Clay Tic-Tac-Toe Board

 Description: For this project we started out with a slab of clay. Once we had the clay I took and started wedging the clay by kneading, slamming, and slapping the clay. Once that I had the clay all wedged out, I used rolling pins and wooden pieces so that I could get the slab rolled out in even height. Then I took a plastic bowl and a wooden stick and traced a circle shape into the clay using a wooden stick. Then I took and used my clay knife to cut out my circle of clay for the Tic-Tac-Toe board. I then used water to smooth out the edges of the board and took the extra amount of clay that was left over after I made the board and re-wedged it. Then I created the Tic-Tac-Toe dividers and my game pieces that I used. I used water to help glue down the dividers and smooth out the edges of the game pieces. I made my pieces as close to the same sizes as possible and I based them in the theme of the weather. The two different pieces that I made was the sun and clouds and I chose this topic because of it relating to the time of day and me and my family will help watch the sky. Then after all of the pieces were made, I took and painted the suns to be yellow and the clouds to be white. I also painted the board to be blue with black accents. Finally, to finish the assignment I painted a clear coat onto the Tic-Tac-Toe Board and the pieces.

Extension Activity: The students will write a paragraph discussing the different elements and weather patterns that are seen throughout the day. In this paragraph they can talk about the sun, moon, clouds, and other aspects of the sky and it can lead into discussing the different weather patterns. 

Mixed-Up Chameleon Print Making

 Description: For this project it was on printmaking and was taught to us by Madison and Nevaeh. We started out the project by we listened to a story called the Mixed-up Chameleon by Eric Carle. Then we talked through printmaking and how to do it while Madison and Nevaeh showed examples. I got a roller, a gel plate, colored paints and stencils and I took paint and put a few drops on my gel plate. Then I used my roller to cover the whole plate with paint and placed a stencil onto the plate. Then I took a blank white piece of paper and put it over the stencil and used the roller to push it down. When I peeled the paper up the paint and stencil had left the image in paint on the paper. I continued this process to make 5 different kinds of prints in different colors. once I had created my prints, I used the cutout example pieces to trace the different pieces of the chameleon and cut them out. Then I used the example that they provided to piece together and glue down all of the pieced from my chameleon onto a background paper. Once the chameleon was all glued down, I took a sharpie and drew the face and legs of my chameleon to finish the project. 

Extension Activity: An extension activity that we could do after this project is talk about different characteristics and types of reptiles. I would prepare a presentation about different types of reptiles and some characteristics that they have compared to others and give the students a definition matching worksheet where they have a list of different types of reptiles, and they have to match it to the correct definition that we discussed in class. 

Paper Weaving

 Description: This is the lesson that I was able to co-teach with Eh Tha and Kaitlyn. To start out our lesson, we talked about the history behind weaving and listened to an audio book about the cultural importance of weaving. While we were listening to the PowerPoint and the book, I wrote down four sentences with facts onto a notecard that I would transfer onto the background later.  Then to start out the project we picked two pieces of construction paper and cut one of them in half. Then from the top of the paper we measured down one inch from the top and drew a line straight across the top. Then at the bottom going the width of the paper I measured out nine, one-inch strips and used the ruler to draw a line all the way up to the top. Then on the line up top I wrote out stop and, on the strips, I alternated writing out one and two on each. Then I selected three different colors and lifted up all of the strips with a one on them and glued on the two strips. Then I alternated it and did the same with the two sections. I continued this process until I had gotten all the way to the bottom. After I had completed all of the paper weaving, I took the whole weaving and glued it on to my other piece of paper in the center to create a background on my weaving. Then I transferred the facts that I had previously wrote down onto my background underneath my weaving.

Extension Activity: An extension activity that we could do after completing this paper weaving is to discuss how to weave using natural materials like sticks, twigs, straw, and grass. Then we will discuss how different animals like birds use weaving to help create a nest for them to live and hatch their eggs in.

Fall Finger Painting Tree

 Description: This lesson was taught to us by Emily and Camryn, and to start out the lesson, we were given a big piece of white paper, a plate with red and yellow paint, and then we got out our pencils and brown and orange crayons. Then I took and placed my arm and hand in the middle of the page and traced my arm and fingers on the page. Once the arm was traced, I used my brown crayon to color in my arm to make it look like the trunk of a tree. Then I drew two bushes, one on each side of the tree trunk and colored it in with the orange crayon. After that I took and used my paintbrush to mix my paint colors together to create orange paint. Ater, I had paint in red, yellow, and orange, I took my fingers and put different colors of paint on them to make it look like leaves on a tree. I continued to finger paint leaves on the tree until the top of the tree looked like it was full of painted leaves and the branches looked full like a regular tree. Once I had finished the leaves on the tree, I created falling leaves and leaves in the bushes as well. 

Extension Activity: This activity would work as a nice transition into discussing the different seasons and the aspects of those seasons. We will discuss the different characteristics of each season like how in the fall the leaves change color, in the winter the leaves all fall off, in the spring it is usually very wet, and the leaves are starting to grow on the branches again, and in summer the leaves are out and fully green. Then we can get into talking about how the seasons depend on the placement of the sun during earth's orbit and that being the reason as of why we have summer and winter.

Color Monster

Description: This lesson was taught to us by Addison and Maggie and to start out this lesson we listened to an audio book called The Color Monster by Anna Llenas. Then we wrote down four characteristics of a monster on a piece of paper and passed it to the person on the left of us. Once we received the piece of paper with the four characteristics, we drew a practice picture of a monster incorporating the four characteristics that were on the piece of paper that we got. The characteristics that I had to include in my drawing was sharp teeth, horns, two eyes, and it had to be hairy. When we had an idea of how we wanted to incorporate the different characteristics and what we wanted the monster to look like on the scratch paper, I took a big piece of paper and drew my monster on it. We also had to incorporate three different textures into our drawings as well as pick the color of the monster and what it stands for. In my monster I traced the outline of it with a black oil pastel and then I colored in the arms, legs, and face with a black marker. I colored in the horns using a black marker and I drew the eyes using a black sharpie. To make my monster hairy I took tissue paper and lined the body with it to help it seem like the monster had hair on it. Once I had completed drawing and coloring my monster, I had to come up with a name for it and write four sentences including what his name is, some of the characteristics that he has, what color he is and what that color stands for, and finally what he likes to do in his free time when he was not scaring people. 

Extension Activity: The students can create a monster character map that helps expand the different characteristics of the monster that they created. They can further elaborate on activities that their monster was in, the monsters' job, how the monster grew up and more. Then the students can write a short story describing their monster from when they were young all of the way until now. 

Hidden Safari

Description: For this activity we started out by creating 3-D glasses as a group and was introduced to the project. Then I chose a picture of an animal that we wanted to trace. The animal that I chose to draw was a giraffe. Once we had picked our animal, I took a blue color pencil, and I drew the animal on a white piece of paper. Then I took warm colored crayons like the colors of red, orange and yellow and drew different patterns completely over the paper. I started out by making yellow spirals all across the paper in different rows, then I used a red-orange crayon to make squares on top of the spirals. I continued with the project by drawing red and orange squiggle lines completely over the project. I ended my art covering by using a yellow orange color to create diamonds across the whole page. When my giraffe was covered with other patterns in warm colors, I took and glued my drawing onto a background of red paper to help it stand out. To finish the project, I wrote three different hints about the animal that I chose to draw so that when people go to look at my project they have an idea of what animal to look for. Then I was able to use the 3-D glasses that I had at the beginning to look at my project, and I was able to see through all of the warm shapes, lines, and colors and see the original picture of the giraffe that I had originally drew.

Extension Activity: After we have finished this project, the students have to write a short story about their animal and why they are hiding. The students can give character details and expand on the background of the story