Renaissance shirts and corsetes, 7th grade

Just in time, these girls finished their hand sewn shirts and corsetes!!  The corsetes were made from old donated tee shirts  (we are getting very creative due to budget cuts all around!!).  The top picture shows putting grommets in.  Next year we will use larger grommets and I will keep an eye for short-cutters...the middle one was done correctly, but the other two took a few shortcuts, and it shows!  They should be reversible, so there is two sides, but the ladies on the sides only used one layer.  Oh well, they still turned out great, and fine for costume--they went to a Renaissance faire the next day!

Tunics, mosaics, proud students!

Wow, we really had a big push to get some tunics done so the 6th graders can wear it in their play!  They don't have to be done for a month, but a few who have parts requiring the outfit were given a little encouragement (and gave up their lunch time) to be closer to finishing...

The 8th grade is winding down to graduation...I love this time with the 8th grade, they always seem to wind down and get a little melancholic the last couple of months...it usually starts with the first rehearsal of the May Pole dance, where it is their opportunity to shine for the community!  We are working hard to finish mosaics as a gift back to the school...really working against the clock on this one!

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!