Fibers & Clothing Week 3

This block has been so much fun! Here are some notes from Week 3.

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

Week 2: Natural Dyes, Mohair & Cashmere, Yarn Store Field Trip, Silk, Crochet Special Guest

Week 3: Weaving, Angora, Camel, Spinning Special Guest, Flax & Hemp, Hemp & Indigo Field Trip

Monday, February 18

• review silk, draft and add Silk to MLB
• discuss plan for finishing our Local History & Geography tapestry
• read Thérèse Makes a Tapestry by Alexandra S.D. Hinrichs
  
• read The Emperor's New Clothes illustrated by Virginia Lee Burton
  
• feel angora fiber and guess what it is before being told
• practice with block beeswax crayons
  

• do the Live Ed drawing lesson Three Archetypal Forms (focus on circle progression) from Drawing Simple Animal Forms

  

Tuesday, February 19

• review weaving, draft Weaving for MLB
• feel baby camel roving and guess what it is before being told
• tell children that we will be able to spin some of our exotic fibers with Thursday's special guest
• read Rumplestiltskin by Paul Galdone
  
• read "Little Briar-Rose" from Favourite Grimm's Tales illustrated by Anastasiya Archipova
  
• draw rabbit using drawing lesson from Drawing Simple Animal Forms

  

• draw camel using the Live Ed drawing lesson Animals Among the Elements (as part of the sand dunes) from Human and Animal

  

Thursday, February 21

• Spinning Special Guest: Lorrie Killion
  (she demonstrated how to use a spinning wheel and spun my flax top and angora right before our eyes; she also brought a drop spindle for each child to keep and we all spun yarn from Corriedale wool roving)
• read "Flax and Hemp," chapter XVI of The Story Book of Science
  (this classic book by Jean Henri Fabre, published in 1919, is still in print but is also available online for free at Gateway to the Classics)
  
• look at hemp products: Wise Owl Lemon Verbena Furniture Salve, Hemp for Knitting AllHemp-6 Chocolate yarn
  
• look at (and taste, if desired) a variety of flax and hemp foods
  Flax
  • Bob's Red Mill Organic Raw Whole Golden Flaxseeds
  • Good Karma Unsweetened Flaxmilk
  • Nature’s Path Blueberry Cinnamon Flax Instant Oatmeal
  • Nature's Path Flax Plus Maple Pecan Crunch Cereal
  • Bakery On Main Gluten-Free, Organic Happy Granola, Sprouted Blueberry Flax
  Hemp
  • Nutiva Organic Raw Shelled Hempseed
  • Nutiva Organic Cold-Pressed Unrefined Hemp Oil
  • Tempt Unsweetened Original Hempmilk
  • Evo Hemp Mocha Chip Hemp Bar
  • Evo Hemp Brownie Chip Hemp Bar
  • Purely Elizabeth Blueberry Hemp Ancient Grain Granola

Friday, February 22

Morning

• field trip to SIU to learn about hemp planting & research questions from Dr. Karla Gage and dyeing with indigo from Dr. Sedonia Sipes, use shibori dyeing techniques (Arashi Shibori, Kanoko Shibori, Itajime Shibori) to indigo dye a piece of cotton fabric for each child to keep

Afternoon

• start germinating our hemp and flax seeds in the classroom
• look at and feel examples of linen: linen rug warp, shirt, dishtowel, vintage handkerchief, vintage bedsheet, cotton/linen blend washcloth
• draft and get edits for MLB two-page spreads as needed, add final versions and illustrations to MLB

  Note: Not all children will have the same contents in their main lesson books. There have been a lot of absences for travel and sickness and holidays during this month. In addition, children get to use their individual discretion regarding how much content they want to add in from our field trips and special guests. Here is a list of possible two-page spreads they could have in their books so far:

  Wool Experiments

  Washing Raw Wool

  Carding & Spinning

  Wet Felting

  Natural Dyes

  Silk

  Weaving

  Exotic Fibers (Angora & Camel)

  Flax & Hemp

  Indigo

  Please remember that you can schedule a student-led parent conference at any time to see the Main Lesson Books which your child has completed. Students can also use this opportunity to give you lessons on the Montessori Math & Language Arts materials with which they are working during their individual morning Choice Time.

• read "Cotton," chapter XVII of The Story Book of Science, look at cotton bolls and seeds, review Dr. Gage's research questions for hemp and consider our own questions about growing cotton and flax

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