Twirly Skirt

What little girl doesn’t love a good, twirling skirt? This tutorial will show you how to make one!

To make a twirly skirt you will need:

Main skirt fabric (between 3/4 and 1 yard, depending on size).
Contrast fabric (1/2 yard)
1/2″ elastic (enough to go around the child’s waist, plus a little for overlap)
Sewing machine
Scissors or rotary cutter and mat
Ruler
Thread to match
Pinking shears (optional)
Safety pin

This tutorial is meant for personal use. Please don’t sell skirts made from these instructions.

OK, then, let’s get sewing!

Cut your fabric according to the sizes below. ALL PIECES ARE CUT WITH THE CENTER ON THE FOLD. WHEN YOU UNFOLD YOUR PIECES, THEY SHOULD BE TWICE AS WIDE AS STATED. The pieces in this photo are still folded. You should have two pieces for each part: skirt, casing, hem. The waist tie is made the same for each size. Of course, you can always make your skirt longer or shorter to suit your own needs.

This pattern uses European sizing (similar to Hanna Andersson). To ensure a good fit, you need to know the child’s height.

90cm (34-38 inches): 2 skirts on the fold (19″w x 9″l each or 38″ wide by 9″ long each when unfolded)
100cm (38-42 inches): 2 skirts on the fold (19.5″w x 10.5″l each or 39″ wide by 10.5″ long each when unfolded)
110cm (42-46 inches): 2 skirts on the fold (20″w x 12″l each or 40″ wide by 12″ long each when unfolded)
120cm (46-50 inches): 2 skirts on the fold (21″w x 13.5″l each or 42″ wide by 13.5″ long each when unfolded)
130cm (50-54 inches): 2 skirts on the fold (21.75″w x 15″l each or 43.5″ wide by 15″ long each when unfolded)

For the waistband, cut 2 pieces on the fold 2.5″ long by the width of your skirt (e.g., size 120 = 21″w x 2.5″l)

For the hem band, cut 2 pieces on the fold 3.5″ long by the width of your skirt (e.g., size 120 = 21″w x 3.5″l)

For the waist tie, cut 1 piece on the fold 1.5 ” long by the width of your fabric (42-44″) and 1 piece (not on the fold) 1.5″ long by 12″ wide. Or you can use ribbon – approximately 65″ in length.

OK – let’s start. All seam allowances are 1/2 inch unless stated otherwise!

Pin skirt pieces right sides together. Using a 1/2 inch seam allowance, sew right side seam. On left side, start sewing your seam 1 1/2 inches from the top.

Press open side seams and pink or zig zap the edge

With right sides together, sew both side seams of the hem band.

Press seams open and pin to bottom of the skirt, right sides together, lining up side seams.

Sew the hem band to the skirt bottom.

Press seam toward hem band.

Turn edge of hem band 1/4 inch towards wrong side and press.

Fold hem band towards wrong side of skirt. Line up the edge you just pressed with the seam stitches.

Press and pin in place.

Staying 1/8 inch from edge, sew hem band in place.

Sew right side seam of waistband together and press open.

With right sides together, line up the seam you just sewed to the right seam of the skirt. Pin in place.

Fold back seam allowances on open end of waistband so that they match the skirt seam. Press and pin in place.

Sew waist band in skirt.

Press seam towards waistband.

Top stitch open end of waistband 1/8 inch from edge, pivoting at the bottom corners.

Now fold the waistband towards the wrong side of the skirt aligning it with the seam stitching – just like you did on the hem. Press and pin in place.

Sew waistband 1/8 inch from edge to form casing.

Using a safety pin, attach your tie (or ribbon) to the elastic.

Gather it up and pull the safety pin through the other open end.

Try the skirt on its new owner to determine where you should sew the elastic together. The ends should overlap about 1 inch. I mark the both ends of the elastic with a pen or pin them together so I know just where to sew.

Using a wide zig zag stitch, sew the elastic together. It’s a good idea to backstitch this so it doesn’t come loose.

Even out the ends of your drawstring, tie a bow and ta da….you have a twirly skirt!

Little Fishes

Gather fabric scraps, 2 buttons, cardboard ‘tracer’ and a needle and thread.

Create a simple fish outline on cardboard, cut it and trace onto fabric or felt (2 times), sew together, attach the buttons and you have a fish!

Regaining & Maintaining attention

Give Me Five

When it’s time to begin an activity I sometimes hold up my hand and use
Give Me Five
to get the attention of my students.

Eyes are watching
Ears are listening
Mouth is quiet
Hands are to myself
Hearts are caring

Hold up 1 finger as you say each rule. You’ll soon find your students reciting these with you.

...Of the day

Each day has a theme… basically following REAL holidays: http://brownielocks.com some are a bit ‘tweaked’ or a day early or late, to be sure EACH day has a theme. My favorite themed days are: Talk Like a Pirate Day Johnny Appleseed Day Teddy Bear Day Candy Cane Day Rubber Ducky Day Tooth Fairy Day Each day has several other focuses as well:

Letter (recognizing, printing, sounds, words)
Shape (identifying, counting sides/angles, drawing)
Number (counting,naming, printing)
Color
Graph/Tally/Chart/Question (based on the theme)

Displayed each day are a series of poems or books based on the theme, often the children are able to select which will be read and shared aloud.

The start to each and everyday…

I remind the children that the “learning” will commence and usually give a “five minute wrap up play-time” warning. Throughout the ‘meeting’, I refer to the children by a different adjective (smarties, sillies, super readers) and proceed to follow the THEME of the day (in some cases week) in a short hint of what’s ahead.

Throughout the ‘meeting’, I refer to the children by a different adjective (smarties, sillies, super readers) and proceed to follow the THEME of the day (in some cases week) in a short hint of what’s to come for the day.

(ex.: balloon day — “Good Morning Aviators, we’ve got to fly through our work today so that we are able to float way up to the clouds).

Opening Circle Song:(sung to – Farmer in the Dell)

Hello to everyone, ( wave to children)

and how are you today?

We come to our circle time,
to laugh and sing and play.

And when you’re up you’re up, (hold hands in the air)

and when your down your down, ( place hands on floor)

and when your only half way up, (hold hands about chest level)

your neither up nor down. (throw your hands up and down quickly with words)

So roll your hands so slowly, (make fists with hands and roll about chest level like your punching a bag)

and roll your hands so fast, ( same action as above except fast)

give your hands a clap clap clap and fold them in your lap tap tap. (follow directions in this line)

Once the song is complete, and we’ve stretched some stretches, we take a look at the calendar, and weather and make predictions of the activities we’ll be doing for the day.

Calendar Song: (Sing to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”)

When we do the calendar
We learn the month the date the year.
Every weekday has a name
There are lots of numbers that look the same.
So let’s begin to show you how
We do the calendar right now.

Identify the MONTH of the year.

~~Month Chant~~

January,February,March,April,MayJune,July,August~~Hooray! Hooray!

September,October,November,DecemberThese are the months that I CAN REMEMBER!

Identify the DAY of the week.

~~The Today Song~: (To the tune of “Frere Jacques”)

Today is _______.
Today is _______.
All day long, all day long.
Yesterday was ______.
Tomorrow will be _______.
Oh what fun!
Oh what fun!

Weather

Weather Wheel

What is the weather the weather the weather
What is the weather like today?
(Childs name) says its (weather)(weather) (weather) (childs name) say its (weather) out today!

Once the calender and weather is completed, we do a little movement.

Form a Circle by joining hands. The children take a step
back until their arms are fully extended. Drop hands.
Say the following poem with activity motions:

Two little hands go clap, clap, clap.
Two little feet go tap, tap, tap.
One little body turns around and around.
One little child sits quietly down!

Fall food

AUTUMN BUTTER -

Ingredients:

* 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
* 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
* 1/4 cup whipping cream
* 1 cup butter, softened

Directions:
Mix all ingredients until well blended. Spread onto your favorite muffins, quick bread, sweet crackers, or drop a dollop onto morning pancakes.

CINNAMON BUTTER -

Ingredients:

* 2 sticks butter
* 1/2 cup brown sugar
* 1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
Combine all ingredients and mix well. Serve over sweet bread, muffins, or morning waffles. Store tightly covered in the refrigerator.


Winnie the Pooh's Honey Pot Balls
Ingredients:
1/2 c. Peanut butter
1/2 c. Dry milk
1 T. Honey
2 T. crushed nuts

Directions:
Mix in bowl the first 3 ingredients. Mix well. Divide dough into 6 pieces. Mold each piece into a ball, sprinkle with the crushed nuts.

First Day of Autumn

Objectives:
Students will see the natural beauty in a fall leaf as they use non-traditional methods of creating leaf patterns.
What You Need:

* Construction paper
* Red, green, yellow and orange paint
* Paint brush for each color
* Safety scissors
What You Do:

1. Cover table with news print.
2. Have supplies ready and in individual trays, with paint brushes for each color.
3. Also have a sink or soapy water bucket and paper towel close at hand for clean up.
4. Have students paint one hand using each color, until the entire hand is covered.
5. Press hand on colored or white previously cut paper.
6. This technique will make some beautiful fall leaf shapes.
7. Once dried, have the students cut out their hand prints.
8. Use them to border a chalk board, or design a large "word" tree and change it through the seasons.


Objectives:
Children will learn about design in nature.
What You Need:

* Paper
* Different types of leaves
* Paint or crayons

What You Do:

1. Put the paper flat on the table and then put the leaf under the paper.
2. After you've done that, use the crayon to shade the print of the leaf on the paper.
3. If you are using paint, you put the leaf in the paint and then print in on the paper.