Threading a Needle

I have a soft spot for Montessori's integration of sewing in the classroom and have always appreciated this Practical Life activity.  The sewing sequence lessons are extremely helpful in promoting the direct and indirect aims of any and all Montessori lessons:  Concentration, coordination, independence, and order (CCIO). In my classroom, however, I've encountered some obstacles while trying to introduce basic sewing lessons - either the child needs too much assistance and becomes disinterested, or more obviously, has difficulty with the initial step of simply threading the needle.  To address this problem, I did what any Montessori teacher would do - I created a new lesson:  Threading a Needle.


To begin the lesson:  The child takes this tiny basket  with a mat to a workspace at a table.  In our classroom, we use placemat sized "table-top mats."  The contents of the basket include: three lengths of yarn in red, yellow, and green; and three children's sewing needles also in red, yellow, and green.  (They are under the yarn in this photo and hard to see).

The mat is unrolled and the basket is placed at the top in the center.  During the initial presentation, the teacher takes out one piece of yarn and shows each end of the string. 



I have placed a small piece of masking tape on the threading end...



...and made a knot on the other end.

 As each end is shown, the yarn is placed horizontally on the mat with the taped end on the left.  Then, the yarn is straightened by following it with the fingers of dominant hand moving from left to right.  This is repeated with each of the yarn lengths, thus helping to train the eye in left to right movement in preparation for reading and writing.


The three pieces of yarn laid out on the mat. 

 Next, the needles are shown.  As each needle is taken out of the basket, the teacher shows the eye and the points to both ends of the needle.  Then, it is placed above the matching yarn on the threading side with the eye on the left:


Placement of needles on the mat.

 Now, the child is shown how to actually thread the needle beginning from the top piece of yarn.  For me, it is most natural to grasp the needle with the right hand and the yarn with the left, threading it through the eye with the left fingers. 



Threading the needle.

Once the needle is successfully threaded, the child is shown where to stop pulling, creating the "tail."  The threaded needle is placed back on the mat, this time with the needle on right of the mat.



The first of three threaded needles on the top...



...and all three threaded needles.

To clean up, the child removes the thread from each needle, beginning from the top, and returns the needles to the basket.  The yarn is then wound lightly around the fingers and placed into the basket on top of the needles.



Lesson completed.

I decided to use the three coordinating colors not just for added interest (the colors match our upcoming 'Apples' theme), but mainly to allow the child opportunities for repetition.  I am excited about this lesson because it will provide my students the chance to practice an important skill which ultimately builds success in future activities while simultaneously enhancing CCIO. 

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