Friday, May 30, 2014

Kindergarten End of Year Weaving





















Who ever thought of teaching weaving using these materials...Brilliant!  I wish I knew who to credit and I'm sure I found it on pinterest so if you read this, let me know and I will give your the credit due.  The white fabric is that shelf liner that Contact puts out.  It has really big holes which makes it idea for a Kindergarten weaving project.  I pre cut the fabric into 6" squares and the gimp into pieces about 8" long.  I started the lesson by gathering all the students on my rug in a circle and demonstrated the concept of weaving.  Some students had done some weaving but others had never seen this before.  For the novice students, we imagined the gimp was a snake darting in and out of the fabric.  First the snake pops his head up from underneath the fabric and then he pokes his head back down to hide.  I reminded them to not skip any holes and t
o try to weave in a straight line.  They were to work in a pattern of their own choice.  The above example was one 45 minute class period by a student who was comfortable with the process.  I could see this taking several weeks to complete.  It is a perfect project for the end of the year when students are getting antsy and unfocused.  You could have heard a pin drop for most of the class time.  Watching the students work and helping one another was fabulous.  I plan to trim off the edges of the gimp next to the fabric when finished and maybe add a line of elmers around all four sides to keep everything in tact.
This went so well with my Kinders, I handed out materials to early finishers in 1st grade and let them begin one, too.  Off to the store this weekend to buy more shelf liner and into my basement storage to scrounge for more gimp!






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