It All Started with a Red Ribbon....our Fashion Inquiry

If you read my last post, you would remember that I wrote that a LOT is happening in our classroom, or should I say in general?!?!  Let's begin by me explaining my lack of blogging lately...I have been busy getting ready to move into our new house, which is just over 2 weeks away!

This is only about 1/10 of the boxes in our house.  The rest are all around the rest of the basement, main floor, kitchen, well, pretty much everywhere!

 

And in our classroom the month of February, although short, has been packed with lots of things!

We celebrated Carnival and have been sticking out the weather, despite daily indoor recesses.  Every Thursday we have been hosting visiting Kindergarten teachers in our classroom, giving them a glimpse of what the FDK program is all about!

 

Last month, one teacher who came to visit brought us a present wrapped up in a beautiful black box with a large red ribbon around it.

The students could not stop admiring the red ribbon and were wondering what they might create with it!

(Yes, they loved the present too, thank you Ms. L!)

And so it began....our Fashion Inquiry.

 

E.S.:  We can use it to decorate our classroom!

 

M.R.:  It can be used as a sash!

 

S.S.:  It looks like when you have a contest and you win an award.

The next day one student brought in an American Girl doll and started sketching clothing designs for her.  Another student joined in.

I invited the students to share their creations before lunch time and by late afternoon, many other students were interested in sketching clothes using the red ribbon as our inspiration.

 

When my teaching partner, Mrs. Parisi, went to the Dollar Store that weekend, she picked up a pad of sketch paper that had girl and boy silhouettes as well as stencils for their clothes.

I left these out the next morning and the students absolutely loved using them to create clothes - we encouraged them to design and make a plan.

We visited our librarian and found many books about Fashion Designers, clothing and more!

 

 

Students began bringing in lots of material to support our new inquiry.

After choosing material and then making a plan of what they wanted to make, they set to work.

I love how they helped each other, measured, cut, hot glued (with a little help from Mrs. Petrone!), and made their creations come to life!

 

 

 

Here is one student who wanted to create a dress for her doll that she brought in from home.

First, she choose the fabric she wanted to use.

Then, she made a plan.

And finally, she cut and glued her creation with the help of a friend.

 

The students designed outfits for their dolls, stuffed animals and each other!

 

 

We showed the students a few logos of famous designers and much to our surprise, they knew many of them!

 

D.P.:  My mom has a purse with this on it!

 

S.S.:  I saw this before in the closet!

 

 

So we chose one famous designer, Prada, and used the overhead to make the sign for our design studio.

 

We also found this mannequin in the library and often used it to display our creations.

(Don't mind the background - those are pictures from our Space Inquiry from the fall.)

 

We watched a video all about models walking down a runway and showcasing the designers pieces.

Of course, we had to try it too!

(And there is the famous red ribbon!)

 

 

Some students decided that they wanted to create a real runway and have a fashion show - and they wanted to invite students from other classes that might be interested in coming.

 

They used this picture of a runway to make their own.

(This student is measuring it to see how long she should make ours.)

 

I have a lot of former students visiting our classroom often...and so when one former student (who is now in grade 3 and has a sibling in the class) asked if he could help out with our inquiry, we were so fortunate!

This grade 3 student has a real passion for fashion and was able to assist the students in adding buttons, lace, and other decoratives to their creations.  He also helped co-ordinate our fashion show - and was our announcer and director!

 

Thank you M.T. for sharing your talents with our students!

 

 

 

Here are a couple of the many posters that we put up around our school this week.

Two students also wrote a script and read it over the PA System inviting others to attend.

 

M.R.:  The name of our fashion show is "Fashion Universe".

 

We kept all of our designer pieces for the show on this rack for display.

After rehearsing daily all week, the students were ready to present today!

 

We got a chance to rehearse with a live audience this morning with our reading buddies in the hallway.

Isn't our red carpet fabulous?!!!

The show was complete with a variety of strobe lights and music (thanks to a few students who created a list of everything we needed for our big debut!).

 

A few other students came up with the idea of making cameras as they wanted to be the "paparazzi", just like the ones we saw in the videos of the fashion shows!

 

 

We were ready to have the fashion show in our kindergarten hallway this afternoon, thinking that maybe a handful of students and staff would attend, but after speaking to teachers this morning, we anticipated a larger crowd so we relocated to the gymnasium.

 

The students (as well as Mrs. Petrone and I!) were in complete shock to see how many came out to support our show this afternoon!

I wish I could post a picture but there were so many students (and we can't post pictures of faces) - just imagine our large gym almost full!

 

 

It was so nice to have an amazing audience cheering the students on!

For the past month the students have been working hard on designing and bringing their creations to life.

I know that this will be a day that many of us will remember forever!