Submitted by Jinx Hall, a teacher at St. Cecilia Catholic School in Houston Texas.

Objectives:

What You Need:

• newsprint
• 2 different colors of green construction paper
• string
• hot glue
• found objects
• natural objects
• paint
• pastels
• board on wheels (so that it can be easily moved around)

What You Do:

8th Grade Objective: Responsible for building 3D Christmas tree out of crumpled newspaper on a board on wheels with string and hot glue. Crumpled green construction paper (2 green shades) glued on top of newspaper to simulate tree. Also responsible for making a mixed media train for the base of the tree. (Train was made out of styrofoam pieces, fabric, paint, etc...)

7th Grade Objective: Responsible for making ornaments out of found objects (natural and found) ie. shells, ribbon, old Christmas cards, wood pieces, cloth etc...Also responsible for garland, made out of wire, fabric scraps, ribbon, etc...anything that can make a chain-like garland.

6th Grade: Responsible for Christmas tree topper made out of found objects. My students made a angel out of cardboard, shells, fabric, etc... Also responsible for ornaments for tree.

(Cautionary Note: Hot glue gun (low melt) can burn skin, teacher should always supervise the gun. This should only be a middle school activity because of the glue gun.)

My students loved this project. Our tree stood at least 10ft. high and was beautiful. It stood in the school lobby during the holidays and was a sight to behold for all who entered the school. The ornaments were preserved and given back to the original creator after the holidays. The rest of the tree was recycled!!!