Leaf stitching

On Friday the students had a chance to embroider their leaf rubbings to make one of them stand out through bright color and to add detail. I introduced a new stitch to them- satin stitch to make thick lines. Cindy and I helped the students with threading needles, tying knots, and problem-solving.

 For the most part it was a quiet and productive way to end the week.

 I believe the metaphor of stitching in this project is that embroidering is a way of adding detail to an image just like we add detail to a main idea. The stitches and colors are like the variety of vocabulary one uses to make a written piece more interesting. I think we need to make that connection more explicit.

 Craftsmanship is surprisingly high among these students in their stitching. I see mostly careful, even stitches. Only 2 students needed help couching down giant floats on the surface, whereas last year at least a 3rd of each class had trouble with the concept of even size and even space stitching. It makes me wonder how their measuring and ruler skills or their estimating skills are in Math.

 This surprises me to an extent, as their handwriting is not as careful, and I've seen them rush through other activities. Hopefully this process helps develop fine motor skills and attention span that could be transferred to other domains.

Another curious aspect of the students' work process is that so many of them feel compelled to stand up while they stitch. I don't mind if they stand, except then sometimes they start to wander and clump into social groups. I think perhaps when they sit they don't feel like they have full extension of their arm for pulling the thread through the fabric.