Teaching the Everyday
Unit Topic and Rationale
Sew Much Fun! and Relationship to Standards
This unit covers the basics of sewing and constructing items out of fabric using a sewing machine and hand sewing techniques while following a pattern and following all safety guidelines in the class. Students learn about sewing notions, parts and operation of the sewing machine, how to perform basic stitches, and their culminating activity is to construct either a pillow or a self-selected project such as a stuffed animal or bag.
Course Sequence
This middle school level Family and Consumer Sciences course is a semester-long exploratory program aimed at introducing different aspects of this field that teaches life skills! As such, every topic is covered in different ways depending on what level the class is.
The sewing unit is arranged in the schedule to provide ample time for students to normalize to classroom expectations. This normalization is important to develop a clear respect and understanding between the teachers and the students when using machines and equipment later in the semester.
Course Sequence:
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Class Expectations
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What is FACS?
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Self Exploration
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Goal Setting
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Decision Making
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Family & Friends
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Child Development
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Sewing
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Multicultural Exploration
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Nutrition
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Cooking
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Career Exploration
All About Life Skills
It seems that we are asking students in this age group (6th-8th grades) to think very hard about their future. They are being asked to take multiple tests to help them determine their strengths, capacities, and interests. While these discussions, and these assessments are great tools, sometimes the students may feel burned out from having to think so much about the future.
This unit affords students the chance to simply learn a skill. They may not use the skill in the future, for employment or making their own clothes; but simply having the skill is putting another tool in their toolbox (whether they know it or not)! That skill can be accessed in the future, if they ever need it. Putting the knowledge, and having students demonstrate their abilities gives them confidence and they can build on that confidence and use it in other areas of their life and their education.
After this unit students have evidence and physical proof that they learned a skill that not everyone has!
That is something they can always be proud of!
A favorite story my cooperating teacher told me is the number of students who come to her a decade or more later and tell her that they still have the pillow they made in her class! Those former students are still proud of their accomplishment!
Unit Sequence
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Pre-test: Sewing Notions, Verbal Pre-test on Lab Safety
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Safety in the Lab
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Instruction
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Safety Test
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Sewing Machine Parts
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Threading the upper part of the sewing machine
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Threading the bobbin
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Threading the lower part of the sewing machine
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Basic Stitches
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Project Preparation and Construction
Additional Tasks (optional)
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Stitching on Paper
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Constructing a Small Pillow
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Constructing a Cube
Colorado
Family and Consumer Sciences
Middle School Curriculum Standards
N 16.4.1_Demonstrate professional skills using a variety of equipment, tools, and supplies for...textile construction...
N 16.4.5_Demonstrate basic skills for production and altering textile products and apparel.
The Sewing Unit is in direct relation to the Family and Consumer Sciences Middle School standard of using professional and basic skills for producing textile products.
The sequence of the unit primes the students for some of the basic information, and then provides instruction and modeling for different skills that they will utilize in the construction of their project. The skills include using a sewing machine and hand sewing techniques.