I made some simple cutting practice sheets for our Kinders this year. With a really large group, it helped me understand where a majority of my students are. After observing and reflecting on the exercise, thank goodness I found out most of the class has had some cutting practice!
Here is the range I've seen:
Awesome, awesome job! I actually had a few like these, too. I was pleasantly surprised to see 5 year old's tackling the narrow zig-zag line!
Mm- not too bad. You can see the student did pretty well. I think the folds and creases all over the sheets demonstrate the effort put in just to hold the paper right. Overall, though, they followed the lines fairly good.
Of course, though, we will have some who have had minimal practice. I've noted down these students and know that they will need more assistance and more hand-over-hand work.
Most students did great with the gluing. There were a few, though, who did not follow along with directions and either cut that bottom line, did way more than 6 glue dots, or glued the cut shapes from the practice sheet onto the paper instead of this:
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| Excellent cutting! |
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| Gettin' there |
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| Not too bad.. |
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| Pretty good! |
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| Awesome job! |
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| Needs some more practice.. |
I also have switched over to the tap-n-glue bottle caps which (so far) have gone over great! But again, I still ended up with one of these:
In the end, my little "study" and reflection shows that 1) we are in baby step mode- which is fine! Because I only see them once a week, I used to feel the pressure of showing so many products instead of evolving on the process, but I know now that to really get the most out of my kids, we need to cover the basics! and 2) Kinders love to please : ). They love to show off their good work and are so proud of their art, even if it's cutting dotted lines! It's because of their love for learning and sweet lil' ol' innocence, they inspire me to keep on keepin' on.
Hannah, I've never tried anything like this, and it seems like a great idea. Erica (Art Project Girl) posted something similar recently. I guess I assume too much, expecting them to be able to cut, when I know so many of them will be challenged. I think basically kindergarten scares me!
ReplyDeleteI did try those glue tops for a while and they seemed nice at first and then really frustrated me, when I wanted to draw LINES of glue. I gave up on them after a bit and went back to the traditional (clogging) glue caps.
Haha- I'M getting impatient with the tap-n-glue! I just want to squeeze out the glue because I know I'll obviously take care of the bottles... but that wouldn't be a good example of me, would it? Ha.. If my kida can convert to being patient, I'll have to try (at least), too... we'll see how I am come January : )
ReplyDeleteI snatched an idea from the TAB-choice yahoo group for collage - glue sponges! I purchased regular household sponges and some plastic containers (glad-ware), cut the sponges to fit snug, leaving very little room between top of sponge & lid (in fact, I layered 2 sponges, because mine were too thin), then soaked the sponges with white glue (for the first full, I had to let it soak in & add quite a fe times). Students lightly radio shapes onto the sponge, leaving a thin, even later of glue on the shape- it sticks great, no warping, no seeping glue-LOVE IT!!!! I just spritz the sponges & seal the container at the end of the day, flip the sponge & add glue every so often...low maintenance, little mess...
ReplyDeleteHa- students TAP shapes onto the sponge...pardon typos, I shouldn't comment from my phone :(
ReplyDelete