Andrea Pavik, Kirby Smith, and Ann Moenck’s preschool classes recently wrapped up their unit learning all about clothing and celebrated all they learned by modeling their custom tie-dye shirts for friends and family.

Pavik said they’ve been learning all about clothing since January.

“We do the study where we’re kind of answering questions about clothing, but we also tie in academic concepts that we teach throughout the year like counting, organizing data, and letter recognition,” she said. “We answered questions like how we take care of our clothes. So the kids had an experience where they got to wash clothes on a washboard with different kinds of soap to see what would work the best. We took the kids upstairs to the school washer and dryer and they learned about doing laundry. We read books about how people did laundry a long time ago.”

Pavik said the students learned about many different aspects of how clothing works and how it’s made.

-Messenger photo by Michaela Frerichs
Westyn Wilson shows off his stylish tie-dye shirt and sunglasses as he struts the runway at the Early Childhood Center.

“We learned about different types of fasteners,” she said. “We talked about how people make clothes and we had a guest visitor that came in and demonstrated how to sew for us. We talked about being fashion designers and they each designed an outfit with their families. We learned where we get clothes, so we talked about a clothing store and what you might see there.”

The students also had visits from people who wear special types of clothing.

“We learned about special features of clothes and what people might wear for work. We had a dad that was a police officer visit and a dad who was a soldier visit and they came in their uniforms and shared special features of their clothes,” Pavik said.

At the end of the unit, the students brought in shirts and got to tie-dye them in class.

“The kids got to pick out their colors and then we tied the rubber bands according to what design they wanted,” said Pavik.

-Messenger photo by Michaela Frerichs
Preschool student Josiah Clymer smiles to the crowd while introducing himself during his class' fashion show.

Monday afternoon, the three classes got to show off their shirts in a fashion show for family and friends. The students walked the runway and introduced themselves.

“That was a big thing for them too, the public speaking piece,” Pavik said. “It takes a lot of courage for them to stand in front of a bunch of people and talk.”

Pavik said she and the other teachers do their best to teach the students important skills and lessons while making it fun.

“We want to come up with topics that are interesting to the kids that they see in their everyday lives and are relevant to them,” she said.

-Messenger photo by Michaela Frerichs
Preschooler Vivian Joel introduces herself and shows off the tie-dye shirt she made in class at the Early Childhood Center during their fashion show.

-Messenger photo by Michaela Frerichs
Preschool teacher Andrea Pavik welcomes family and friends of students to the students’ fashion show Monday afternoon.

-Messenger photo by Michaela Frerichs
Preschooler Finn Parcel excitedly hugs his mom, Sheena after walking in his preschool class’ fashion show.

-Messenger photo by Michaela Frerichs
Many preschoolers' family and friends came to watch their fashion show Monday afternoon at the Early Childhood Center.