In an elementary school with many newcomer students and cultural backgrounds, personal expression rises to the top of student priorities and becomes an entry point for conversations around values, creative thinking, and school community. Some 30+ students from a class which has had no steady teacher for the first 8 weeks of school have been taking recess time each day to visit the art room, provide art room service, and develop a fabric dyeing and printing project that will allow them to express their personal colors and style, all while learning basic fiber arts techniques.
Our art room student leaders have a vision to learn to express themselves in fiber arts, using dyes to create tie-dye and other fabric patterns, printmaking to create repeat patterns on fabric, and sewing to finalize their fabric designs into teeshirts, pillows, and handbags for themselves and others. These elements of fashion and style give students control over self-expression and allow them to learn hand-sewing, machine sewing, and graphic arts techniques while generating fabric yardage and teeshirts for themselves and to share. Their self-driven art project will put them ahead of the curve in creative thinking, technical skills, and project planning as they realize a project which other students might tackle in high school.
About my class
In an elementary school with many newcomer students and cultural backgrounds, personal expression rises to the top of student priorities and becomes an entry point for conversations around values, creative thinking, and school community. Some 30+ students from a class which has had no steady teacher for the first 8 weeks of school have been taking recess time each day to visit the art room, provide art room service, and develop a fabric dyeing and printing project that will allow them to express their personal colors and style, all while learning basic fiber arts techniques.
Our art room student leaders have a vision to learn to express themselves in fiber arts, using dyes to create tie-dye and other fabric patterns, printmaking to create repeat patterns on fabric, and sewing to finalize their fabric designs into teeshirts, pillows, and handbags for themselves and others. These elements of fashion and style give students control over self-expression and allow them to learn hand-sewing, machine sewing, and graphic arts techniques while generating fabric yardage and teeshirts for themselves and to share. Their self-driven art project will put them ahead of the curve in creative thinking, technical skills, and project planning as they realize a project which other students might tackle in high school.
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