STATE SUPERINTENDENT'S ART SHOW

ROUND LOOM WEAVING

I wanted to do a weaving with my fourth grade students, but I wanted it to be more exciting to look at.  Well, I stumbled upon a lesson by Cassie Stephens and presto: round loom weaving. 

Step one was to watch this short clip about the history of weaving, (oh how I love You Tube!)  After watching, we prepared what would become our looms.  We used Do a Dot paint markers to create concentric circles on Chinet paper plates.  Details were added using gel crayons....sniff, sniff/yummmm.

  

The next class was spent stringing the loom.  Each student was given a bowl with marks they then used to makes notches for the string.  Easy peasy, right? You need to make sure they actually mark where they should or they'll end up with seventy-five marks vs. nineteen. Each student then used thin cotton string, (I selfishly chose cotton because synthetic yarn gives me the chills! Weird, I know.) We all worked together to string our looms, using an X pattern.  Any leftover thread became the beginning of the weaving.

The next class we continued where we stopped, tying on new threads as needed.  I asked each student to stop before reaching the edge of the plate because I wanted some of the design from the plate to show.  

Enjoy!

CHARLEY HARPER

CARDINALS

Charley Harper is an illustrator known for his love of animals. His images are simple, clean and modern.

He is especially known for his cardinals. 

We viewed several examples of his work before we set out on our own.

HEAR US ROAR!

This was a fun lesson in which to reinforce some basic skills and elements.  We started the lesson by putting geometric shapes together. Kindergartners can always use some practice with cutting and gluing. (A dot, dot, dot, does a lot, lot, lot!) Details were drawn with sharpie. Lines and color were added with gel crayons, which by the way, are very fun to work with.  The kids love using these and are amazed by the wonderful smells! 

ROAR!

HEART to HEART