South America: Peru

Do Now: Draw your favorite circus act. If you've never been to the circus, make one up!

As the end of the trimester draws near, the 1st and 2nd grade moved on to learning about their second to last continent - South America!

More specifically, we will spend the next two classes learning about Peru, a country known from its yarn and weaving.

We started off class learning about daily life in Peru from the point of view of an 11 year old girl from Cuzco, the capital.

Then we looked at some photos of Peruvian weaving - one student made a wonderful connection, comparing it to the Ghanian Kente Cloth we learned about last week.

Next we watched a short video that showed how the different yarns are colored using natural dyes. (You can look at the step-by-step process here )

 

Finally, the 1st and 2nd graders had an opportunity to try their own hand at weaving! After talking about the over under over under technique, each student received a 'loom' made out of a small paper plate, and began to weave!