Trépanier Trapezoid Lesson

	Title: Making the Trépanier Trapezoid Grade Level: grades K-8 Length: one to two lessons, including a 20 - 40-minute reading and a 30 - 60-minute kite making activity (reading and activity can be combined).
Islamic School, Seattle Kiyomi Okawa

• Science: increase or decrease in lift and drag by varying size of vent and/or length of tail
• Mathematics: definitions (polygon; quadrilateral; trapezoid; base; leg; isosceles trapezoid; vertex); congruence of shapes, angles, and diagonals; symmetry; finding perimeter and area of trapezoid
• Visual arts: elementary cutting skills; two-dimensional design; knowledge of arts careers and the role of arts skills in the world of work (grades 4-8)
• Language arts: reading to learn new information; analyzing, interpreting and synthesizing information and ideas in informational text; reading to perform a task

Focus: These lessons introduce basic terms and techniques of kite making along with an easy-to-make, easy-to-fly kite. Older students (grades 4-8) can also learn about the arts career of kite designer Robert Trépanier.

• Student reading: Making a Kite (grades K-2)

OR
• Student reading: Meet the Kite Maker: Robert Trépanier (grades 3-5)

OR
• Student reading: Meet the Kite Maker: Robert Trépanier (grades 6-8)
• Scissors; tape; markers, pens, or crayons, per student
• Template (requires 2 pieces 11" x 17" bond paper, per student) and Instructions for Trépanier Trapezoid, plus 4-8 bamboo skewers (depending on length), flying line and winder, per student

OR
• Trépanier Trapezoid Kite Kit (with paper pattern, spars, flying line & winder), per student

Lesson One: Kites and Kite Makers (20 - 40 minutes)

Younger students (grades K-2; 20 minutes): Use the reading Making a Kite to introduce kite vocabulary and concepts, specifically variety in materials for making kites and winds for flying kites. Discuss any experiences that students have had making or flying kites.

Older students (grades 3-8; 20 - 40 minutes): If students have no experience in kite making, use the Drachen Foundation's "Kite Basics" (which includes a glossary) and Kite Building to familiarize them with basic vocabulary and materials. Use the reading Meet the Kite Maker: Robert Trépanier, at the intermediate (grades 3-5) or middle school (grades 6-8) level, to introduce some of the challenges of kite design and artistry and to discuss the usefulness of arts skills in different jobs.

Lesson Two: Making the Trépanier Trapezoid (30 - 60 minutes) Download the kite template and instructions, or use the kite kit, to make the kite. Older students (grades 4-8) can easily construct this kite in 30 minutes or less, although they may want to devote more time to designing the sail. Remind students that large, bold, colorful designs will be more readily visible in the sky on a kite of this size. Tails can also be decorated.

Sheman Elementary, Taiwan Cathy Palmer

Resources to extend learning

• The Kite Festival by Leyla Torres (2004) nicely complements this project because it emphasizes the simple materials from which kites can be made (it also includes instructions for making a simple, hexagonal kite).
  
  Three generations of the Flórez family set off on a Sunday drive, encounter a kite festival, and join in the fun by creating a kite from found materials (luckily, a booth is open to sell bamboo from which a frame can be built). The string from little sister's pull toy, a map, crayons, bandaids, napkins, and a fabric belt all contribute to the kite.
  
  Through the narrative, the story also naturally addresses other aspects of kite flying: how to launch a kite; how to add a tail for stability; how to disentangle from another flier's line; how to protect one's hands. The grandfather models the kind of improvisatory persistence that kite fliers call on to overcome problems with bridles or trees.
  
  
• Online lessons about trapezoids, at www.gomath.com/htdocs/lesson/trapezoid_lesson1.htm, can supplement information from textbooks about trapezoids. Older students can discuss why the shape of an isosceles trapezoid is well suited for kite making ("The key insight into all properties of the isosceles trapezoid is its symmetry.")