Nothing is impossible. The word itself says “I’m Possible!” -Audrey Hepburn
A retirement gift
One of the people that my students give a craft to each month is the executive administrative assistant to the superintendent. She retired in June. So, we created a craft just for her as a way to thank her for all her support she has given us over the years. We spent time talking what retirement meant and how she would no longer be working for the school district. I learned she loves flowers, gardening and cooking. My students chose flowers. I looked for a book that we could read while we created our craft.
While I primarily do project-based learning with my students, we always work on ‘giving back.” I have found that too often, my students are the recipients of services, materials, etc. I like to flip the script by allowing my students to themselves as active, valuable contributors to their community. In order to make this successful, the project needs to prioritize tangible results, structured milestones, and activities are tailored to individual student strengths (e.g., painting, artistic skills, or physical tasks). Each year we choose the same 5 individuals to give to. This is open to negotiation as sometimes a favorite teacher, coach, principal, etc. will be chosen to give a special surprise to.
This truly empowers my students to be seen as more than just a student with a disability. They have talents and a giving heart that they can share with others. And who knows, a career could come from what we do in our projects!
The book I selected for this project was My Garden by Kevin Henkes. A lovely story that teaches children about how birds make nests and ends with a lesson on pulling and pushing.
The book description: “A child imagines a garden where flowers live forever, the only rabbits are chocolate, what you plant actually grows, and unusual things pop up like gifts from the soil. If only we were all so lucky!”
The skills worked on this month are many. Here’s but a few:
- book knowledge (i.e., title, author, page turning, image walking)
- use of low vision tools while reading the book
- develop hand and eye coordination
- turning pages
- soliciting assistance appropriately
- fine motor
- communication
- positional concepts
- choice making
For this craft, I needed for the students:
- Unfinished hexagon wood pieces
- Crayola paint (or any tempura paint you have)
- Mini storage containers with lids (for dipping brush in paint)
- Sponge paint brushes
- Flower stencils (look for multiple designs)
- Painter’s tape (to hold stencil in place on parchment paper)
- Parchment paper
- Black sharpie marker
To finish the craft, I needed:
- Green spray paint
- Clear spray paint
- Hot glue
- Artificial ivy fake vines
- Jute twine string
- Plastic needles
- Scissors
- Beige and black resin rattan rectangular serving tray
This was a multi-step craft for the students and me. The students’ part was much easier due to the time constraints we had. They chose the flower stencil they wanted to use. They assisted as we secured the stencil to the pre-painted hexagon before they painted. I put their initial on a corner of their choosing. Once dried, I traced the flowers with a black marker before using clear spray paint to “seal” their work.
At home, I used 2 of the leaf vines and secured them to the outside of the rattan serving tray using the jute. The plastic needles made it easier to weave the jute in and out to secure it. A touch of hot glue was used to help secure the leaves down a bit as well. I then used 3 more vines to strip the leaves. I dropped the leaves inside the serving tray and then spread them about to make a leaf background making sure some of the rattan still showed through. These were then hot glued down. I also used a few of these leaves to glue to the outer edge of the serving tray to fill in any gaps. The painted hexagons were arranged in the serving tray based on a predetermined arrangement by one of my older students. Once placed in, they were then glued down. The last step was using the jute twine to make the finished product able to hang on a wall.
Comprehension Questions
I ask comprehension questions with all the stories I do with my students. I thought I’d share examples that I create based on the story.
- What are the three chores the little girl does to help her mother in the real garden?
- What happens immediately after you pick a flower in the imaginary garden?
- What color are the carrots in her dream garden?
- What specific item does the girl plant at the very end of the story?
- How does the little girl feel about working in her mother’s real garden?
- Look at the unusual things that “just pop up” in her garden (like buttons, keys, and umbrellas). Where do you think those objects actually came from?
- What does the girl mean at the end when she tells her mother she is “just working in the garden?”
- If you could plant a piece of candy or a favorite food to grow a giant bush, what would you plant?
- The girl imagines tomatoes as big as beach balls. What is another fruit or vegetable you would like to make giant, and what would you use it for?
- What do you think will actually happen to the seashell she planted at the end of the book?
Tips
- Before reading, show the students a few real items from the book
(like a seashell, an old key, and a jelly bean) and ask them what they
think these items have to do with a garden. - Send home a package of seeds (flowers or vegetables) to plant a
garden with their families at home over the summer. Great
opportunity to talk to the families ahead of time to see if this activity is
possible and what type of seeds they would prefer.
Extension Activities
Discuss with families the possibility of joining together to deliver the gift in person at the administration offices. Of the eight students I did this project with, five students and their families were able to join me and deliver their gift to her.
Read about Crafting Concepts
