Fibers & Clothing Week 1

Find all of my planning notes for the Fibers & Clothing block on my website. I've never taught this block before and am very excited! Our silkworm eggs arrived Friday and are safe in a warm spot in my kitchen. I've also lined up several special guest visitors plus a few awesome field trips for this block.

Week 1: Wool Experiments, Washing Molly's Raw Wool, Carding & Spinning, Wet Felting

Monday, February 4

• read "Wool: Fleece for Man," pages 62-70 from my vintage copy of It's Fun to Know Why: Experiments with Things Around Us (1952)
  
• do the accompanying science experiments:

  "Heat Preserver"
  hot water
  three small covered glass jars (old spice jars work well)
  one woolen sock
  one cotton sock

  "A Blanket of Air"
  a 2 in square piece of woolen cloth, cut from an old piece of clothing
  a 2 in square piece of cotton material, cut from an old sheet
  2 drinking glasses
  a pencil
  water

  "Stretch and Spring"
  a 12 in piece of woolen knitting yarn

  "Pull and Twist"
  a 12 in piece of woolen knitting yarn

Tuesday, February 5

• review wool experiments, add Wool Experiments to MLB
• feel and compare the contents of two brown paper bags (raw wool, clean wool batting), discuss and feel lanolin
  
• read Pelle's New Suit by Elsa Beskow, talk about Sheep to Shawl competitions
  
• feel and compare different textures of wool (Romney, Corriedale, Merino, English Leicester, etc.)
• open up our new Ashford hand carders from A Child's Dream
• wash raw wool (my brother and sister-in-law keep sheep and Kate shears them every year and sends me fleeces for our school; this fleece was from their sheep Molly)

Thursday, February 7

• review washing raw wool, add Washing Raw Wool to MLB
• open up our new Beginner's Spinning Set from A Child's Dream
• brainstorm fairy tales which mention spinning, read "Mother Holle" from Favourite Grimm's Tales illustrated by Anastasiya Archipova
  
• try carding with the wool carders and spinning with the drop spindle
  

Friday, February 8

• review carding and spinning, add Carding & Spinning to MLB
• give the children time to look at the clothing they are wearing (fibers, fabric care instructions and symbols, country of manufacture)
• discuss the many ways there are to make clothing (knitting, crochet, weaving and then cutting & sewing the resulting fabric, wet felting)
• read The Six Swans
  
• watch Felting a Brimmed Hat on a Ball video from Jack Rabbit Hollow
• grate soaps into shapes for wet felted soap stones

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