Each month, parents volunteer to come to class and teach a seasonal art project to the students. Today, we made a beautiful origami star! Origami is the ancient Japanese art of paper-folding. In Japanese, oru means fold and kami means paper.
The two origami stars who put together this craft were Karissa's mom and Abby's mom.
Each student needed two identical sheets of origami paper.
One side had a design and one side was white.
There were many steps. Since we were doing origami, many steps involved folding. Students were encouraged to carefully fold and heavily crease the origami paper after each step.
After folding one sheet four times, it was time to measure and mark four areas to be cut. The moms provided a nonstandard measuring tool to mark the length of each cut.
Next, it was time to make the four cuts. It reminded us of the time we made the compass rose! Each cut was at a cardinal direction: north, south, east, and west.
The next step was to do some additional folds where the cuts were made.
Finally, we glued the folds in a way that created a 3-dimensional point.
We then repeated all the steps with the second piece of origami paper. The two 4-pointed stars were glued together to form this 8-pointed star.
When we were done making the stars, we went outside and created a panoramic picture. Do you notice anything unusual about this panoramic? (Hint: Look at the person on the end.)
Click to Enlarge this panoramic picture.
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What did you like about this parent-lead craft project?
What other origami project would you like to create?
Posts
Dear Mrs. Yollis and Class,
ReplyDeleteI am so impressed with your origami skills! The art of paper-folding requires great care and precision, which you certainly showed in your projects! Your work is definitely "star" quality!
What a dazzling panorama of sparkling stars you created!
I have seen an eight-pointed star in at least two other places. Both the ones I have seen are only two-dimensional, unlike yours, which are polygons! I'll send in a photo of one that I have made for your 365 blog. The other is one that you have probably seen many times in your classroom! See if you can find an eight-pointed star on a map. Be sure to reply back if you find it and can tell me what it's called!
Thanks so much for sharing your beautiful, celestial paper projects! I did notice something about the person on the end in the panoramic photo, but I'll leave that to one of your other responders to explain! ;-)
Your Star-Loving Blogging Buddy,
Mrs. Ranney
Dear Mrs. Yollis and class,
ReplyDeleteI like how I made the folds and then I cut out tiny pieces.
The hard part was when I had to glue one side to the other side.
Once I was on my second star, I did not need any help.
My teacher said once we were done, I could help people. I helped people and it was fun.
I am going to make a model flower next. I am very excited, to make it because I have never made it before.
I never knew about World Book Online projects until my friend showed me her origami doll.
I love her idea.
What do you like to explore on World Book Online?
Love,
Keya
Dear Mrs. Yollis,
ReplyDeleteOrigami is one of my favorite activities. My mom has an origami set from when she was my age. She gave it to me so that we can enjoy the activity together. The books are over 30 years old but look like they are in perfect condition.
I am very good at folding cicadas. They are bugs that make noisy chirping sounds in the summertime. We hear lots of them when we visit my grandmother in China.
Do you have any activities that you like to share with your family?
Your student,
Aar♥n
Hi Aaron,
DeleteI find it very interesting that origami is one of your favorite family activities. I enjoyed making an origami star in class as well but to answer your question, one of my favorite family activities is making and decorating cookies. We make the cookie dough from scratch using flour, eggs, sugar, butter and vanilla extract. Then we roll out the dough and cut all kinds of fun shapes into the dough. I even have cookie letters that spell my name, Jock. Once the cookies come out of the oven we decorate them using frosting and sprinkles. Cookies are my favorite dessert!
I find it so interesting that you visit your grandmother in China, I've always wanted to go there. Can you tell me some facts about China?
Your friend,
Jock
Dear Jock,
DeleteYum... I love fresh baked cookies, the thought is making me hungry.
Did you know that The Great Wall of China borders all of china? It is the biggest wall in the entire world? Now it is a monument that people go to for fun.
My mother was born there, but moved to California when she was about 3.
It is a very long flight. About 10 to 13 hours.
Do you have anywhere that you like to visit?
Your friend,
Aaron
Dear Mrs. Yollis,
ReplyDeleteI always liked (like) to do origami when I was done with my homework. None of the origami projects were (are) as complicated as the origami stars were (are). I recommend that we make a origami frog that could actually bounce up and down. In the past, I liked (like) to make jabber jaws but now they are really boring to make because I have been making them for a few years. When I was 5 years old, I didn't have any origami but I got an origami kit for my birthday.
What were (are) some of your favorite origami projects?
Dear Mrs.Yollis,
ReplyDeleteI love that my mom came in and helped us make this wonderful project. I thought this was so cool when she showed me how to make it. In fact, I actually made a whole bunch of tiny stars and hung it on my Christmas tree. I just think it is awesome and perfect to hang up around December. In my whole life I've never ever done origami by myself, all the others I've done is when I had lots of help. Sometimes when I do origami with another person who is helping me, the other person just does all the work. But this one I can do it with no help at all. I just do it on my own whenever I have time. I hope all the other classmates enjoyed it as much as I did. Did you ever do origami by yourself with absolutely no help? If so, what did you make?
Sincerely,
Karissa
Dear Mrs. Yollis,
ReplyDeleteThis is Karissa’s mother and I’m responding to this 2015 blog (9 years ago!!😆) because I was on an online hunt to figure out how to make that origami star I made with your class back then. I remember you took a panoramic picture of those stars 🌟 and I thought it wouldn’t hurt to search for that picture. Not only did I find a class picture of the origami stars but a blog post dedicated to explaining how we made it!!! 🤩 I was so thrilled and grateful for you taking photos and explicitly explaining every step!! Thank you for having this blog post still running after all these years. You are amazing!
Warmly,
Gloria