Handwork: September 2025
It's always so exciting to start a new school year. At the beginning, it seems quiet, but by the end of the school year, the students will have started and finished many projects. Each grade begins the year with a simple warm-up project to complete in class.
First Grade:
First Grade started the year learning basic skills such as how to make a knot, slip knot, finger chain, and wind a yarn ball. The project that followed was wet felting math mats, which the students will use during their classwork.
In the coming weeks, First Grade will slowly move toward knitting, including making their own knitting needles! If you'd like your child to practice handwork skills at home, you can give them a small basket or box with just a few selections of yarn. They can use the string or yarn to practice finger chaining or knotting.
Second and Third Grade:
Second and Third Grade started the year by making calming sachet bags, a great project for learning simple sewing stitches. The calming sachet bag is meant to be placed under the pillow for a nice night's sleep or to scent a drawer or closet.
After the sachet project, each class will move to grade-level projects. To begin, students will complete their project from the previous year. From here, Second Graders will move on to making four-legged animals, and Third Graders will begin learning to crochet.
Fourth and Fifth Grade and Middle School:
Both the Fourth and Fifth Grade and Middle School classes started the year by sewing small calming sachet bags, with symbols of the night. We discussed various cultures and their different symbols of the night, including my Latvian heritage symbol of the moon. Students were encouraged to create their own symbol.
Fourth and Fifth Grade's next projects:
Following the sachet project, students will move on to their grade-specific projects. Fourth Graders will learn embroidery and cross-stitch, while Fifth Graders will learn how to knit and purl, eventually progressing to knitting fingerless gloves or socks.
Middle school’s next projects:
After the sachet project, Middle Schoolers will move on to wet felting. First, we'll create a large flat piece to be used as the First Grade’s flute holders. Then, Sixth and Seventh Grades will make pin cushions in their favorite geo stone colors. Eighth grade will explore wet felting with resist techniques, shaping wool into 3D projects.
Warmly,
Ki Ieva
