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Summary and Objective
Students will understand that wool is a fabric used to make clothing, from the colonial time period to the present. They will learn that the process of making wool involves several steps: 1) shearing fleece from sheep; 2) washing fleece; 3) carding it; 4) spinning it into yarn; 5) weaving it into cloth. By viewing pictures from the digital collection, children will identify the tools which were frequently used during wool production: shears, hand cards, spinning wheel, niddy-noddy, loom.
Teaching Plan
Step 1.
Show students a swatch of wool fabric. Determine if anyone in the class is wearing something made of wool. Ask "Where does wool come from?"
Step 2.
Read aloud Tomie Depaolo's story "Charlie Needs A Cloak" (ISBN 0-590-44188-4). This book features a boy who works throughout the year to make himself a new cloak from wool. He shears his sheep in the spring, uses berries to dye the yarn in summer, and weaves his yarn into cloth in the fall. Ask children to retell the story events in sequence and to name the tools needed to create his wool fabric.
Step 3.
View pictures from the digital collection that relate to the fictional story. Begin with "View from Sugarloaf" and discuss the importance of farming and sheep in producing wool clothing in colonial days. Visit website for video demonstration on sheep shearing or visit a local farm in spring, if possible, for a live demonstration.
Step 4.
View "Hand Cards" and discuss how they were used to prepare fleece by brushing and removing tangles. Go to "Activities" on American Centuries website and choose "Video Demonstrations of Early American Tools" to see a clip on how hand cards were used (If you can't access this at your school, a CD is available at the Teacher's Center at PVMA for your use).
Step 5.
Discuss how wool fleece was stretched and twisted into yarn, which could be knitted or woven. View the "Great Wheel" selection from the Digital Collection and again visit "Activities" on the website to view a video clip of the object in use.
Step 6.
Introduce the term "Niddy-noddy" and ask children to brainstorm potential uses for such an object in the woolmaking process. Read the description from the Digital Collection to students. A demonstration of this is also available for viewing online (see steps 4 and 5 above).
Step 7.
Look at "Spinning Equipment" photograph and note the variety of tools common to households long ago in the production of cloth. Discuss student ideas about whether cloth is produced in similar ways today.
Step 8.
Provide students with a live demonstration of weaving by inviting a local artisan to your classroom. Use a cardboard loom for individual weaving as a possible follow-up activity to this lesson.
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