All joking aside, knowing to sew is important. I will never forget sitting in front of my pre-K class and enthusiastically reading a story. I would change voices for different characters, read with passion, use my entire body to illustrate the tone of each page. I gave it my all, and in an instant, my pants decided to give out too. Luckily, my students were so engaged in the read aloud, no one noticed. The read aloud continued but my legs would no longer be a part of the whole-body dramatization of the reading. I managed to get coverage (in more than one way) as I grabbed my sewing kit (that my mom bought me) I kept in my classroom and ran into the nurse’s bathroom to stitch up my pants.
Do you know how to sew? When I was a child and it was time to change the bed sheets, my mother would always stitch the duvet cover openings closed so the duvet would not slip out. I would watch her thread the needle and go to work. It seemed liked such tedious work but she always did it and I would watch. As I grew older, I stopped watching. However, as she got older, it became more and more difficult for her to thread the needle. She would ask for my help, saying I have “better eyes” than she did. She taught me how to be careful with the needle and gave tips to keep the loose ends of the thread together. Every time I successfully threaded the needle in record time, my mom would praise me, and I would fill with pride. My mother was a seamstress. It’s a nicer way of saying she worked in a sweatshop when she came to the U.S. She worked ridiculously long hours for very little pay. We would always have various colors of thread and needles at home. And like most Asian families, all the sewing materials would be kept in those tin Danish cookie containers. Imagine the disappointed I would succumb to every time I craved for one of those plain butter cookies and only found those small metallic spools of thread people used for sewing machines. My mom taught me how to sew. People would be surprised when they found my hidden talent and my close friends would jokingly ridicule me. My go to manly response would “Real men know how to sew. They sew the open wounds of their comrades in war!” All joking aside, knowing to sew is important. I will never forget sitting in front of my pre-K class and enthusiastically reading a story. I would change voices for different characters, read with passion, use my entire body to illustrate the tone of each page. I gave it my all, and in an instant, my pants decided to give out too. Luckily, my students were so engaged in the read aloud, no one noticed. The read aloud continued but my legs would no longer be a part of the whole-body dramatization of the reading. I managed to get coverage (in more than one way) as I grabbed my sewing kit (that my mom bought me) I kept in my classroom and ran into the nurse’s bathroom to stitch up my pants. Sewing is important but how young can a child learn to sew? Recently I introduced my students to puppets. I love to bring a lot of myself into teaching. Watch Avenue Q once and it inspired me to bring in over 30 puppets ranging from finger to whole body. I wanted them to have a great appreciation for the art of puppetry and the work that goes into making them. If sharing Darci Lynne videos wasn’t enough, I believed the appreciation will surface once our children embarked on the journey of sewing their own finger puppets. I had to start small and safe. The introduction of plastic needles to help develop our kids’ fine motor skills and muscle memory associated with threading and sewing. Since the beginning of the year, I’ve asked parents to send in recyclables for our class to use in art projects. The Styrofoam egg containers were great as paint palettes, but the top cover served no purpose and I would always feel bad for throwing them out. When we were starting to sew, I finally found a purpose (or should I say repurpose?) for the top Styrofoam part of the egg containers. Our students would thread yarn through the plastic needles and lace it through the Styrofoam. Giving our kids the choice of what shape to lace kept them interested in the projects. Cardboard was also an option for students that had more finger dexterity. As a whole group, we discussed needle safety and how to hold them properly if we were to pass it to a friend (same rules as holding scissors). When the time came to introduce the real needle, our friends learned vocabulary such as sharp and dull to describe the differences between needles made from metal vs the ones made of plastic. The most significant discussion was about the importance of focus and concentration. Our hand and eyes MUST work as a team. If the eyes lose focus the hand will pay the price. It was sew time. The sewing center had to start with a small number of sewers for safety reasons. The first two ambitious preK kids were brave. It took a lot of concentration, coordination, and coaching but it was a great success. The two girls did wonderfully on the sewing part. We would move onto the decoration and the use of the hot glue gun and tweezers. We talked about glue gun safely; how to properly hold the glue gun, the places to avoid touching, and how to maneuver the pieces to be glued with the tweezer. We are constantly looking for ways our students be independent. Giving them the responsibility of items such as needles and glue guns shows them how much confidence we have in them and they thrive knowing that we believe in them. LZ and CZ successfully completed their puppet. These two girls were the quietest in the beginning of the year and would often play by themselves or was simply content with watching their peers play. They have grown so much since the beginning and have found pleasure in each other’s company. They are now great contributors to our classroom noise which indicate busy students at work!
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CategoriesAuthorCurrently in my eighth year of teaching Pre-K at an early childhood elementary school. Archives
October 2022
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