Craft Class 

Vibrant Start  

For those whom I have not yet met, my name is Bindi, and I'm the new Craft teacher for the primary and middle school at Alice Springs Steiner School. Craft is off to a vibrant start this term with great enthusiasm for new projects across the board. Each year at Steiner, students build on and develop new handiwork skills suited to their developmental stage, and projects often correlate with main lesson concepts.

Some craft highlights so far include Class 8 making their own pyjamas, and Class 1 learning how to knit.

In line with Class 8’s main lesson focus, The Industrial Revolution, students are learning how clothes are made, creating their own pattern blocks from an existing pattern design, and using a sewing machine to construct pyjamas. Students have also had their own drawings created into bespoke textile designs and printed onto fabric. Once students finish their pyjama 'toile' (sample), they will create their final pair from the fabric they have designed. We can't wait to share the final result!

Class 1 has been learning how to knit with the assistance of students from Classes 3 and 5. Having students from different year levels work together has demonstrated the older students' ability to role model and share their knowledge (with a lot of patience!). It has also enabled the younger students to develop new relationships as they find their footing in primary school. When teaching new skills, we often utilise rhythm and movement to help establish connections to new learnings. We learned a rhyme and used our entire body to ‘act out’ the movement of the wool. Additionally, I demonstrated the knitting steps using a pair of human-sized knitting needles, which sparked a few giggles. We're well on the way to creating our Australian ring-neck parrots, and I'm proud of the determination and perseverance of Class 1 students as they learn a new skill.

Stay tuned for updates on other classes in the upcoming newsletters; we have some great projects underway!