I teach World Cultures to sixth, seventh and eighth grade students. My classes are made up of students who love being creative and expressive while participating in hands-on activities. They enjoy experiencing other cultures through art as they learn social studies content and demonstrate visual art skills.
Students are constantly researching history and inquiring as to why events happen the way that they do.
Students study, analyze, and create artwork from cultures around the world while developing an awareness of different perspectives of cultures around the globe. This Indian toran project is for my two sixth grade classes.
My Project
In order to make our project a reality, we need art supplies such as colorful felt, cotton ribbon, fabric glue, miniature mirrors, glass globs, and fabric scissors. We will discuss how torans are still used in India today over doorways or windows to express welcome or to celebrate religion, weddings, or births. Students will look at an example of a cotton toran made by a women's cooperative group in India. They will collaborate with their peers in pairs to use shape, form, color, and texture to create their flag-like hangings about India.
Students will learn the historical and cultural background of Indian torans and about India's art, riturals, religions, and history.
First, they will select their topics from a list on India including religion, rituals, historical events, and influential people. Students will conduct research using primary and secondary sources found in books and on the Internet. They will use this information to come up with a plan on what to include on their torans. Together they will decide which part each student will do in order to complete the project. They will create their individual sections by making a picture using the art supplies on their felt flag representing their idea or topic. They will combine their flags to make torans with one major section on top and four flag-like sections hanging down.
After students complete their torans, they will work together to write a brief summary about their topic describing the parts of their toran.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Gadecki and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
