The purpose of this grant is to provide wooden weaving looms and basket weaving kits for the fourth and fifth grade students at Donner Trail.
Fourth and fifth grade students are expected to learn about the major nations of California Indians, including their geographic distribution, economic activities, legends, and religious beliefs. Additionally, they are asked to describe how they depended on, adapted to, and modified the physical environment by cultivation of land and use of sea resources. Also, students in these grade levels are required to learn about the daily lives of the people, native and nonnative, who occupied the presidios, missions, ranchos, and pueblos.The art and skills of weaving using natural resources is a fundamental part of understanding indigious culture.
Weaving promotes multiple skill development: not only is weaving for kids exciting and productive, it improves concentration and hand-eye coordination, promotes fine motor skills, and encourages creative expression and self-esteem.
The success of this program will be determined by the students' understanding of the importance and various applications of weaving in indigious cultures.We want students to draw on the various uses of weaving techniques and see for themselves how challenging and satisfying the process is.
Students will work two station rotations on their fabric loom creations and switch to weave a wood fiberous materials into a basket. This will connect to social studies and literacy actvities in which we read about how different natural resources were used to weave and how they tools such as backets, hunting traps, clothing, blankets, shoes, etc.
The Yuba Room students are the only fourth and fifth graders at Donner Trail Elementary. I would like this experience to be unique to the fourth and fifth grade curriculum so that it is a special project when they enter fourth and fifth grade.
There is not currently funding available through our school site accounts for this type of project.