I am the librarian of a small, neighborhood school where the majority of my students are low-income.
We are a diverse school with many of our students who have English as a second language.
Because we have so many students from different places around the world, it is important to offer varied learning opportunities to all types of students and help students learn new skills and feel mastery. Libraries can help at risk and/or immigrant students by giving students learning opportunities that can showcase nonacademic skills.
My Project
In my library, I encourage my students to do hands-on activities to develop hands-on real world skills. One of the skills we have been working on is sewing. I bring in my own personal sewing machine and work with small groups of students. We have been learning how to make hats. These hats will be donated to the homeless shelter. Having several sewing machines would allow my students to work independently on different sewing projects. There are so many ways we could use the sewing machines. We could sew Indigenous crafts in November for Indigenous Heritage Month, make book bags for younger students and make even more hats for our community. The students enjoy learning how to sew. It teaches them math (measuring and cutting fabric) and works with our school framework. Teaching the students sewing is aligned with our habits of mind resiliency program on accuracy, persisting, listening, flexibility, creating and innovating, and taking responsible risks. Sewing also fits in with the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) standards on teaching STEAM activities in the library. I love seeing how proud my students feel when they have finished a hat and get to give them away. Just like our books, the sewing machines can be lent out to classroom teachers for their projects or be used at school events for community use. Thank you for considering my project.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Rowan and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
