Dream Catcher Woven CDs in 4th Grade

The fourth grade artists have learned to weave in a radial pattern. They learned that weaving in a circle creates radial symmetry.

We began by learning about how to warp a round loom using recycled CDs. I shared my demonstration video from my Youtube Channel as I worked with the students in preparing to weave.

Once they had an odd number of warps. They got to weaving!

I instructed the students to beware of the "garden hose" mistake. This is when weavers accidentally miss a warp or have an even number of warps and the weaving pattern is the same row after row. The weave begins to look like a coiled up garden hose rather than a opposite tabby weave.

As the cd looms were finished, the artists embellished the outer CD edge with sharpie pattern designs and added beaded yarn tassels for the dream catcher effect.

I love how each one is different but show their understanding of the proper weaving technique.
Thanks for stopping by!

Ojos Weave in 2nd grade

The 2nd grade artists have been busy weaving Ojos de Dios (God's Eye). They are also known as the "Cat's Eye" weaving.

I began this lesson with a short presentation on the history of this type of weaving. The students learned that this cultural artform is a meditative process that produces a cultural symbol of protection. These weavings have been created by the ancient Pueblo and Mexican people.

Each student was given a cross shaped loom made from hot-glued popsicle sticks. I then demonstrated to the group how to measure and cut their weft from the "yarn buffet".

I then instructed the weavers to  number each stick 1-4 so that the students can keep track of their weaving pattern. I learned this technique from my favorite blogger Cassie Stephens.

I used my document camera to weave along with them. They learned the proper technique of wrapping the weft under over each stick and rotate to the next in a circular pattern. Their weft radiates out from the center in rows. They were to be careful to not flip their looms over while weaving but only turn it in a circle.

Here are some of the results!

Thanks for stopping by!

My new Youtube channel!

Hello followers of my humble art ed blog!

I've recently been venturing into the world of flipped lessons and have created 2 videos that I've used to teach with in my classroom. They are posted on my Youtube channel. 

Here is one I created for my 2nd graders learning to hand weave. 

I have now added my channel's link at the top of my home page for easy access.
Stay tuned for more videos!

Woven Alligator Puppets in 1st grade

A student favorite! I originally found and adapted this project from my favorite art ed blogger's site, Cassie Stephens. She is my official art ed guru!

The first graders have worked hard in creating woven alligator puppets. I taught this lesson last year and a lot of my students demanded their chance to create one this year.

It begins with a lesson on texture. I have a little poem I teach the kids so they can remember the vocabulary word. It goes like this:

Texture (make a T with hands)
is how something feels (rubs hands)
it can be sharp (say OW! and pretend to touch something sharp)
it can be smoooooth (pretends to touch something smooth)
it can be sticky (pretends to touch something sticky with fingers)
like goo
EW! (pretends to fling goo from hands)

It is super fun.

I then show a visual presentation of alligators in the wild and a close up of their skin. I ask the students to describe the texture to me, they determine it to be bumpy and dry. They then talk to me about how they can recreate or "simulate" that texture in a drawing. I give them green construction paper and they draw their alligator texture with crayon.

We then review how to create a paper loom...we already did this with the Chinese Lantern project for the Lunar New Year. So they were familiar with the process.

Then they were supplied with pre-cut strips of weft in 2 values of green, light and dark. They were instructed to weave a light dark pattern with their paper loom.

The next class the students were shown how to create the puppet alligator head. They created the puppet mouth first out of pre-folded manila paper (check out Cassie's blog for amazing details in creating this device). They were then instructed how to add collage paper in producing the alligator head and attaching it to the puppet mouth.

They are mastering the pop-up collage technique.

The following class they glued their weavings to the puppet head to create the body, cut and glued arms, legs, and a tail. To finish they added additional textures on the body parts with crayons.

Look at those teeth! I love this level of engagement with detail.

Great patterns for texture!

They loved chomping their alligator puppets when they were finished. I was pleased to see their smiles and successes.

Thanks for stopping by!

"Only One You" - Paper Loom weaving in Kindergarten

Yes, kinders can weave! I began by slowly introducing the concept of weaving with centers and then instructed them in weaving with a paper loom. We read the book "Only One You" by Linda Kranz for visual inspiration.

 The students noticed the bright colors and patterns in the fish designs and then used them in their own drawings on construction paper. They outlined their designs in black marker and practiced their coloring technique with crayon.

The next class we practiced weaving on a big classroom paper loom. They were then instructed to cut out their fish, fold it in half  (taco shape), and cut 4 warps from the folded edge (taco bottom). Then they set to weaving pre-cut paper strips.

The final class they worked in centers again or as I like to call them, "creation stations". At one station, they glued their fish weavings onto blue construction paper and added bubbles with white crayons.

They sculpted fish forms out of modeling clay.

They practiced coloring pre-drawn fish drawings on large paper.

They practiced drawing fish designs on dry-erase boards.

They sculpted a fish with chenille sticks strung with beads and wrapped with yarn.

We had a lot of fun working in so many different modes of creation and I was pleased to see growth in so many skills.

Thanks for stopping by!

Weaving Warm Ups across the Grade levels

A mix of weaving works on progress...

It is that time of year to explore the wonderful world of weaving. When I was an elementary student, I remember getting to weave a small textile weaving that hung from a piece of branch. Even though that weaving is long gone, I still remember the excitement and pleasure that came with learning how to weave. Now that I am an art educator, I teach each North Star student, kindergarten through 5th grade, how to weave.

I begin this unit teaching students how to produce and weave a paper loom.  We use this project as a means to learn or review basic weaving vocabulary such as:

Loom: a device used for weaving

Warp: the vertical fibers attached to the loom ( I call them the "bones")

Weft: the fibers that move through the warp

Weave: a form of art that is interlaced fibers producing a textile

Textile: a woven fabric

I use these paper weavings as an assessment tool to ensure that the artists are understanding the process of weaving and can successfully weave a basic tabby weave (over/under/over/under weave).

Kindergarten learned how to add woven tassels to pattern rug they drew in response to the book "The Goat in the Rug" by Charles L. Blood and Martin Link. They just begun working on a basic fish shaped paper loom weave in response to the book "There is Only One You", by Linda Kranz.

 

They had to hole punch and loop the yarn for the their rug's tassels.

I am also introducing them to fine motor hand sewing in a learning station of 4 kids a rotation. They use a chenille stick that is fashioned into a "embroidery needle" to which I tie a yarn string. I demonstrate how to do a running stitch and off they go. They loved it!

They had "wiggle wiggle" their stick through the burlap fabric

Working hard on those fine motor skills!

1st grade created picnic blanket weaves and added a picnic food collage. Currently they are doing a texture weaving to simulate alligator skin. These will be used for their puppet project.

2nd grade explored textures and layers with their paper weavings. They started with a basic paper weaving where they had to create their own weft. I usually pre cut weft for kinders and 1st graders. They could then add layers of yarn and paper to their weavings.

I love all the variety in their choices in color and layers.

3rd grade produced optical art weavings by altering their warps on the paper looms. I gave them a series of options for creating an optical effect or they could create their own. They also had to cut their own weft.

4th grade were introduced to weaving drafts and compared them to pixel art examples. We talked about how they were similar and created our own drafts on graph paper. They were then tasked with translating their graph drafts to an actual paper weaving. I plan to post more in depth on this later as they create their radial weavings.

Space Invaders pixel inspired weaving.

5th grade got to peruse magazines for an interesting image to use as weft and then could create any type of paper loom they wished. They just had to piece their original image back together in a weaving. I'll post more on this next week.

Next up, 2nd through 5th are creating fiber weavings while 1st and kinders continue to explore paper weaving. I promise it will be un-beweave-able!

Thanks for stopping by!