TRADE DAY 2015! Artist Trading Card Swap

I made my goal.  Today is the day all the Artist Trading Cards will be sent back to the participating schools.  I'm so excited to get these out before the end of the year.  Right before break I had a crew of art teachers come help me for distributing.  

My helpers are Art teachers from the area and my district.  This was really a very good time (well, art teacher good time).  You know it's not a gathering in MN without a few snacks... they were provided by my team of workers.  I really love these people in my life.  They are respected and supportive co-workers... I kind of hit the jackpot with the other art teachers in my district. So thank you publically to Kelly Gorder, Jerry Goettsch, Bill Hammer, Leah Schultz, Amy Cunningham, Mary Farber, Sue Davies-Polzine, and  Paula Benfer.  You guys are the best!!

The first thing that we thought we would do is take all the trades and place them in groups of 10.  That would allow us to easily count the number of cards each school was to receive.  This worked really well and the most fun part about this process was that we all walked away from this activity with great lesson plans from all the participating artist.  I have been trying to share the updates and all the lesson plans, but there's just something about holding the cards to really get a feel for the art.  That is why I can't wait to send these cards your way.  I hope you have the same experience.  

The next thing that we did was lay out all of the envelopes.  I had been placing addresses and numbers from the trades on each envelope so we put the cards from the trade above the envelope that was going out.  We hope this way no one get's cards sent back to them from themselves.  I double checked all the envelopes as well... I really hope that you got the right number when all was said and done.  If not, please email me, (nicholechahn@yahoo.com) I have some backup cards. 

This was really neat to see... all the envelopes... how it filled my whole classroom.  It brought a happy tear to this girls eye.

Because my helpers also participated in this trade, they had first dibs.  They got to go around the room and gather all the cards that they wanted for their own kiddos.  It was like a Merry Christmas to all... REALLY... like kids in a candy store.  It was fun to see the difficulty of gathering the cards.  To choose was difficult because there were so many great cards sent our way.

We left the envelopes open so that I could put the final touches on the trade.  I brought all of these packages home and waiting for the holiday season to wrap up.  I didn't think it would be fair of me to walk up to the post office with this many packages during the holiday season.  My goal was to get them out before 2016... and by gosh... we're going to make it.

So here is the final numbers people.  101 schools signed up.  10,700 cards were expected.  The final number of participants was 76 schools with over 8700 cards swapped. Wow!! That was a great first run.  See what I said there... first run... I plan to do this again next year.  There are a couple of things that I plan to change to make the process a little more successful, but overall... I loved coordinating this.  It was fun to see the cards come in, and I've got to say... a little sad to see them go out.  :)  They have been such a part of my last 4 months... what will I do with all my time?  I'm sure I'll find something to work on. :) 

Thank you to ALL that participated... be expecting a package soon!!