The children prepared songs and movements since the beginning of May.
Along with the practicing, we prepared things for the concert as well.
As it happens, when we went for a walk in the forest, some children found the skin of dead tree (bark).
The children were curious about the bark and when we returned to the classroom, we used the internet to help us explore our questions.
We learned that The Coast Salish People have made large mats that were used as room dividers from cattail leaves, kneeling pads in canoes, sleeping mats, and temporary shelters.
Cedar roots and skin of the cedar were peeled and split and used to make hats and baskets.
We decided to make a basket with coloured construction papers.
Each children picked two favorite colours and I taught the children how to alternate the strips as they wove the nice pattern.
The children liked the way I described the process:
The base paper is the dirt, and the paper strips are worms.
The worms will dig into the dart going up and down. Look, there is a space for 6 worms.
The first worm digs from bottom of the dirt...
The second worm digs from top, up and down.
But they all need to squished... other wise the 6 worms wont fit in the dirt. "
Weaving helps develop hand-eye coordination and encourages children to use the visual information received to coordinate the movement of the hands.
They can't wait to show them to their parents and see the delight when parents read the letter inside.
