Weaving Together Life Lessons

Topic: Life Lessons

Basic Supplies:

White construction paper
Colored construction paper
Glue
Scissors
Rulers
Fine tip writing utensils such as colored pens and pencils

Video Discussion:

Ask, “What is a life lesson or piece of wise life advice that you might give to a friend?”

(Note: Depending on student age and comfort level, an example can be given and then students can be asked to work with a partner to think of additional life lessons or pieces of wise advice.)

Create a list of life lessons on the whiteboard or document camera.

After watching the video Life Lessons 101, ask students to list any additional life lessons or wise advice they can think of from the video or their own thoughts. Update the class list as necessary.

Use some or all of the following questions to discuss the video content:

What does the term “life lesson” mean?
Where might you learn or hear life lessons?
Can anyone learn life lessons or do you have to be an adult? Explain your thinking.
Do you think you can live your life guided by a single life lesson? Why or why not?

Activity Instructions:

Students will be creating a paper weaving of different life lessons.

Life is complex and multifaceted. This weaving is a visual representation of the fact that we can’t live by a single piece of life advice. Instead, we have to combine many different life lessons and advice from wise people and those that love us to weave together a strong, solid, successful life.

Select your favorite color piece of construction paper. Using a ruler and pencil, mark lines across the paper vertically every 0.5 inches.
Make another mark horizontally 1 inch from the top of the paper.
Carefully, use scissors to cut along your vertical lines. Don’t completely cut the paper into strips! You should stop cutting when you get to your horizontal line, leaving the strips connected by the final inch of the paper.
Now, take a piece of white construction paper. Using your ruler and pencil, mark lines across the paper vertically every 0.5 inches.
Cut along your vertical lines using scissors to create white paper strips.
On each white paper strip, use colored pens or pencils to write one wise piece of advice or life lesson. These can be your own life lessons that you want to share, those someone else has shared with you, or lessons from the role models in the video.
Starting next to the uncut portion of your colored construction paper, one at a time weave a white strip into the colored strips. Alternate moving the white strip on top of and under the colored strips.
Repeat this process until you have used all of your white strips.
Use a glue stick to carefully glue the ends of each white strip down onto the colored strips to hold your design in place.
Place your weaving somewhere that you will see it often. It should be a daily reminder for you to apply all of your knowledge towards building a successful life!