Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Crafting It Old School...

The kids had both just finished reading books they had been working on. In my ongoing quest to brainwash them that reading is fun (because it haunts me that I have sadly failed in that area!) I wanted a project they could do to present their books. We had just bought shoes. I always hesitate to throw them out trying my best to come up with something they could be used for. Then the idea of a diorama hit me. How many dioramas did I make in my day? I loved every one of them. So, for this project we kicked it old school style with the classic diorama. They ate it up and worked on it for hours. I got a shower, quiet time, did some laundry came down and they were still working. Of course, it cost me a lot of paper, foam and pipe cleaners but what are they for anyway. Then Ashton tried the trick of secretly pushing it all into one of Jackson's workboxes when I told her to clean it up :)
I was truly amazed with their creativity. Making a 3-D project requires a little more engineering which Jackson enjoyed. He had just read The Boxcar Children and showed their campsite in the woods around the boxcar. As far as a reading assessment goes, this worked great. I saw that he had really read and retained lots of details from the book. Plus I got to throw in fun terms like setting and character when admiring it!

I loved the pipe cleaner tree trunk. The clothesline was a nice touch as well.

Ashton had read Junie B. Jones Aloha-ha. I thought it was clever that they put on a lid and handle.

She felt bad that hers wasn't quite as 3-D as Jackson's, but I thought it was good. People would've been a lot harder to make 3-D. She showed the scene with the inter tube in the store. Notice the quote she added (another good literary term).


They showed these to everyone. This is definitely a project we will repeat. I guess I have to go shoe shopping :)

No comments: