Navajo Weaving - The Fifth Grade Project

The Art of Weaving

          Weaving is an ancient art, practically as old as mankind itself. Remnants of woven cloth have been found in almost every civilization known to us. There are even some indications that it was already being used during the Paleolithic era.
         I especially enjoy teaching weaving to my older students because of its functional aspect. As kids get older they tend to question the purpose of everything and although it is obvious to me that art, inspired by nature, is a part of everything manmade, it is still sometimes hard for them to see that. Weaving provides a great avenue upon which, when traveled, comprehension of this cannot be denied. It is such a joy to see their faces shine with pride upon completion of these woven pouches. It never fails to open a door to the possibilities of what else they can make with this new- found knowledge.

     

     

Illustrating Snowmen

A lesson about the illustrator Raymond Briggs and how contrast is used to make things visible. I showed my first grade students how in Briggs' snowman paintings, the backgrounds were not white. What happens when you paint white onto white paper? Why can't you see it? Because there is no contrast. Two colors have to be different to create contrast. They had a good time painting these and were especially excited about getting to put sequins on them. Just like snowflakes, no two snowmen are alike!

 

  

Ribbons and Shapes

A lesson on Organic Shapes and Abstracts

These abstract pictures were created by our fourth grade students. This lesson presented the students with several challenges designed to encourage them to include a variety of art elements in their compositions.  They were to make an interesting design using a continuous line (consisting of two parallel lines) which overlapped to create shapes. The shapes were then colored in, each with a different color and pattern.  

Cintas y Figuras

Una Lección Sobre las Figuras y Dibujos Abstractos Orgánicos

Estos dibujos abstractos fueron creados por nuestros estudiantes de cuarto grado. Esta lección les presentó a los estudiantes varios desafíos diseñados para animarlos a incluir una variedad de elementos de arte en sus composiciones. Tenían que hacer un diseño interesante utilizando una línea continua (compuesta de dos líneas paralelas) que se superponen para crear figuras.  Entonces colorearon las figuras, cada una con un color y patrón diferente.

Jimena Martinez

 by Lesley

Untitled

Jacob Chandler

Melissa Bautista Sosa

Ana Angeles Hernandez

Ziara Naylor

More to come.....