"Hanukkah O' Hanukkah" Pop-Out Dreidel Collage

Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah and it got me thinking about all the fun crafts I've done to celebrate this holiday (* yes the dog menorah above I do own and will be lighting again this year!)  Two years ago, during my first year teaching I taught my students how to make collages using Microsoft Word.  I incorporated understanding copyright, but mostly focused on having them stay away from the copy/paste feature.  My objective for this lesson was for them to learn how to use the file/save-as feature and insert/picture from file option from the MS Word toolbar.  The reasoning behind it, as I explained to them is that in the future, if they wanted to save the project, some of the artwork may not appear (especially if saved on a flash drive), and that it is important to save the graphic somewhere that they can access later in case they need to insert it again.

The collages they created weren't Hanukkah themed nor did I want them to be.  Instead I had them fill the whole 8 1/2 by 11 page in all things that they loved, making it an "All About Me" project.  Obviously mine was covered in dogs, which was difficult because collages overlap and I didn't want any dog to be cut off, so instead I added other dog items to fill in the gaps.  This allowed me to demonstrate how to re-size, crop, and rotate in Microsoft Word.  The next step was to print, fold, draw the dreidel template (in pencil), and  make three slits in the folded paper, with a notch at the bottom.  The picture on the right shows three blue lines indicating where to cut.  At the bottom point of the dreidel is where you make a tiny triangle cut/notch.  A print out of the directions are available here.

Many of my younger students had trouble with drawing the dreidel and making the notch, so I assisted them or one of my student helpers did.  The finished products were amazing!  You learn so much from student art and the best part was that we mounted them on construction paper and they were ready in time to take home for Hanukkah!

Sample from Family Fun Magazine