4 Leaf Clover Cut and Write
For my little ones cutting and writing is a foundational skill we are working on a lot. Once a month I try to create a fun artsy lesson that has them cut and write so that they are working on their cutting skills. We tend to forget that these basic art skills of cutting paper is something that all kids need practice with.
I chose a four leaf clover because we were working on decorating the class board for March for St. Patrick’s Day. A four leaf clover is also much harder for a k-2 student to cut than you think. I saw quite a few kids struggle which is great! Pushing our students to cut out shapes that they aren’t use to gets them out of their comfort zone. A lot of students didn’t even know what a 4 leaf clover was which let them learn a few more vocabulary words too!
I always have a visual example for the students so they can see what the finished product looks like. But here is the thing with art projects. Let the kid do it themselves! They will never get better if we offer everything cut out for them and all they have to work on is their glueing skills because let’s face it, glueing is not as complicated as cutting by any means. A few of our four leaf clovers even turned into 3 leaf clovers but that is okay! Every month when we practice they get a little bit better and by the end of the year they will have the confidence and experience to cut out something even more intricate. Yet, they won’t get there if we do it for them.
I then had them write in the middle “I am Lucky because…” then on each clover they had to write one word or sentence about something they are lucky for. At first a few of my students said they weren’t lucky for anything but then we got to talking about it more and afterwards they couldn’t stop coming up with things they were lucky for from donuts to their mom. During these simpler activities I try to push them to do everything themselves which means they sound out the words themselves without having me help them spell the more difficult words.
I was worried teaching resource this year that I would not be able to do as many art projects. I keep it to one or two a month but truthfully when they get to cut or color something they are so much more interested in their work then ever before. All of them, from k-5th grade they love it! I was even surprised when my older boys would jump for joy that they get to color something. I always make sure we are reading or writing something still but I really enjoy creating a few mini lessons here and there where the students are 100% invested in the work at hand.
Last but not least, do you know how easy this is to make. I thought of it the morning of and put a four leaf clip art image on a goolge slide and printed it on some green paper. Our lesson’s do not have to be something crazy elaborate to push our students to the next level, they just have to be fun.
I hope this gave you some ideas of what you can create for your students to learn in the future!
Here are a just a few standards you can tie this to:
Kindergarten: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.K.8
With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.
1st Grade: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.1.8
With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.
2nd Grade: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.8
Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.
Happy Teaching :)