8/31/2013 and 9/6/2013

1st and 2nd Grade

On 8/31 we started our weaving unit.  The past two weeks everyone has been weaving paper placemats that I will be taking to laminate so they can actually be used.  We talked about some weaving vocabulary like warp, weft and plain weave.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the project.  Here are some pictures of everyone hard at work.

Next week we will start straw weaving to make a bookmark.  Most of my waving lesson plans come from this wonderful book.  It is just an awesome book for anyone wanting to teach kids how to weave (it is slightly deceptive looking like it is for kids, but really it is for teachers), I highly recommend it!

3rd and 4th Grade

On 8/31 we talked about how wool (and all animal hair) can felt to make fabric and shaped items.  Everyone made a small piece of flat felt in a baggie.  Here are all the pieces of felt drying in my back yard.

Soon after this picture they were moved to my garage due to the wind picking up and starting to blow them around.  We will use this felt in a future project.  Everyone also wrapped a wool ball blank in colored pieces of wool.  I then took them home, put them in the legs of pantyhose and washed then with laundry to make finished wool felt balls.  I passed them out at the end of class last Friday and took a picture of each class with their balls.

This week, 9/6 we talked about spindles, their history, the different types and watched some YouTube videos of them being used.  Everyone also got to decorate their own high whorl spindle and a fabric bag to carry their spinning tools back and forth to co-op with.  Here are some  pictures of everyone working hard on their projects.

Here are some of the YouTube videos I showed.

 

This is the best YouTube on the basics of spindle spinning I've found

 

This is one of the coolest YouTube videos about native textile arts I've ever seen, BUT it is most interesting with the English captions which I had trouble getting to show up on my Kindle Fire which is what I was using to show the kids the videos, so I haven't shared it with the kids yet.  Anyway, I totally want to go to Peru now and visit the villages these women work in and buy lots and lots of fabric from them.  If you are even slightly curious about native cultures and/or fiber arts this video should hold your attention.  I found it fascinating.

 

Next week we will start learning how to spindle spin.