Tuesday was my first session with Little e's class.
I very briefly introduced the project (a quilt and an alphabet story book). I told them that this class was all about writing the story of the quilt and book. Our starting point was the phrase "I went for a walk outside...". We worked through the alphabet with the students coming up with ideas for each letter. The classroom's teacher was kind enough to write down all the words for me so I could concentrate on interacting with the students. We did run into some silliness "doo" (as in dog-doo) was given for "D", and there was a spate of "fish" ideas (dogfish, elephantfish, tigerfish) and "spider" words (dogspider, widowspider). We made it to "M" before students began to offer up their names as possibilities, which was something I'd expected earlier.
I was very impressed at how focused the class was through the process. After we'd finished "Z", I talked a bit about the drawings (use your space, draw large, leave space for your fabric to shine) and then had each student draw a flower. The flowers will be used to fill in space around the alphabet words in the wall hanging.
For next class, each child will get a slip of paper with a letter of the alphabet, and ideas from the brainstorming for that letter's drawing. We have 29 children, so there will be some children who do the same letter. After they've done their drawings, the class will work on their school work while children choose the fabric to "color" their drawings. I find the students are more creative and careful in their fabric choice if they are able to do this one at a time.