Chinese New Year Wishing Tree

I had my second grade classes continue learning about Chinese New Year after our lantern project. I taught them about the wishing tree in Hong Kong and then showed them how to create their own wish papers for our class wishing tree. I provided them with a large selection of Chinese characters to draw onto their red paper. I then had them paint with glue right on their pencil lines and then sprinkle gold or silver glittler over it so the characters came out looking awesome and glittery. I had students only glue and glitter one charcter at a time, though. Because some of the glue would dry too fast if the painted all of their characters first before putting the glitter on. I then had them hole-punch the tops and tie a piece of yarn to it so it was all ready to hang. I then hung them in the classroom until after Chinese New Year.

Joy, friendship, and water, I think

Hearts of Line

We started this lesson by leanring about line and I showed the kids many different examples of lines and how lines can even form shapes. I then had them each work with a 12"x12" sheet of white drawing paper. We first folded it in half, and then folded it in half again, this created four equal square to draw in. I then had the students use pencil to draw hearts in each square and then fill them in with line designs. I also encouraged them to put line designs in the background as well. I provided heart stencils if the kids wanted to use those to help them draw. When they were done drawing, they then colored over all of their lines with markers to finish their project.

Thankful Turkeys

This project is similar to what I had the first grade do, as I began with the class sharing what they were thankful for and I drew their answers on the board. I then passed out the pre-cut turkey pieces the the kids to decorate and glue. On each tail feather, they drew something that they were thankful for.

Thankful Quilt Square

This is a great project for Thanksgiving time. Our class began by sharing things that they were thankful for and I wrote them on the board (I sketched some of them out as well, as many of these were new words). I then shared my Thankful Quilt Square with the class and explained each item I had drawn and why I was thankful for it. I then had the students each create one of their own. A fun option would be to post them all on a classroom wall (or displayed somewhere in the school) together so it looked like a large quilt. *note, if you choose to have them create a border frame, have them glue it on first before they begin drawing what they are thankful for in the center (so nothing gets covered up).