your kind of class will undoubtedly
inspire many a scrapbooker to continue long after the class is over and if you make it
known where the supplies came from, they are more likely to go to that same place to
purchase their own supplies in the future. That might be a good incentive for a business
to donate supplies. (If you find you are forced to pay for a lot of things yourself, post
messages on several bulletins boards explaining your situation and asking for donations
of any extra supplies people have and I'll bet you'll get supplies pouring in! The downside
to that would be you wouldn't know what you're getting- you might end up with ten of
this and none of that-, what condition it would be in and it may not be wise to give out
your address on the net. If you do this I'd suggest using the school address, "attn.: your
dept.", or getting a P.O. box and only post that address. It's been done with great success
in the past.)

I don't shop online much, but some great online suppliers are dMarie.com (I have
shopped here and was very pleased), twopeasinabucket.com, pebblesinmypocket.com,
and Keeping Memories Alive at scrapbooks.com. CK magazine has a lot of great
advertisements and I'm sure you can find more suppliers to appeal to in there. These are
just the few suppliers I can think of off the top of my head.

I'd recommend using large tables rather than individual desks for several reasons. You
can have groups of four or five (even six if the tables are large enough) at a table and
share supplies easily, eliminating the need for many duplicates. Also the area afforded on
an individual desk will probably be too small a workspace.

Have students supply their own basics such as: scissors, their choice of adhesive (you'll
want to explain and/or demonstrate each type of suggested adhesives, emphasizing what
ever they choose it must be acid-free), a basic black journaling pen (with acid-free ink)
and, of course, photos. Preferably ones that are duplicates.

Third, what to teach and how to teach it. That will depend largely how much time you
have. If it is a class in and of itself, you will be able to be more flexible than if it's a short
section of another class. The best way to learn how to scrapbook is to actually do it so Id
give demos and give them lots of class time to work on their own. I would start with the
basic principles of design, color wheel, etc. These would be good quiz material. There is
a book put out by CK called "Simple Scrapbook Makeovers" that I believe specifically
addresses it as it applies to scrapbooking. There were several scrapbooking books I got
from the library that had that info in them as well. I cant think of the titles now because
since Id had design classes I didnt pay much attention to that part of the books.

For the final test or exam you could make it a take-home type project and give them time
in class to work on it to use class supplies. You could require certain elements like, 1)one
layout should use the element of balance, 2)one layout should use a complimentary color
scheme, 3)one should use one of the following techniques: list two or three techniques
you covered in class and give them their choice, etc. Make it based upon how well they
can incorporate the principles you teach into their albums.

Layouts usually take an average of an hour to complete. Some longer, some shorter. I
would allow this as a minimum for beginners of high school age. Say, they should have at
least one layout done and another started for every two class periods. They will get faster
as they do it longer.

I can think of a few different ways you could teach it. You could 1)demonstrate one
technique and give students a class period or two to create their own layout using that
method. 2)You could demonstrate all of them, say one or two per day for a week, giving
them handouts and showing examples, and the next week they can work on layouts using
whichever techniques they want to try.

(continued...)

Part 3

For classroom supplies I suggest these things: I keep going back to the idea of supply kits.
By that I mean a box of sorts with similar things in that box. Such as a decorative scissors
box, a pens/colored pencils box with several creative lettering guides and templates, a
chalks box with several applicators, stamps and ink pads box, a die cuts box, a paper
punch box with all the leftover paper scraps, etc.

You might consider having an acid testing pen at your desk to test any questionable items
they might bring in for acidity. All items should be acid free that go into a scrapbook. If
they arent they need to be properly protected so they dont affect the other items. Acid
discolors and damages items and lignin in paper deteriorates over time so its important
to keep these things in mind when chosing items to include.

Heres my list of suggested supplies. You can take or leave all this as you choose. Its just
my opinion. :)
-lots of acid- and lignin-free solid colored cardstock paper and patterned paper in basic
patterns
-several pairs of decorative scissors in several patterns (deckle and scallop edge seem to
be widely used)
-lots of acid-free pens in different colors and colored pencils
-albums or binders of some sort to put the finished product in (you could make this
something the students provide for themselves)
-top-loading, archivally safe sheet protectors (these make it very easy to store a work in
progress when the bell rings, too)
-templates in many different shapes to create journaling blocks and rulers for guidelines,
-samples of many different creative lettering styles (alphabets and numbers). Theres lots
of free ones at Graceful Bee and lots of great, affordable books with tons.
-punches in several basic styles
-a few chalks and stamps with ink pads so they can sample these techniques (stamping is
an entire craft in itself and can really get expensive so you may want to just introduce
them to it and let them explore it on their own if they choose to)
-page embellishments such as stickers, die cuts, frames, borders, etc.

Boy! My two cents has turned into a couple of bucks! I hope you can find the information
you need. If you need any more help or ideas, just ask! Although youve probably heard
all you want from me! LOL

Good luck and yes, please do keep us posted.

-Sarah