Native American Storytelling

Today in class we learned about Native American writing symbols that were utilized to tell stories over generations. We listened to a reading of a book about a young Native American boy who was different from all of the other boys in his tribe; he wasn't a warrior, he was a painter instead. He went out into the wilderness to think about becoming a man and had a vision. He also took in the sunset. He wanted to replicate the sunset on hide, but he couldn't find the colors he wanted. Eventually he found a way to make the colors he wanted out of flowers that supposedly grew from paintbrushes. The teachers explained we would be painting our sunset with watercolors, then using Native American symbols on our "cowhide" to tell a story. We learned various watercolor techniques on a smaller piece of paper before getting to work on painting our sunset, which would frame our "cowhide". While we waited for our sunset to dry, we set to work on trying to tell our story through symbols we learned about from our translation sheets. My story tells about two people, myself and another person, setting up a blanket at night to watch the sky, stars, and moon. It also mentions how we build a campfire and talked during the night.

I think a good extension activity to do with this project would be to have students make a storybook of the cowhide pages, with the sunset as the outside cover. This way students could utilize a wider variety of symbols on each page, to practice telling a story chronologically rather than all at once. Students could present their storybook to the class upon its completion; students would have more of an opportunity to tell a detailed story, as well as really learn and explain what each symbol means on each page. 

Native American Totem Poles

In today's class, we looked at Native American totem poles. We learned about the history of totem poles, as well as the symbolism behind each animal shown in totem poles. We also discussed a current artist who makes totem poles; he said he uses his art to feel connected with his people, as well as to say that his people are still here. We then looked at our project. We would make our own version of an animal that is usually shown on a totem pole, but use bright colors and construction paper. We would work with other people at our table to decide on a background color, and the teachers would put together our animals into a group totem pole after we were done. Pictured below is the thunderbird I made. Thunderbirds in Native American totem poles represent thunder and lightning, as well as storms. I chose a blue/orange color scheme because it is complementary and I like those colors. 

I think a good extension project of this activity would be to incorporate more learning about symbolism. Perhaps it would be good to have a symbolism worksheet for students to fill out, depicting different totem poles. You could have students decipher what specifically each totem pole represents. You could also have students do this once their projects are connected into one big totem pole. For example, my table could have figured out what all of our animals mean, then put that as a description for our totem pole. It would be interesting also to have seven different people to a group, and have each student make their animal one different color of the rainbow. This way students could arrange their animals to follow the color wheel and learn about color.

3-D Design Display Bulletin Board

We completed our display for our class's assignment in 3-D Design. We decided to go with an orderly layout to help balance out the 3-D qualities of the projects. We lined up each project in rows, alternating in rows of 5 and rows of 4, to create this even look. We decorated the trim of the board, and chose decorative letters for our title, but ultimately wanted the focus to be on the projects ours students did. Next to our title we hung our lesson plan description. We were quite pleased with the results of this assignment. There were a great variety of different locations represented, as well as creative uses of medium.

Cobra Knot Keychains

In class today we learned about the history of knots, as well as the different types of knots that there are and their uses. We learned that in the 1800s someone wrote a book entailing all the different kinds of knots known to them at that time and detailed their strengths and weaknesses. This helped people determine whether a knot was suitable for tying boats, flags, etc. The teachers asked us what we know of now that utilizes knots. We listed tying our shoes, tying down tents, fishing lines, etc. The teachers then introduced to us the cobra knot, a knot we were going to use decoratively to make our own keychain. We learned how to make the knot with yarn, which was less difficult than using the craft lace right away. We then moved on to the craft lace, to create our own keychains. We tied our strings to our keychain and then began. We had to utilize our knowledge of color schemes to choose the colors for our keychains. Primary or secondary color schemes were what was assigned.

I think this was a good assignment. For an expansion activity, it would be possible for students to make their keychains more meaningful to them; utilize different colors or perhaps even beads to decorate their keychains to personalize them more. Students could then present their keychains to the class and talk about what the different things symbolize. For example, students could use a green color scheme with floral beads to symbolize their love for the outdoors. 

Pop-Up Books

In today's class, we were introduced to 3-d design. We learned about foreground, middle ground, and background, as well as space and depth. We talked about Owen Gatley, an illustrator who created an adventure/travel themed pop-up book featuring different landscapes and animals. We also discussed sculptors. We asked the class where their ideal vacation would be, brainstorming the different kinds of vacations one could take. We then did a class vacation sketch to Alaska. We then introduced the project. Students would take cardstock, fold it in half, and make their own mini pop-up scene featuring their ideal vacation, utilizing different 3-d forms and pop-up methods, as well as textures. My pop-up scene featured a sailboat in a river, as well as rolling hills, bushes, a palm tree, and a sunny clear sky. My theme was "Hawaii". Upon completion of this assignment, we had to write a short 4th grade level paragraph detailing where we went and what we did while we were there, as well as how we got there.

I think a good expansion activity for this project would be to allow students to pick a vacation or travel themed book to illustrate for this assignment. Students would read the book, and then create their pop-up scene with a specific scene from their book in mind. This would expand their language arts and reading skills, and working on a larger format would allow them to incorporate more information into their project.

Clay Leaf Bowls

For today's assignment, we made clay leaf bowls. We started off molding our clay, making sure all the air bubbles were out. We then rolled it out until it was about the width of our thumb. Placing the leaf cut out over our rolled out clay, we traced around it so that our leaf shape was in our clay. We then cut out our leaf shape. We fixed any jagged edges by using water to smooth everything. We had to continually make sure that our clay wasn't going to get stuck to the table. The teachers said we could put carved designs into our leaf bowl, so I drew leaf veins with my little stick to add my own touch. We then placed our leaves on a paper towel before putting them inside a plastic bowl, which over time as the clay dries will give our leaf a bowl shape. We painted our leaves colors that leaves are in real life. I chose orangeish red for my colors.

I think instead of using this project for 3rd grade, you could use it for older audiences, like 7th or 8th. It would go well with relating it to biology still, but using an older audience, you could go more into depth about why leaves change colors, relating it to what they're learning at that time about biology (plant vs animal cells). I think it would also be a good idea to really spread out this project; give students at least a few class periods to work on it, so they can really paint the entire thing and add what finishing touches they want.

Scratch Art

For today's lesson, we made scratch art. We started the lesson by coloring a piece of paper in either primary or secondary colors, making whatever patterns we wanted to as long as they covered our whole paper in color. We then painted over the paper in black, making sure no color peeked through. While we were waiting for the paint to dry, we viewed a powerpoint detailing a scratch artist's process and work. We saw how they used textures and patterns to make their work more detailed and realistic. Following this, we were given small strips of actual scratch paper to practice creating our own patterns on. Upon completion of that, we took a thin piece of paper the same size as a our painted piece of paper and drew a landscape on it, trying to use things that we could incorporate patterns into. We then covered the entire opposite side in pencil graphite, so that we could transfer our design to our painted paper. When our paint was dry, we traced our original design so that the graphite coating the other side of the paper pressed down onto the painted paper, transferring our design. All that was left to do was scratch off the black paint to trace over our now transferred design, then adding patterns. My landscape was a volcano island scene, complete with a beach, water, a palm tree, trees, and clouds. I thought using a variety of things would help give me more options when it came to filling in my patterns.

I think an interesting extension project for this project would be to incorporate the entire color wheel, rather than just primary or secondary colors. Students could color in a complete color wheel (or a square) on their paper, so that when they scratched off the black paint later on, all the colors of the rainbow shown through. This would be a good way to get younger students to fill their entire paper with design, as well.