Students accurately reproduce a Purple Heart medal and provide facts about its history and meaning.

• 1.

  The Purple Heart was the first military medal and originally established by George Washington in 1782. It is awarded to any member of the armed forces who is wounded or killed in any action against an enemy of the United States.

• 2.

  Print from the computer or copy from a book a silhouette of George Washington.

• 3.

  Cut a piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil large enough to cover the silhouette of George Washington with Crayola® Scissors.

• 4.

  Color the foil with a gold metallic Crayola Twistables® Slick Stix™ Crayon.

• 5.

  Place the colored foil on recycled newspaper. Place the silhouette of George Washington on top of the foil. Gently outline the silhouette with a Crayola Colored Pencil. Remove the silhouette when you are finished. Cut out the embossed foil silhouette with scissors.

• 6.

  Place the foil silhouette of George Washington onto a piece of construction paper. Draw a large heart around the foil and cut it out with scissors.

• 7.

  Use Twistables® Slick Stix™ Crayons to color the outer edge of the heart gold and the center purple. Glue the foil silhouette in the center of the colored heart with Crayola School Glue.

• 8.

  Draw and cut out the shield decoration that attaches the ribbon to the medal. Color the shield with Twistables® Slick Stix™ Crayons and cut out with scissors.

• 9.

  Use a ruler to measure a piece of construction paper into a 4 in. x 9 in. (10.2cm x 22.9cm) rectangle with a Colored Pencil and cut out the rectangle with scissors.

• 10.

  Measure and draw a line a half inch (1.3 cm) from the long edge of the rectangle on both sides with a colored pencil. Color the middle of the rectangle with a purple Twistables® Slick Stix™ Crayon. Leave the two half-inch strips on each side plain white. Fold in the two corners of the rectangle to create a point on the bottom end of the rectangle. Glue the folded pieces in place with School Glue.

• 11.

  Assemble the medal by gluing the shield to the pointed end of the ribbon and then the heart to the shield.

• 12.

  Cut a piece of magnet tape about 2 inches (5.1 cm) long and stick it to the top back of the ribbon. Stain Advisement: Slick Stix contain pigments that may stain clothing, fabrics and other household surfaces. Wear a smock to protect clothing and cover your work surface with newspaper.

Standards

• LA: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade level topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
• LA: Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions.
• LA: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.
• MATH: Add, subtract, multiply, and divide decimals to hundredths, using concrete models or drawings and strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction; relate the strategy to a written method and explain the reasoning used.
• MATH: Convert among different-sized standard measurement units within a given measurement system (e.g., convert 5 cm to 0.05 m), and use these conversions in solving multi-step, real world problems.
• SS: Give examples of the various institutions that make up economic systems such as families, workers, banks, labor unions, government agencies, small businesses, and large corporations.
• SS: Demonstrate the role of money in everyday life.
• VA: Select media, techniques, an processes; analyze what makes them effective or not effective in communicating ideas; and reflect upon the effectiveness of choices.
• VA: Intentionally take advantage of the qualities and characteristics of art media, techniques, and processes to enhance communication of experiences and ideas.

Adaptations

• Possible classroom resources include: The Flower Man by Mark Ludy; A Flower in the Snow by Tracey Corderoy
• Invite the owner of a floral shop to visit with the class to discuss the daily running of a small business, purchasing decisions, employee hiring and scheduling, etc. Students compose questions for the meeting. After the visit, students post learning to a class blog.
• Encourage students to create more than one flower. Each flower should be an example of a different specimen. For example, one may be a daisy, another a rose, etc. Price each accordingly.
• Students organize a class "store" to include their flowers, additional items, and services created in the classroom. Provide time in the school day, or week, for students to "run" the store. After a period of "running" the store, students workers post thoughts, learning, frustrations, etc. to a class blog.