Legend of the Indian Paint Brush

We read The Legend of the Indian Paint Brush by Tomie DePaola. We brainstormed different images that we saw in Little Gopher's paintings. We began by painting a 12x18 piece of paper in a rainbow pattern of stripes. When that was dry we drew scalloped lines around the edges and cut them out to make it look more like the animal skins we saw in the story. Students then used oil pastels to draw Native American scenes.

Native American Coil Pots

During Native AMerican Heritage month, 4th graders learned about coil pot techniques. We looked at examples and used model magic to create a base and roll coils to spiral on top. We discussed different ways to shape their pots and smooth the textured walls by gently pinching them. Once dry we used sharpie to add Native American designs.