Woven Coaster

       Weaving coasters is a great project for your students to make as Christmas gifts for a family member.  It is a challenging project to do which is why this project is classified as a fifth grade level project.  To begin this project, each student will be given a loom that is made out of cardboard and two arms length of white yarn.  Each student is required to use at least two different colors of yarn not including the white that was given to them.  I chose blue and green.  If this project is going to be used as Christmas gifts, you might want to use the colors green, red, gold, and silver.  Next, the students will wrap the yarn around the top and bottom of the loom and go behind the tabs and back to the front of the loom. A majority of the yarn should be on the front side of the cardboard.  The only yarn that should be showing on the back side is the yarn that is wrapped around the tabs.  Now, the students will begin to weave their different colored yarn.  They will first tie one end of their first color to the top right corner of the loom.  Then, the students will weave their yarn through their loom by going over and under the white yarn.  After going across the loom each time, the students will need to push their yarn up to keep it tight together.  If the students pull too tight on each end, their coaster will look like an hour glass instead of a rectangle.  If the students want to change colors they would tie the end of the color they just used to the color they want next.  Once the coaster is finished, the students will tie the end to the white yarn and then finish the ends with some fringe with the white yarn and pull it off the cardboard loom.  While we were making our coasters, we listened to the book "Gathering Blue".  

       An extension activity for this project could be to incorporate different math patterns into our weaving project using more than 3 colors or shapes.  Now, in junior high, the students could do a more advanced weaving project in FACS if the class is offered.

Printmaking Greeting Cards

       Printmaking Greeting Cards are the perfect project for your students to do during the Holiday season.  For this project, we were required to create a holiday landscape making sure to include objects that were in the foreground, middle ground, and background.  The lesson began with talking about Andy Warhol and his works that involve printmaking.  We started the project by drawing our design on a sheet of white paper that was handed out.  Then we transferred it onto a styrofoam sheet about the same size as the white paper that was handed out.  Then paint was rolled on the styrofoam and then pressed and rolled onto another sheet of white paper.  The paint takes about a day to dry so once the paint was dry we could cut our prints out and glue them on the outside of our cards as shown in the pictures.
       An extension activity for this lesson could be to write a story about the print the students created.  The story would take place in the landscape in their print.  The students would be able to come up with their own characters in their story.  This would be an activity in English class.

Paper Mosaic Creation

       Here's a project that could turn your classroom from a nice and clean room to a messy and colorful room with small pieces of construction paper everywhere.  To begin the lesson, we first learned about a mosaic and a silhouette.  A mosaic is a picture or pattern produced by arranging small colored pieces together.  A silhouette is a dark shape and outline of someone or something.  We were each required to include a silhouette in our mosaics.  Each table was assigned a different season so whatever season was at your table you were required to create your silhouette about that season.  My table was assigned spring so I included a cloud and some rain drops to symbolize April showers.  Now to begin this project, we were first required to draw and cut out our silhouettes and then set them aside. Then we created our mosaic using small pieces of colored construction paper.  I made my sky using light and dark blue pieces of construction paper.  I also used green and yellow pieces for my ground that symbolized grass.  After glueing all my construction paper pieces down, I then glued down my silhouette.  

       An extension activity for this project could be used in a science classroom where the students would create a habitat with the small construction pieces and then a silhouette with an animal that would live in the habitat they created.

Kandinsky Fall Creation

       This project is all about shapes both geometric and organic.  To begin the lesson, we first learned about Wassily Kandinsky.  He was an abstract artist who listened to classical music while painting.  After discussing Kandinsky's work, we were each handed a sheet of watercolor paper that was divided into four sections with tape.  In each section, we were required to trace either a geometic or organic shape that was placed on our table.  We had to have two geometric and two organic shapes total.  After tracing our shapes, we drew another line around each shape.  Then we could start painting.  Our geometric shapes were required to be painted in cool colors and our organic shapes painted in warm colors.  The backgrounds in each of the four sections could be painted any color we wanted.   After the paint dried, we removed the tape and displayed our projects on a bulletin board to create a huge mural.

       An extension activity for this project could be to create a huge mural with the fifty states of the United States.  Depending on the class size, each student would have to trace and paint at least two states.  They would have to include warm and cool colors in their painting as shown in my project above.  This extension activity would be used during Social Studies as the students are learning about the fifty states of the United States.

Navajo Cacti Drawing

       The above image is the example project I created for the drawing lesson I designed and implemented with Miss Farrand.  In our lesson, we discussed the Navajo culture before beginning our drawings of cacti.  We showed a powerpoint with examples of different patterns and cacti.  Then, we had the students create two different patterns on a sheet of paper that we gave.  We also had the students add texture to two different cacti on that same sheet of paper.  After discussing the Navajo culture and different cacti, we showed the steps to create our cacti drawings.  First, the students drew their pot in pencil on their piece of watercolor paper.  Their pots could be any shape or size they wanted.  Then, they drew their patterns on their pots.  Finally, they drew three different shaped cacti in their pots.  The students then traced their pencil lines with a black sharpie and added their texture on their cacti.  We then tapped the students' papers onto their desks so when they started painting the paper would not wrinkle.  The students then painted their background.  They used the color brown for their ground and warm colors as their sky.  Once the paint was dry, the students could color their pot and their cacti.  The students were required to use three different hues of the color green.  After their cacti drawings were complete the students removed the tape and added a frame to their artwork.  

       An extension activity for this project could be to actually plant and grow cacti.  Each student would have their own cactus and pot that they designed.  Each day they would check up on their cactus plant and water it if they need to.  This activity could be incorporated during a science class after talking about cacti or even during a social studies class after discussing the Navajo culture.