the ART of learning: Grandparents and Dream Catchers

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Grandparents and Dream Catchers

Every year for Grandparent's Day, I have the students participate with them by making a Native American craft. I am usually beginning Native Americans so we do an inquiry discovery lesson with the different Native regions - that lesson is HERE. However, this year, we are now testing in the spring and that meant that I was now ENDING my Native American unit for Grandparent's Day. No problem - we adjusted and I am SUPER excited about the results!
We started off making Great Plains Region Dream Catchers with plastic plates. I found it neat that it was actually the grandparents of most tribes who made these for their grandchildren to not only guide their sleeping dreams, but also their life goals and dreams in life. What better craft for grandparents to help with!?

To recap our unit on Native American Regions, we took our grandparents on a "Regional Tour". Each region discovery box held "artifacts" and pictures that aided the students in sharing their knowledge of that region. They were to identify whether the object was an artifact or a natural resource and then tell how the Native people in that region utilized it. I was very proud of the student's knowledge and excitement as they shared their learning. It was also neat to hear grandparents add to their knowledge and share tidbits about Native culture that they have picked up through the years.

I am blessed to have my grandmother, Grandma Ware as the kids call her, help out in my classroom every Thursday. She is a retired 3rd grade teacher and one of the inspirations for me becoming a teacher. She was a great help to me in aiding those students who did not have a grandparent visiting by guiding their crafts and listening to them share their knowledge with her.

We will be doing some informational writing this week to go along with our Dream Catchers. For now, I just LOVE the way they look hanging in the room!