A corsette, of course....

Well, at least 2 seventh graders have finished their renaissance shirt and corsette (made out of donated Tshirts!!) all hand sewn...this is wonderful, but the rest kind of lag behind...this is a special problem for handwork teachers...this was supposed to last the rest of the year....hmmm, must come up with something fun for these two, in a hurry!

Medieval Games Tunics begin!

Oh boy, finally dyed the tunics...I say finally because 6th grade has been waiting a veeeeerrrrrry loooooonnnng time to do these, or so they feel that!  I love their enthusiasm (if I could only get that kind of enthusiasm from the 8th grade...).  They voted for purple, so we dyed them and hung them to dry when it was finally sunny!  This week we will begin on coats of arms and their banner.  (on a side note, the 7th grade saw the tunics drying and said things like "what!  how come they get purple....."  How soon they forget, they voted on red unanimously last year---pretty sure purple was and option.  Why is it that every grade feels the year before gets bigger and better things..it is almost school-wide, this feeling, even though they have done the exact same project the year prior...funny little people, the grass is always greener...)

3rd grade dwellings

I just had to put up some pictures of our 3rd grade dwellings project...they are the best I have seen yet, you can see how much time and effort they put in...I do not teach this, but I was so impressed and delighted!

First pair of 5th grade socks!

Well, one student has finished her 4 needle socks!  This is always a very exciting project for them to finish, and rarely do I have more than 5 that get that far!  She is knitting a dress for herself now...when they finish this, I give them an option of bringing a project from home in, or I can give them another project (eg, a gnome or animal or leggings etc...).

One more hat !

One more hat done in 5th grade!  This student had some allergy type issues with wool, so she bought some cotton yarn, and it turned out great!  I forgot to compensate for the different yarn, so with the same pattern (it is cast on 60, divided onto 3 needles, knit in the round) it ended up a little baggy, but really was great like that!  We might weave in a little ribbon if she wants to cinch it up a bit, which would be cute too!  This is my class of 32, no helpers or volunteers, so I am pretty amazed that anyone gets anything done!  I have one student who will finish her second sock on Friday!

We are beginning a mosaic project for the 8th graders gift to the school...a huge undertaking, but do-able, right?  I wish I could do woodworking with that class, but it is too big and there are not enough supplies and I have exhausted my handwork funds for the year!

PJ pants and Renaisance shirts !

Well, here it is February!  Rain has made the last couple of weeks crazy at school, the kids were getting cabin fever, not to mention the mud from shoes on the floor, something that drives me mad!!  Anyhoo, sun was here for the weekend and today, but looks like cloudy skies are back tomorrow.  One day last week I went out during a sunny break and had handwork out on the blacktop playground!

Here are a couple of finished PJ pants made by some proud 8th graders!

Also, the first finished hand stitched Renaissance shirt from 7th grade!  Next for this student will be a hand stitched corsette to go overtop, made from an old T shirt.

Anyone need a handwork teacher?  I feel the budget might cut me right out of a job!

Rainy windy Wednesday

Well, I have been very frustrated with my 8th grade class, getting to the point of canceling handwork for the rest of the year... So, after a concerned parent contacted me, I decided to brainstorm with the main lesson teacher for a solution. Temporarily, I have split the class, so I am working with a maximum of 15 at a time, instead of 25. SO, yesterday was the first day, I had about 12 students, and it worked like magic!! I actually felt that I was teaching instead of putting out fires and taking care of behaviour problems, which in retrospect were probably a result of too many students (do ya think??) for a handwork teacher to handle, at least for 8th grade. They only will get handwork once a week this way, but really, that is what they were getting before. The students loved it, and I think they felt more respected....I know they felt more respected. Even the "difficult" students that worked with me yesterday were completely different in that atmosphere.

SOOOO, I have given our administrator my intentions for next year, which are to still teach handwork, but with a co-teacher if the classes cannot be reduced for me. It is so hard, we need the money each student brings, but the class sizes have doubled since I have started, and I was a little unprepared for the result of that.....live and leare....oh, and if I cannot co-teach or have smaller classes, I will be on to a different adventure. Needless to say, I am getting my resume up to date!!!!