Survey of the American Girls II- Kaya

We are rolling right along in our American Girl co-op class. Only three more Mondays left now. We spent the last two weeks studying Kaya- a Native American girl from the Nez Perce tribe in the northwest. We learned a little about the tribe using a story from the Native American History Pocket from Evan Moor and we did a map of course! Since Kaya and the women in her tribe were weavers, we did a weaving project. R10 has been making these really cool bookmarks from yarn. She is really creative with all the craft books she has and this project came from one she picked up at the library book sale. With her being the expert, I let her teach the girls how to make the loom and do the weaving. It's really a clever project.

This is a great book with some fun ideas for kids. R10 does a lot of projects from here.

R10 has been really into yarn so I made sure to pick up lots of different yarn for the girls. They paid a $6 fee to take the class so I have some leeway.

These are the looms. We made them from thin cardboard and we reinforced them with another piece glued on in the middle. The key here is to mark the looms with quarter inch marks on the top and bottom then to notch out the ends for the yard to catch. Being careful here is important or you can see that you won't have enough strings or there will be an uneven number of notches between the top and bottom. Basically this means a funky bookmark!

The girls used another small piece of cardboard as a bobbin for their yarn to wrap around. You actually weave in and out with the whole bobbin not just the yarn. The other piece of cardboard under her hand is the treadle. I forgot to get a picture of them using the treadle! You weave the treadle in and out and stand it up to make it easier to weave your bobbin through. Very useful.

It's starting to take shape now. This is a bit time consuming if you've never done it before, but if they enjoyed doing it, they can make more. I like the variegated yarn because it makes a colorful bookmark.

Kaya approves of her new "mat"- we did observe of course that she would not have weaved a bookmark but mats and baskets, etc.

This class has been loads of fun! For new readers, we had a class in the fall as well. I typically spend two class periods on each girl and we do maps and learn about the US in her time. We talk about the culture of the day and we do a craft project. Last semester I did some cooking as well, but crafts are easier! Our next girl is going to be Rebecca or Julie...not sure which one yet. I have a few days to decide. I'm waiting for the Pleasant Company to come out with the 1984 girl. I am envisioning what she'll be wearing- maybe leg warmers and jelly bracelets? Or will she be a preppie '84 girl? She's bound to show up just to freak us all out- a 1980s HISTORICAL doll.