KINDer Power! - A Superhero Project (Part 2)
Welcome back friends to Part 2 of the "KINDer Power!" Project post!
"KINDer Power!" Is all about harnessing our own individual superpowers such ad kindness, patience, and flexibility in order to better our school community. Check out Part 1 to see how this project got started.
Costume Design
In Part 1 I described how our class had each come up with their own superhero persona, including a superhero name, "superpower", and costume - complete with a symbol, belt, cape and mask. The kindergarteners worked really hard on the costume design portion of this project. This is where the students' inviduality, voice and choice really shone through. The students learned the principles of design and practiced using critique to each make a beautiful and unique costume. They made 1st drafts of their designs on paper, receive some feedback from their peers and older 4th Grade and 7th Grade Buddies for improvement, improved their designs and made a final draft, and then executed their designs to make their final products.
Our first step was to determine what are the elements of a superhero costume? What parts of a costume did most superheroes have in common? We made a list and determined that we too would need a mask, cape, belt, symbol, and some cool outerwear (i.e. stretchy pants, long-sleeves, and boots)! We mad a Materials List and drew our 1st drafts of our design ideas. Here are some of our original designs and Materials Lists:
We took these designs and Materials Lists home to have our families help us try and find old clothes or fabric that could be up-cycled into our new superhero costumes! We used sheets, blankets, old t-shirts and dresses borrowed form our parents, and even elements from old costumes we had laying around in our closets! We brought all these back to school to be used for costume making in class. We embellished the outerwear pieces and used the extra fabric pieces for cape and belt making (read about it below).
The next most important part of our costumes was to make our symbols. These symbols would represent us as superheroes and show off our superpowers! We spent some time learning about our old friends again - the famous superheroes. We took a closer look at what their symbols were and more importantly, why they looked the way they did. We came up with a rubric or checklist for making a great symbol:
A symbol is simple (not too many details)
A symbol is clear (drawn carefully with clean lines)
A symbol has color
A symbol has a shape
A symbol matches what it represents
After studying the important components of a great symbol, the students worked together within their Super Leagues to come up with a symbol that matched their leagues' power. They did multiple drafts of their symbols using critique and their big buddy's help at times. We put our final drafts onto iron-on paper and applied them to the front of our belts and backs of our capes.
(image of checklist and symbols)
I think the students had the most fun making and decorating their capes, masks and belts during this project. To make the masks, I bought pre-made plastic masks from Michael's and the students used their design drawings to recreate their visions in real-life.
To make their belts and capes, students had to learn about measuring in a very real way, and properly measure out how much fabric they needed to be the right size (read more below). The belts were fairly simple - students measured out the amount of fabric needed and then with adult help, they cut the belt shape, added velcro to the back, and decorated their belt as well as ironed-on their symbol to the front.
The capes were a little more tricky. Students had to use a template correctly in order to cut out the cape shape, so we practiced with our 4th Grade Buddies on paper first.
Once we knew how to use the template correctly, we were ready to make our real capes out of fabric. Much like the belts (and again with adult help) students measured out the amount of fabric needed and cut it using the template to guide them. Then the kindergarteners were able to embellish and decorate their capes, leaving room of course for their symbols to be ironed-on
in the middle! (View the gallery of all our students' costumes at the bottom of this post!)
Superhero Math
The kinder students learned a lot about shapes and measurement during this project, and they were able to apply their learning in authentic ways at various points throughout!
We first studied shapes. We went on shape hunts around our school and homes, and started to noticed the world is made entirely out of shapes! We learned how to identify, classify and sort the basic 2D shapes first. We also worked on composing the shapes on our own or combining other shapes to make new ones. We made a class shape book and used shapes to make lots of pictures! Later our class moved on to 3D shapes and we had a lot of fun learning their complex names and noticing the similarities and differences between them and the 2D shapes we studied previously. We also attempted to classify, sort, and make these more complex shapes out of playdough. The kinder students applied their learning to choose their favorite shape for their symbol later on their costume.
Our class also spent a lot of time working on measurement during this project. We learned that there are many different ways to measure things (size, weight, height, etc.), and we focused on measuring lengths. We also learned that to do measurement well, you can use almost anything that is uniform in length (paperclips, cubes, Q-Tips - not only just a ruler) but you need have strong counting skills. We also learned that you have to line-up your measuring units with the ends (top and bottom) of what you want to measure, and make sure their are no "extras" or "gaps." We measured things all around our class, and discovered it matters a lot which dimension (height, length or width) you want to measure of something. The students even measured me - I have a looooong foot they said ;)
Our class found that knowing how to measure something accurately comes in really handy when you want to make a cape or belt for a superhero costume! We measured our waists to determine how long our belts needed to be, and then the students worked in pairs to help each other measure their backs to decide how long they wanted their capes to be, and then the adults helped them cut their fabrics to make these two pieces of clothing! They were so excited to see their hard work pay off in the end!
When we put all this amazing learning together, our class transformed. We became the cast of KINDer Power! - real-life superheroes on a mission to improve our classroom relations and school community. Besides the amazing finished costumes our class made (see below) we also created a video: "KINDer Power!" showcasing these superpowers and our whole class solving problems inside and outside the classroom. So there is just one question left unanswered now: What is YOUR superpower?!
With Love,
Ms. Jeanine
