WEAVING + Pouches + Electronic Devices = Excited 5th Graders

-








My fifth graders just finished weaving... yay!!!! It surprised me last year and still this year how much kids love to weave. We start out with the making of our cardboard looms with 1/2 inch spacing for the warp strings. The students string the warp strings and then start weaving UNDER OVER UNDER OVER. They all calm down and really concentrate on what they are doing. I have heard of teachers putting in educational movies or biographies of an artist to entertain students (Might try that next year). Either way, my fifth graders loved weaving and loved making the weaving into a pouch to hold their electronic divides. I let the students choose how wide they wanted their pouch to be before starting. The  narrow 9 warp strings wide (4-5 inches) would hold things like an ipod or cell phone. The 12-14 warp string wide (6-7 inches) could hold a reading tablet or ipad mini. Once I told then that they were making something they could use I had then hooked. The lesson took 10 class periods (35 min. periods)   from start to finish. It is a lot of time if you only see your kids once a week. I have the great fortune of seeing my fifth graders every day for one semester... this has given me the time to do more in depth lessons like this. 

Pouch:

Students finished the weaving and tied warp strings at the top and bottom of the weaving. We folded the bottom up towards the top of the weaving (all the way to the top matching the corners, or 3/4 of the way giving a flap to possibly fold over and cover the opening with a button). Starting on the bottom corner of one of the sides we loop stitched with yarn or thread till we got to the top. At the top the students tied the remaining string to a near by warm string knotting it and forming a nice tight seal. Repeat on the other side. After the students finish both sides, turn the pouch inside-out. Finished...buttons and straps would then follow (I didn't teach the button or strap step... had students who finished early, push their creativity and problem solving.

Other students made purses, wallets (pictures coming, had to attach two weavings together. He is problem solving :) ), pouches with buttons and flaps. Very pleased with my students ability to take what I have put out there and push that idea to a new level and challenge themselves! Proud teacher!!!





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Eat Your Fruits And Veggies Mosaics!

-
Image
Pear Cherries Pear Orange (top view)  Banana   Green Pepper Lime Mosaic Fruits and Veggies! After finishing the toothbrushes I went right into another observation drawing hoping that we can continue to draw things LARGE! The students looked at a plastic fruit or veggie at their tables. The requirements were that the object had to have two sides / parts go off the edge of the paper, and it had to take up most of the paper space. I was worried, but soon blown away. The students drew outline drawings of the objects and outlined them with a wide black sharpie. The next class we looked at multiple examples of mosaic artwork from all around the world. The students  got the point quickly (NO PIECE OF PAPER CAN TOUCH ANOTHER PIECE). We looked at the highlights and shades (student had to use at least two or three different colors). By the way, great project if you have a large box of scrap paper. Students picked the colors and cut each piece of paper
Read more

Leonardo Da Vinci Flying Machines

-
Image
            Rocket Man             My fourth graders learned about Leonardo Da Vinci's many talents. I have to give mad props to my buddy Derek, an art teacher in Peshtigo WI (http://greatartdoors.blogspot.com/) for this lesson. Derek did this with his fourth graders (check out his blog) and used paper straws and other different materials. I used wood dowels, paper, string, twisty-ties, plates, hot glue, rice paper, cardboard, and plastic. I started the lesson by introducing the students to Da Vinci's many talents... science, military, and artist. We focused on his two studies on flight and their drawn models. The students examined the drawing, and then looked at drawn models from the Wright Brothers and airplane models drawn up till today. The students started by drawing their own blueprints showing a side, top, and front or back views. After their 2-D model was approved, the students started building their own flyin
Read more

5th Grade Emphasis… Work In Progress

-
Image
My examples of layered art objects (top right), emphasis example (lower right), and colored object example.  My students are close to finishing their EMPHASIS project with an object observation. Students made a layered black and white drawing of two different art objects. They started by tracing each object with pencil, followed by a "still-life" observation drawing to fill in the inner lines and details of each object. The lesson makes students aware of where things are on the page. The layered affect adds depth to the composition. When the students finished the drawing, we talked about an emphasis, and added color to ONE item on the page. Students used colored pencil to add color to their item. We are still working on them at the moment, but I was excited to show them off. Finished projects are soon to follow. 
Read more