By Rachel Silverman, grade 1 teacher

The first grade has been engaged in an exciting cross-divisional collaboration with the kindergarten, 5th grade and a group of high school students in which we are exploring storytelling through textiles. Phase one of our collaboration has entailed small groups of mixed-age students selecting a favorite book, creating puppets of characters from their chosen story and writing scripts that highlight the beginning, middle and end of the plot. The culminating piece of this project will be a sharing of our stories via puppet shows. Observing the varying approaches each group has taken to sharing ideas and, ultimately, realizing their visions has been inspiring. Phase two of our collaboration will focus on hands-on skill development such as knitting, crochet, quilting, sewing, spinning and weaving. We can’t wait to get started on this portion of our work together!