Friday, February 8, 2019

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



This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

No comments: