My students need hands-on materials to explore modern and traditional textile fiber production and understand where our clothes come from with a sewing machine, farm kit, and school loom.
My students are 6th graders at a sustainability & agriculture-based public charter school in Baltimore City, Maryland. Students are mostly low-income and from west Baltimore, though some bus in from all over the city.
Our school's mission is to ensure college and career readiness for all students upon graduation, with special emphasis on green fields such as agriculture.
Our ag programs have included greenhouse construction and management, vegetable and flower propagation, chicken hatching and raising, aquaculture, and more.
My goal for this project is to introduce scholars to the idea of farming for fiber and to answer the question "Where do our clothes come from?"
My Project
My project seeks to enrich our first quarter literature unit, which centers around a non-fiction text entitled "Flesh & Blood So Cheap." This book details the early days of the textile industry in the United States and the Triangle Fire disaster in New York City.
The purpose of this project is to inject a level of cross-curricular interest and infuse the school's agriculture/career exploration mission into our literature unit.
As part of learning about the early textile industry, we will also learn about the plants, animals, and processes involved in traditional as well as modern fiber and textile production. Some of these activities might include visits from fiber artists and animals, field trips, and more.
In addition, the materials requested as part of this project will provide hands-on opportunities for students to work with fiber and textile production. For example, we will use the silk worm farm kit to study the life cycle of silk worms and examine how they are used to produce silk thread. The grow lamp and heat mat will help us grow our cotton plants, which will be planted out of season so must be kept indoors through winter. Students will use the microscope slide set to study and make observations about the variety of textile fibers used in clothing. As part of our study of modern garment production, students will have the opportunity to design and create their own t-shirts using the screen printing kit and ink. Items such as the sewing machine, mini looms and replacement loops, and felt pads will provide hands-on opportunities for students to create fiber crafts as part of group stations as well as independent enrichment time.
It is my hope that these experiences will expose students to interests, talents, and maybe even careers that otherwise may remain undiscovered.
Nearly all students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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