Stitching Success! Sewing Club emerges from Deep Learning Inquiry project at St. Martin CES in Ennismore
Liz Brioux’s Grade 2 class completed three Deep Learning Inquiry projects in the fall and will plant trees in the spring
Jan. 6, 2025
It started with a large brainstorming session in class about what students noticed in the fall.
That exercise resulted in several topics ranging from pumpkins to the leaves changing colour.
One group of Grade 2 students decided to learn more about squirrels, another wanted to find out more about leaves while a third group selected fall fashion.
“It all started the week we went outside where we did outdoor learning all day,” said Liz Brioux, Grade 2 Teacher at St. Martin Catholic Elementary School in Ennismore. “Fall fashion started with fall colours and that escalated into them bringing in old clothing and cutting it up to make doll clothing and now we are starting to sew scrunchies using a sewing machine.”
The fall fashion group became a sewing club following the Deep Learning Inquiry. They stay in during the afternoon recess to meet and stitch.
The Deep Learning Inquiry project is a model where students take charge of their learning by exploring issues they are passionate about, while teachers facilitate resources and opportunities for deeper exploration.
“In January, they will make pencil cases and then we will make pyjama bottoms hopefully with some community partners,” Brioux said. “That learning project is now a little club in our class. Some of my students in the squirrel group, who were not in fashion, are now in the sewing club because they are finished with learning about squirrels and wanted to join.”
The students who chose squirrels learned about the three kinds of the animal found in Ontario while the other group that chose leaves started learning about the parts of a leaf and that eventually grew into identifying plants and trees in the forest.
“We knew that most of our trees are ash or pine trees in the forest,” Brioux said. “We found Black Walnut trees as well, which went over well with our students who learned about squirrels, because they made connections to find squirrel nests.”
After several ash trees were removed by the school’s soccer field due to the Emerald Ash Borer, the students decided they wanted to plant maple trees to replace them.
“For the first part, they had to research how much a tree costs. They called landscaping companies and got quotes from $150-$300 for a tree,” Brioux said.
They raised money through lemonade and hot chocolate sales and now have enough to plant two-to-three trees in the spring.
“It was nice to see them take the independence and it was just them – they directed it. They were all engaged and all involved,” added Brioux.
The plan for Brioux’s class is to do another Deep Learning Inquiry over the winter months.
