Wishes

We all have wishes and I love this project. I have seen it in 1st grade classes mostly but I wanted to try it out and I only had a 7th grader. You may see his work a lot highlighted in this blog in the future.  For the sake of this blog we're going to call him Little Brother or LB because that's what I tell him he is to me. He's my model, I always tell him that I will use his works as an example for my future students. He gets embarrassed but I think it gives him pride too. LB is embarrassed by the picture I'm going to post, he's writing a book right now and I asked him if we could use it, he said no. Oh well, I'll get a good one for his about the author.

So, like I said before I went off on a tangent, this is probably most appropriate for a 1st grade project. I think it's best for when students return from winter break at the start of the new year. Students will write about their wishes and many cultures have wishes for the new year.

First thing you have to do is take a profile picture. 

This is LB's picture. We went through a couple until we decided this was the perfect picture. He wanted his glasses off but I thought the glasses were part of him and gave it character. I told him to act like he was blowing out candles. He did with no cheek puff, he's a musician he's not going to puff his cheeks, but it just looked like he was sitting there. So I told him to puff out his cheeks and make kissy lips to make it look like he was blowing. That worked. 1st graders might actually have puffy cheeks when they blow though, so it may be easier. 

Next, I printed the picture in black and white and cut him out so there was no background. You can have the kids do this part unless you want it perfect. 

Then I made him think. (I actually did this part first and didn't tell him what we were doing until I gave him all the pieces to put the final picture together.) I had him write on the top of a paper, my wish, then write down any wish he had. He had a lot too. Some were good, some were random, and some were weird. Again, what do you expect from a 7th grader. First graders will probably write things you will expect. This would be a good brainstorm with students before they actually write too.

I typed this list up, but you can certainly have kids the or write it or just cut out the words they wrote on the paper. Whatever works.

I gave LB his cut out picture, white yarn, a piece of black construction paper, and his wishes. I also gave him some glue. I told V to glue his picture on one side of the paper and draw a strait line for a stem at the other. (I saw this done with a stick and I loved it so much better.) I then had him cut the yarn into small pieces and glue it around the top of the stick and a few pieces blowing away to look like a wish maker flower. (Sorry, I can't remember what they are called right now but kids make a wish and blow them and all the pieces blow away. It'll come to me later.)

Then I have him use any wishes he had made, he didn't use all of them but he had that option, and put them on the paper. I've seen them written on paper to the side of the picture but I like giving more options, this is their work and not mine. LB decided to make it look like the wishes are part of the dandelion and flying off too. (I told you I'd remember the name later.) I thought it looked great the way he did. 

Here's the final artwork. It's a bit babyish for him because he is so old but it's so cute for a 1st grader and looks awesome hanging on a  bulletin board. 

I hope you like this, I love it. There is probably a book you can find about wishes to read before you start this project too. I'd love to find a perfect one. I love book project parings. 

About Me

My name is Kristen and I am on my way to be a teacher. I just graduated with my teaching credential and I'm searching for a job. I spend a lot of time looking for the projects, lessons, and crafts that kids will remember for their entire life. Meaningful learning is the best kind of learning and I want to make sure I use kids' time accordingly. Their time is just as precious as ours.

I started my hunt for crafts at a young age. I was always looking for fun thinks to do with my much younger cousins when they came over to spend time at our house.

This love for finding great crafts continued to follow me after I graduated high school. I worked at two different summer camps, on two different sides of the country. I learned a lot about crafts and fun things from my camp experience. I wasn't done yet though, I had to intern at a school for two semester while an undergraduate. I loved it. It really proved to me how much I wanted to be a teacher and be around such great kids. I went back year after year, semester after semester past what I needed to, to learn more about teaching and to work with the students. Every time I stepped into the classroom I took special note of projects and activities that seemed to really capture the students' and my attention. Things that really seemed to click. I took these projects and applied it to my student teaching and the students loved it.

I'm still trying to learn more though. Just because I'm done with the credential program does not mean I'm done learning. I continue to visit classrooms around my area to learn what teachers are doing. I lend my help in my free time to multiple teachers and I love when I walk onto a campus and students get so excited to see me.

I also attend conferences and professional development to make myself a better teacher. Through these I continue to learn about different lessons and projects I can teach my students. I hope to share with you what I learned and I hope you'll share with me some great projects you know.