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Creating Adinkra Symbols
Students discover examples of adinkra cloth. They explain the history of the symbols themselves. They create a larger pattern using geometric symbols. They discover how the symbols can be used to communicate with one another.
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Create Your Own Family Crest
Students develop a design for their own family crest. Students make a large model crest for their family.
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Symbols of Power in Native American Clothing
Students create power shirts that were highly important in the culture of many Native Americans.
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Geo Jammin' By DeSign - Day 4, Lesson 22: Authentic Design
Students explore the complexity of handmade quilts and their designs by looking a real life samples.
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One Of A Kind
Young scholars explore current fashion trends. As a class, they discuss the statements that a dress makes, brand names, and cultural trends. Fashions from other cultures are observed and discussed by students. In pairs, young scholars...
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Personal Body Types
Students become familiar with four major body types; assess their own bodies, and complete an assignment showing which styles and design details would look best on different body types.
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Texture
Students learn the importance of texture as an element of design in fashion. They complete a portfolio page discussing their knowledge of texture.
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Corn-Husk Characters
Students examine the traditional Native American and early American craft of corn husk dolls. They conduct interviews with grandparents or other elders about corn-husk dolls, and using a variety of craft materials design and create a...
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Welcome Immigrants!
Students research immigration to find out why people from Europe, Asia, and elsewhere left their homelands during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Then they determine what living conditions were like when immigrants first settled...
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Symmetry with Shapes
Learners analyze a symmetrical stamp design with an equal balance of light and dark to create a pattern in succession. In this shape design lesson, students review concepts of sign, symbol and language across cultures. Learners analyze...
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Dragonfly Sculptures
Art projects are great when they apply to other subjects. First study insects, their parts, and their habitats. Then have little ones create a dragonfly. They use clothes pins, raffia, pipe-cleaners, and paint to construct their...
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Print Patterns, Please!
Students practice the art of stamping and pattern design in this lesson using cotton fabric, ink, acrylic paint, watercolors, Elmer's Glue, and Model Magic. Emphasis is placed on the creation of individual student stamps and cooperative...
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Paper Molas
Delve into the history of textile art using this resource. Learners discuss the history of molas, a type of textile art made in Panama and Columbia, and talk about the importance of this process in the Kuna culture. Then, they create...
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Fabric Collage
Students practice simple hand sewing techniques to repair clothing using various stitches and techniques for sewing a button to fabric. They design and create a fabric collage that includes at least one button, two types of hand...
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The Paper Dress - Circa 1968
You won't believe your eyes when you see these dresses made out of paper. Students create paper dresses by modifying a pattern provided by the teacher, and decorate the dress using 1960's style art. What a fantastic and motivating...
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Molas
Seventh graders apply their prior knowledge of the Principle of Balance to create a paper mola. Students examine a variety of molas, which are fabric works of art made by women in the country of Panama. To arrange the composition of the...
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Relief-Print Portraits
Students use Elizabeth's Catlett's Sharecropper for inspiration to create relief-print portraits. After a lecture/demo, students attempt a portrait painting of one of their peers.
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Making Felt Bags
Pupils study the history of bags, pouches and purses. Use of these items spans the entire globe and encompasses practically every civilization. The lesson culminates with learners creating their own bag from a variety of choices. The...
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The Price is Right
Students, through various activities, explore online databases. Using the internet, students explore the distributors websites. They collect specific information on selected products. An spreadsheet with price comparisons is developed....
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Tie Dye
Students practice writing research proposals to test the color fastness of a dye once it has been exposed to a t-shirt. Each proposal needs details of experimental design, length of treatment, and means of cleaning the shirt. All...
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The Young Basketball Player
Learners explore the history of basketball by reading and listening to a book entitled, "The Young Basketball Player." Afterwards, they create a trivia basketball game and write an interview for their favorite player. As a...
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Holidays Around the World
Students explore how different holiday traditions are celebrated around the world. Scholars write a paper describing how they celebrate their own favorite holiday. Email partners, from different states and countries, share their...
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Body Decorations
Body decoration has been practiced for years and years, and it is often associated with a culturally significant event. To celebrate Harmony Day, children discuss the Hindu custom of henna or hand painting. They brainstorm ways people...
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Learning About the Kumeyaay Indians
Third graders research the Native American nation of Kumeyaay. Scholars use the internet to research past history. Through email, 3rd graders communicate with a Kumeyaay child to discover life on a present day reservation. They create a...