One of my favorite activities I watched the students do prior to winter break was creating strands of lights to decorate the classroom. I enjoyed watching this activity unfold because of the sharing in the teaching of the task at hand. About four students were initially taught how to make the lights in steps:
(1) select the amount of square pieces of colored paper needed (this number varied depending on how many letters were in the students first name)
(2) get the pre-made light bulb template to trace onto the colored squares
(3) trace the template onto each colored square of paper and them out
(4) arrange the colors as desired and write a letter to spell your name on each of the light bulbs
(5) gather the same number of black rectangle paper pieces as you have lights and glue each end of the rectangle to each side of the lights
(6) get a piece of string long enough to hold all of your lights
(7) put the string through the spaces created between the black rectangle pieces and the lights
(8) show a teacher so they can tape it up as decorations
After these students were taught the craft they became responsible for teaching any newcomers to the activity. I loved seeing the students not only excited to do the craft but also empowered in teaching their classmates how to make their own. Another feature of this activity I liked was that the products were used to decorate the classroom. Those who made the lights were excited to have their work displayed and it made the room look more festive without using generic boarders or expensive decorations. Overall, this activity is one I certainly look forward to using in my own classroom.
