For September, our theme is Back to School. We asked you to send in pictures of school themed miniatures.
This month's sample challenge comes from Terry Unnold:
Noah Webster was called the “Father of American Scholarship and Education.” A school teacher and an ardent revolutionary, Noah hated the English and he embarked on a lifelong journey of creating Webster’s Dictionary and a Spelling Book as part of his mission to replace English textbooks with American textbooks.
This is a Centerpiece from the 2005 National Convention "All Across America". Members of the Fitch House Miniatures Club helped with our project which depicted his classroom, the main room of the homestead of Noah Webster (1758-1843), and his herb garden in West Hartford, CT. Joan Judd and I visited the homestead to recreate his early American lifestyle as a well known Connecticut literary figure.
Here are the beautiful submissions.
From Helen Sparks:
1/4” scale schoolhouse created in a class taught by Bruce and Judy Steinke of BJ Miniatures. They even made “blackboards” with our names on them.
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From Crystal Johnson:
I like to share my mouse school whenever I can. My mother was a principal of an elementary school and also a member of NAME and she always said this was her favorite piece I made. All mice are handmade and felted by me.
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From Marie Weeks:
Here is a photo of a diorama I made of my medical coding classroom that I gave to my college instructor upon her retirement.
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From Christine Giordano:
Using Cortland Doan's display cases, I made one for each month of the year. This nursery school scene is for September.
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From Susan Buffaloe:
I created this lamp/ school room back in the 80’s as a club project with my Virginia mini group FAME. We started with just a blank house and we made the flooring, cut the shingles, painted the trim etc. We put the desks together (a kit). I don’t know who made the children.
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From Kim Kehoe:
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From Dee Cirilli:
This the Dorm room I made at a South Carolina State Day in 1991. We had so much fun as a group for the day with lunch and friendship. Of course I have added items as I have made or found. All but the desk and chair were made with found items. Some items were in tote bag favors from various house parties and swaps. I hope you enjoy finding some of your own memories in here!
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From Carol Hodgson:
My first grade was spent in a one-room schoolhouse in Central Illinois farm country. The big clock on the wall was broken so the teacher had brought in an alarm clock she set on the blackboard tray. She was out of the room for a few minutes and my brother, a year older, was cajoled by the older kids to turn the alarm clock up by an hour. So, that day school got out an hour earlier and no one was the wiser. We always wondered what Miss Huttenburg thought when she realized she'd been played. Hopefully, she just chuckled and said, "Those kids!"
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From Vicki Scidmore:
I had to think a bit on this and then I had an Ah Ha moment: My favorite school is Hogwarts! As a Ravenclaw I can hang out with Luna in the Ravenclaw Common Room. And for school supplies I can pick up my books, robes, and cauldrons at Dervish & Banges. (At least, in my dreams).
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From Jane Holbrook:
This is my school room roombox. I made it while recuperating from ankle surgery. I was a teacher for 35 years and couldn’t resist putting in some of my favorite books, even though they are out of time!
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From Tammy Witthaus:
This is a 1/4” scale old school house made by my mother, Cheryl Umberger many years ago.
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From Carole Ann Davis:
This recreation of the Lone Tree School building (circa1880s in Antioch, CA) was a project of the Delta DoLittles to honor two granddaughters of a former teacher. Constructed from scratch in 2018, it was donated to the Antioch Historical Society, where it is currently on display. The inside is our vision of an old one-room school house. Created by then members: Nancy & Will Thomas (both dec.), Phyllis & Bruce Heibert (both dec.), Theresa Court, Sandy Riggins, Laura Jacques, and Carole Ann Davis
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From Ann-Cary McLain:
This is a re-creation of the preschool classroom my mother taught in. (Bless her soul she taught 1st & 2nd graders for 10 years and then after a break to raise me, she taught preschool for 9 more years!)
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From Phyllis Reese:
DETAILS: You might be able to read the students names ... Bill Board ...Terry Bull ... Justin Case ... Rose Bush ... Penny Stamp and Marsha Mallow. I miniaturized all tests, spelling, math, coloring pages ... complete with pencils, coloring pages, construction paper, glue, pens, and desk kits with additional wrought iron trim.
Teachers desk books...Cat om Hat..stapler..Dictionary Bulletin board, maps, & posters globe
Have rest of room..and some kids...posters etc..but only two photos allowed........lot more to see..........was so much fun to do and name the kids.
Wall posters, Peanuts, clock, President, alphabet, Teacher, name Paige Turner
Principal, Joe King....late student Ben Dover...disheveled....
BLACKBOARD says..Mary Poppins Movie..Math homework...Roman Numerals, Mass on Sunday 9:00 Fr. Bill..Read Bible...Parable of the Seed
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From Carol Gill:
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From Cathy Payne:
Here is the math classroom that I made for my daughter who is a high school math teacher. The chalkboard has real math formulas on it and many of the posters were taken from her actual classroom.
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From Bob & Nancy Oram:
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From Elizabeth Lubera:
While the theme “back to school” means backpacks, school lunches, and school buses, it also means HOMEWORK! My September “Back to School Challenge” submission is a boy’s room from my favorite miniature house creation, which I call the “Little House on Willow Tree Place.” As you can see, the room is all set for homework, including: a desk with a composition book and pencil, a side table with a globe, an encyclopedia (remember when we used those?), a pencil in the process of being sharpened, and an open book. But is this boy doing his homework?
The inclusion of a sports-themed book on the bed suggests that he has taken a break to read something more interesting! FYI the book on the bed, titled Baseball Joe on the School Nine, is a miniature based on a real book: a classic story about a young baseball player, published by author Lester Chadwick in 1912. The bookshelf display includes other miniature-scale classic books by Homer, Paine, and Lincoln, but also a few textbooks on accounting, which is what my own son (who is pictured in the photo) studied in college – and pursues in his adult career. While the books in this display are blank inside, the book creator, Carol Wenk, is known for creating exquisite hand-printed miniature books that are now very valuable.
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From Nancy Pulitzer Gold:
I am a member of the miniature club in Boca Raton. We were given a challenge to do a miniature concerning time. The scale is 1:12.
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From Kathy Koons:
For Advent 2023, Jane and Bob Harrop designed the wonderful St. Nicholas Primary School that was built day-by-day from December 1-24. They also had an interior furnishings kit. As a retired German teacher, I decided that the school was studying German Christmas customs that year and I put in various German items to go with that theme. I also made coloring pages with crayon boxes for one classroom and music sheets for the other. The chalkboards have holiday greetings in German.
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From Carol Shea:
This is one of Debby Young's Street of Shops.
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From Pamela Junk:
Back to school in miniature in this case is a wonderful miniature mouse school by Alicia Volta of Portugal. I found the natural tree bark setting perfect for her mouse school on eBay. I only get credit for putting the two together and enjoying.
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From Lauren Rein:
St Nicholas Primary School
This was Jane Harrop's Advent Calendar for 2023. Each day we opened an envelope and painted or assembled a portion of the school. The furniture was a separate kit that I completed after completing the building. I still need to add some details, like school supplies and such, but it's mostly finished. What a fun project, and so nice to have a little something to work on each day!
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From Debby Albert:
I’m not sure where this was from. It was given to me. And I had fun putting it together. I actually had the experience of going to a one room school house. My parents moved us to their home town in Pennsylvania from Niagara Falls, NY. It was quite a shock for me to go from a city school to a country school.
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