T'was the week before Christmas....Card Loom Weaving

I took a bold move and actually taught something to my fourth graders this week...The Week Before Christmas!

We spent 30 minutes learning how to wrap our warp last week. Then, today we learned how to start weaving.  We spent the entire rest of the class period working diligently on our projects.  You would not have believed it was the day before Christmas break.  I love how weaving has that calming effect.

Fifth Grade Differentiated and Independent Centers Projects: Textiles! Five complete lessons in one.

I created art room centers at the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year.  They have been an amazing addition to my art room ever since.  The 3-5th grade students love center time.  They work hard to earn center time for good behavior.  Plus, early finishers and awkwardly timed projects are no longer a problem.

I wanted my students to understand the supplies and the capabilities of the supplies a bit more in depth.  I developed independent projects for each center and started my fifth graders off to work more independently.

We started with the Textiles Center.

I developed five lessons that the students could choose from.  I passed out a brief explanation of the Textile Centers assignments. Below are the individual assignment sheets for each project.  These are very general and were used to get students started with their assignment.  I had other papers available showing examples and techniques.  Then, I would walk around to each group and teach the steps.

Plush Monster
Embroidery
Huichol
Plastic Canvas lacing
and Card Loom Weaving (we did this in fourth grade so I did not make an assignment page - but I honestly should have!)

I used one class period to briefly explain each art form.  I showed a few videos and ran through a PowerPoint I had created.

Students then had to choose which work of art they would spend the next 8 weeks on.  I reminded students that their Textile Project would be due at the end of second quarter, but we would also be working on another project all together during that time too.

Choosing the projects was not as hard as I had anticipated.  I had a few flip-floppers the first day.  I told them sternly that they would not be able to change their projects again!  Next, I created a new seating chart based on what each student was making.  This made it easy for me to give more private instructions.  I had the supplies on my work table divided up by each project.  Huichol kids only had to get stuff from the Huichol box, Embroidery kids, the Embroidery box... etc.  We spent two class hours solely working on our Textiles project so that I knew everyone had a good start.  Then, I introduced a new project that we would be doing all together.

I admit, that it was not smooth sailing for 8 weeks.  Some students chose projects they really couldn't handle.  Every direction would confuse them, and reading my instructions was not helping.  I would get frustrated super fast when I had to reteach five different lessons 22 times.  My solution was to have students start to teach each other within their own medium.  This worked great!  And it's part of the Common Core!

The second problem was the Plastic Canvas Lacing.  I never have done this before in my life.  I chose it because I had it.  Also, I have a thing for terribly awesome stuff and I was totally hoping some kid would make a Tweety-bird Kleenex box.  I watched a few YouTube videos and messed around with it and figured it was pretty easy once you get the hang of it.  So, I thought my kids could handle it. I had eight fifth graders choose this medium and not one kid finished or got far at all.  Fifth graders could not wrap their head around this concept.  It seems so mundane, and after one row I was like "I got this!"  But, that never happened for any of the 10 & 11 year olds.  The last few weeks of the quarter most switched to a card loom weaving, with one kid insisting that he would finish.  He did not.

Each project did not have it's own rubric.  Grading was based on our general scale:
Did you follow directions?
Did you finish your project?
Is your project unique?
Is your project neat?
Did you use tools and supplies correctly?

Usually I have  a historical context question, but not for this lesson.  I was very pleased with everyone's effort and the finished products!  It really was successful!  I ended up having to grade them before most kids were complete.  After report cards, I collected the finished projects and the projects that the kids "never want to look at again!"  If they were not done, they had the option of keeping it in their art box and working on again when they had independent time.

Free PowerPoint download. Paper weaving the secondary colors.

This one is a little specific!  But, could be useful.  I teach second graders paper weaving with papers we have painted.  We learn about mixing primaries to make secondaries and paint three papers, 1 for our warp and 2 for our weft.

This PowerPoint Presentation explains the process of weaving with some links and videos.  It also includes my "question deck" questions for summative assessment.  The second section is all about the primary colors and color mixing.  I've even included the link to OkGo's "Primary Colors" video.

Card Loom Weaving in Fourth Grade. Free PowerPoint with videos.

Every year I like to teach fourth graders card loom weaving in conjunction with their mask project.  This year I whipped up this little PowerPoint presentation to show the class a little more about weaving.  It includes some links to websites and also some interesting videos.

The Friendly Loom: Troubleshooting a collaboration in the textilescenter.

I have a Friendly Loom in my textiles center in my K-2 building and 3-5 building.  Last year, collaboratively, intermediate students only completed one weaving, and left four not even half done.  I was disappointed that it wasn't getting more use. Card-loom weaving has always been popular with the kids, and I personally enjoy weaving very much.

I had the opportunity to get a Friendly Loom for my K-2 building and jumped at the chance.  I had to troubleshoot how to make weaving more enticing and easy for the kids to come work on.

I previously kept a box of yarn, fabric scraps, and scissors in the textile center.  I wrapped the warp, and taught the students how to choose and begin their weft.  At the beginning of the year I had started each weaving with a mock-shuttle.  The shuttle would last for about one kid.  It was a total pain too because I cut them out of mat board with scissors - yikes.  To conquer that mess, I hung up pictures and showed the kids how to wrap a butterfly bobbin to get themselves started.  This did not work at all.

Most students preferred to cut their own yarn (too short) and just begin weaving.  The fabric scraps confused them and the color schemes and patterns were ugly.  The students did not like what another kid had previously wove. The textiles center became a knotted mess.

Starting fresh this year, I wrapped the warp on my Friendly Loom into four new weavings.  Next,  I spent about 20 minutes or so wrapping shuttles.  I cut 2" by 4-5" mat board scrap and wrapped the weft thread around it.  I chose my thickest yarn and only used a handful of colors.  I read Tumblr and talked with coworkers as I did this, so it was pretty painless.  I started one shuttle and left the rest (with ends taped) in a bin by the loom.  I will not bring out any more yarn till these shuttles are gone.  I will also not have any fabric strips anywhere near the Friendly Loom.

Making choices is such an important part of being an artist. Working together when the other person is not present can make our choices confusing. With this medium, and the age level of my students, having the Friendly Loom set-up fool proof will definitely yield more positive results.