Sticks and String

As another teacher laments, tongue in cheek, about knitting marking her as "old", my new batch of grade 6 and 7 students started to learn to knit this week.

I cannot believe how excited the kids are about learning to knit! This term, most students from each class took their yarn and needles home on the first day, many getting relatives at home to teach them. There was more than one grandma greeted by an enthusiastic new knitter last weekend!

What I love is how excited they are when they "get it"! What really amazes me is how fast they're "getting it" this term! Day 3 for most classes and a few kids have finished their Mug Rugs already. Some want to make scarves (I told them to get their own yarn and I'll help them along), many want something More Challenging!

I posted some knitting tutorials during class, as well as some Yarn Bombing examples and some sample knitting projects (like the gloves with the Triforce that I'd like to adapt for some mitts for Andrew).

Something new this term is that I'm being stopped in the hallway, and having kids pop into my classroom to ask for help knitting (usually casting off), and I haven't even taught them yet! They're out of the yarn closet, and being a knitter is a status symbol... I hope it lasts...

Seriously - the yarn and needle suppliers should be beating a path to my door. With any luck, there will be 300 new knitters in town by the end of the school year.

Cheer up, Dora - you're young and hip, and on the cutting edge of the newest trend ;-)

The Week Before Winter Break

The second term 6/7s are pleading to make gingerbread houses. To them, this means slapping some graham crackers together with icing and eating a lot of candy. A noble goal, true, but not one involving "gingerbread". Precision of language, Jonah. (See The Giver, by Lois Lowry)

What I'd like to do is make sugar or gingerbread cookies with them... without losing my mind. But 4 classes of cookies in the week before the Winter Break? Actually, I think I've already lost my mind. May as well do it.

I'm wrestling with the logistics. Do I have them make their own cookie dough? I really don't want to do that - they've only made applesauce so far this term. Cookie dough is probably too much and I'd lose my reputation as a "calm" person (an observation made by a sixth grader during a rather manic learn-to-knit class).

I like the suggestion of buying pre-made cookies and letting them decorate, but I'm not adverse to letting them work a little harder than that. I'd really like to buy the dough, let them roll and cut, and bake, AND decorate.

Another good suggestion was to demonstrate the cookie dough... then divide it up and let them work with that.

One of the secondary teachers has offered me some icing - made up and ready to go, so that's another hurdle cleared. I'll get sprinkles and stuff, but the students will have to supply additional embellishments.

So, I guess the plans run:
A: find dough, let them make cookies
tied for B and C (because I'm not sure which option I like best) buying cookies or making the dough myself.

Stay tuned for Part Two... as we tackle 100 or so gingerbread men.

Part 1.5 The Update

I went to Bunsmaster to start my search for cookie dough. I was helpfully and cheerfully redirected to the Vienna Bakery nearby. I was greeted by another cheerful and helpful fellow (who enchanted me with stories of a castle in Koblenz overlooking the Rhine River).

Long story short: on Monday, I'm going to pick up enough cookie dough to make 100 gingerbread cookies. Another Home Ec teacher graciously donated a BOXFUL of icing tubes - I don't even have to portion it out! Now, I just need some sprinkles, and the kids have been told to bring their own candy.

The Yearbook team has been advised that there is a photo op on decorating day (probably Weds.)

Let the madness begin!

Part Two!

As the first class entered this week, they made a beeline for their knitting supplies, when I intercepted them with a recipe and pointed them towards the demo area. One voice (male, if you're wondering) rang out - we're cooking? But I wanted to KNIT!

I had thought this December week would fly by in a blur - instead it clicked by slowly frame by frame. Very weird. The 6/7s took the full 3 blocks to make their cookies. Day 1 was rolling and cutting (way too thin by the way), Day 2 was baking (thin cookies cook quickly) and Day 3 was the much anticipated decorate and EAT day! The 8s managed to move faster and squeezed in baking and decorating on the same day.

A teacher joined us to get photos for the yearbook, much to the students's delight, and they were pleased to see me circulate with my camera too. It's hard to find time for pictures during such busy classes though!

Baking Day was punctuated with LOTS of visitors - even more than Applesauce Day. The hallway around the Foods Room did smell really good. Face after curious face peeked in the door to see what we were doing, and if there were any leftovers. Then there were the Term One students who peeked in and cried out, "NO FAIR! We didn't get to make cookies!" Popcorn Balls apparently aren't As Good As "cookies".

Buying the dough was a great solution. It was affordable, and really simplified things. I think I would have hated myself if I'd tried to make dough with, or for, all 4 classes. The donation of icing saved me a lot of money, but next time I think I'd made some butter frosting anyway because it's easier to use. We used less sprinkles then I thought we would - but having the Teacher had out portions makes a big difference... and the kids had their own candy - one boy was putting full-sized sour keys on his cookies!

There was enough cookie dough for all 4 classes to make a sheet of cookies per group, plus my beginning ESL students made cookies. In one class I have a student with concerns about "holiday" symbols, who let me know in advance that she could make a gingerbread house but not a tree. With that in mind, I put out ALL the cookies cutters in various shapes and designs. As I circulated around the stations checking on progress and sharing their excitement, this little one bounced up in front of me brandishing a cookie cutter. "It's a BUNNY!" And we shared some stories about bunnies (my sister is known as the Bunny Lady in some circles) and my little student happily made Gingerbread Bunnies. Why not?

P.S. When the classes entered the day after we'd finished the cookies, many asked - "Are we knitting today?" When I answered "Yes," the answer was "YAY!" Gotta love 'em.