Starting with 2 rectangles of drawing paper and markers, students drew mini-concentric squares. They just finished a large concentric square project last week, so this was not a new concept.
The one rectangle was folded in half, creating 2 back-to-back squares and they cut the other rectangle in half to a draw on each of the squares. These single squares were eventually folded in half diagonally to create triangles. I asked the children to choose 2 or three colors next to each other on the color wheel for each square.
We bent and shaped 2 wires from which the folded shapes would hang. Balance and Motion is a science concept often studied in 1st or 2nd grade, so this project ties in nicely with other curriculum.
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| Students punched a hole in the smaller foam core using a push pin. |
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| Once the small wire was pushed through the hole in the smaller, top foam core, kids spread the wires apart in back (like a brad fastener) and glued the 2 foam cores together, sandwiching the wire between the pieces of foam core. |
The assemblage was attached to a 6" X 6" board using a small, bent wire and 2 small pieces if foam core. Students colored the 2 pieces of foam core repeating at least one color they had used for their concentric square drawings. They used a push pin to make a hole in the top (smaller) foam. Then they attached one of their larger wires to the small loop, which they used (much like a brad fastener) to insert through the top piece of foam core. We used Glue All to attach the foam core to the backing board.
Here are a few that are drying:
Very nice! I'm supposed to do a 4th grade mobile lesson, but hadn't figured out how yet. This helps.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I wish I had had time to do a full out mobile with my fifth graders last rotation. I had a GREAT one planned. Oh, well, maybe next year. Hope to have fun with yours:))
DeleteI love the ideas you come up with. As I was looking at the mobiles I wondered, are they suppose to balance or was this a lesson to familiarize them with the concept of balance? I love the idea and thought I might like to try it.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing your ideas.
Thank you:) Before assembling the wires we talked about where the folded rectangle would have to go and where the 2 folded squares would go. Kids readily answered that the folded rectangle was equal to the 2 squares so it would take the 2 squares glued on one wire to balance the folded rectangle glued to the other wire. (I realize this sounds wordy -- I hope it is clear!!) One thing, I did this in one 50 minute class with 2nd graders but net time I will probably take 2 class sessions to do it so that we can spend a bit more time looking at Calder's work. Also, Discovery Education has a good video on Calder. Our school has an account with them so we have access. Good luck if you try it:)
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