There are so many fantastic destinations your students will love! Orlando is a premier performance destination for bands, orchestras, and choral groups. Cleveland is picking up вЂњSTEAMвЂќ with science groups. Boston makes an ordinary history lesson extraordinary with unique tours and вЂњrevolutionaryвЂќ attractions. Are you traveling for curriculum? Performance? Fun? There are tons of great student destinations (link to destinations page) to meet and exceed your travel expectations. Choose Your Destination and Travel DatesДecide where you want to go with your group.

Oh- and itвЂ™s time to think about next yearвЂ™s class trip! RelaxвЂ¦ weвЂ™ve got you covered with five easy tips to get you started. You have curriculum to cover, testing to complete and a million tasks waiting on your desk. You can reach her at (313) 222-2150, or / DetroitNewsHandmade.The school year is now on fast forward. I just put one together this morning, and IвЂ™m still amazed!вЂќДetroit News Columnist Jocelynn Brown is a longtime Metro Detroit crafter. вЂњWe build them more for our own pleasure and (the) beauty. Hirtzel says some people make a living selling their kaleidoscopes, however, he only вЂњoccasionallyвЂќ sells his. The mirrors are the heart and determining factor of your kaleidoscope.вЂќ My favorite image is the mandala, but thatвЂ™s only one of many different images made with different mirror configurations. вЂњWhat you see is determined by how many mirrors and how they are configured. вЂњThe secret of a kaleidoscope is that youвЂ™re looking at one small image, reflected maybe a dozen times, that can form a round mandala that changes as the object chamber is turned,вЂќ he explains. However, he finds building a kaleidoscope a bit more challenging, pointing to the fact that itвЂ™s вЂњa very mechanical art, in that youвЂ™re using a lot of tools, soldering and accuracy.вЂќ He refers to those as the necessary skills for building вЂњa good scope,вЂќ which he defines as one that pleases the maker because there is no one particular standard. Making kaleidoscopes has been a natural progression for Hirtzel because for the past 40 years heвЂ™s been creating miniature free-form stained glass sculptures as houses, boxes, sailboats, flowers, free-standing animals, and even nightlights. I visited the studios of two or three of the best kaleidoscope makers while attending annual conventions.вЂќ We enjoy getting together as a society, sharing ideas and friendship. ItвЂ™s a community of highly artistic and skilled individuals. The thing about the society is that everybody makes kaleidoscopes but from different material, such as glass, wood and brass. вЂњNext yearвЂ™s convention is in Kyoto, Japan. Their craftmanship is exquisite,вЂќ says Hirtzel. A large number of our members are from Japan because theyвЂ™re very artistic people. вЂњWe have workshops, classes and a hands-on building of a scope. In the past, he has attended the groupвЂ™s annual conventions where about 150 artists and collectors gather to share ideas and вЂњscopes,вЂќ Each meeting starts with the singing of a вЂњkaleidoscope song,вЂќ written by one of the members. Hirtzel is a 15-year member of the Brewster Kaleidoscope Society (), an international group consisting of artists who design and create kaleidoscopes, interested galleries, shops, collectors and museums. вЂњWe work with glass, but we use a lot of different objects in the chamber, mostly colorful beads, scraps of glass and small objects with color, and when you look at them through the scope in the object chamber, they become an organized pattern, and each (kaleidoscope) is different as long as the objects in the chamber are different.вЂќ вЂњA kaleidoscope is almost a metaphor in that it takes bits and pieces of glass and you look at them through mirrors and they become beautiful patterns,вЂќ he remarks. The Farmington resident says, вЂњI think some people just arenвЂ™t aware that thereвЂ™s a whole world of kaleidoscope makers.вЂќ As an active part of that world, Hirtzel spends every Monday morning at the Livonia Senior Center (15218 Farmington, Livonia) teaching others the joy of kaleidoscope-making, an art form believed to have started more than 200 years ago in Scotland by Sir David Brewster. The word вЂњtoyвЂќ is often associated with the term вЂњkaleidoscope,вЂќ but John Hirtzel, an artist whoвЂ™s been crafting the glass filled tubular instruments for the past 20 years, refuses to believe thatвЂ™s how most people view them.

How to be a kaleidoscope maker