Kia Ora All,
Last week was a super busy one. We got up to all sorts, including making some no-sew bags with the help of Janet who came in to share her sewing expertise and patience. Also a special thanks to Amanda who helped out too. Amanda has been giving up her time 3 days a week to work with various students which makes a huge difference in the class.
I'm currently listening to this RNZ Kim Hill interview all about whales. It might be an interesting listen for you and/or your kids.
Enjoy these pictures and short pieces of writing about what we did with the t-shirt bags and why.
Rock on,
Mr M
Today our super cool class made some amazing bags out of old t-shirts to use to get our groceries so we can stop using plastic. Janet and Amanda came in to help us make the bags. Most people made drawstring bags. To make drawstring bags you need to cut the bottom of the t-shirt into strips and then tie the opposite strips together. Then do the same thing with the sleeves. After that get a long bit of fabric and cut two little holes in the neckline. Then thread the long bit of fabric through the holes, in one and out the other. That’s how to make a t-shirt bag.
By Louis
Today the 27 of March 2018, our class made fabric bags out of t shirts.We were doing this because we didn’t want to use plastic bags from supermarket. When you use plastic bags, they end up in the sea and kill whales and dolphins. We made the t shirt bags by first cutting off the bottom of the t shirt, then we drew a line with chalk.Then we cut little strips out of the bottom all the way up to the chalk line. We tied up the strips.Then we did the same to the sleeves. After we did that, we let Janet or Amanda put a safety pin on a strip of fabric, then put it through the hem of the neck line and threaded it through the whole neck line. Once it was right round we made the ends of the fabric line up, then tied the two ends up. Now you can put food in it and take it to the supermarket. It was the most exciting thing I’ve done in my life.
By Angus
Today our class at Motupipi made sensational t-shirt bags. We did this as part of our whale inquiry because plastic is bad for the ocean and sea animals. The people who helped Room Two to make the t-shirt bags were Janet, Amanda and a little help from Mr M. How we made it: we started by cutting the bottom of the t-shirt then we cut little strips off the t-shirt and we did the same thing on the sleeves. After we knotted the bottom of the t-shirts we knotted the sleeves. We attached a safety pin to a piece of ribbon and threaded it through the neck line to make the drawstring. It was super awesome.
By Olive
Today our class made sensational T-shirt bags. Amanda and Janet helped us with them. We did it for inquiry because we are learning about whales. Sea animals think that plastic bags are jellyfish so they eat it.They fill up with more and more plastic and kadoosh they die.
Ok so lets get on to what we did. We got an old t-shirt and we cut strips on the end of the t-shirt. We did the same on the sleeves.Then we tied double knots with those strips.What I did was I made a drawstring bag so you had to thread ribbon through the collar of the t-shirt and boom you're done. That was extremely fun!!!!!!!!
By Isla
On Tuesday 27th of the 3rd 2018 Room 2 of Motupipi school made mind blowing t-shirt-bags. Amanda and Janet helped us. We made them for inquiry to stop animals eating plastic. There are 35.8 million pieces of plastic in the ocean, that’s more than animals in the ocean. I thought the bags were spectacular. To make the bags we cut strips on the sleeves and the bottom and tied them together. Then we put a handle on and boom! Done. For about a week we were collecting shirts then today we made them. I made 3 bags but 1 was huge because it was a nighty. It was an eye opening activity.
By Emily
Today our class made our own fabric bags. The reason we were doing it is that it is part of our inquiry to decrease the amount of plastic in the ocean. My Mum and Janet came in to help us at Motupipi school. Making the fabric bags was the greatest activity we had done so far! Most of the class brought in t-shirts for the bags, but some forgot to bring t-shirts so Mr M handed out some extras. Janet and Amanda got us started by helping to cut the strips at the bottom of the t-shirts and then did the same to the arm holes. We then tied the strips together. Then threaded a lace through the hem of the neckline at the top of the shirt. “Yay! Were done” I shouted. It was a terrific day!!!
By Charlie
Today we made t-shirt bags for inquiry. Because we learnt all about the plastic in the ocean. We tied together the waist and arm holes. We also made draw-strings to open and shut them it was awesome and cool! Janet, Amanda and Mr M helped us do them. Plastic bags look a lot like jelly fish to sea creatures and kill the whales around the world so stop littering! The plastic could end up in beaches and oceans, it could even end up inside us!! It was super duper wicked.
By Jarvis
Today our class made some fabric bags out of t-shirts it was phenomenal. It was a part of inquiry, because we
Are trying to stop millions of plastic bags going into the ocean. There is 35.8 million bits of plastic and junk in the sea, that’s more than all the different species of fish! We had Amanda and Janet to help, and Mr M helped a little bit. I made an awesome bag out of one of my old t-shirts. First we cut some frilly bits at the end of the t-shirt then we tied them up twice. We threaded the string through the neck line, then we were done - bingo! It was super duper awesome.
By Ashton
Today our class made breathtaking blissful bags out of old t-shirts! With help from the stunning Janet, the mind blowing Amanda and a little help from the delightful Mr M. You might be wondering why? Why did we make these bags out of fabric? We done it for our inquiry and because plastic is killing our whales and we have to do something about it !!!:[ To make them we got an old t-shirt and cut some strips on the bottom of the shirt and did the same with the sleeves. Do you remember that bit we cut of the bottom of the shirt? Well your going to need that. Do you know how we got the handle thing on the bag? We put it through the hem of the neck line! Well that was confusing I hope there’s a video on the Mr M’s blog to show you how you really do it!!
These bags are super duper awesome!! Make them please!!!!
By Aurora
Today our class made astounding bags out of t shirts. We made the t shirt bags because there is SO MUCH PLASTIC in the ocean. If any fish, turtles or whales find a plastic bag in the ocean, they could get their head stuck the plastic bag or they could swallow the plastic thinking it is jellyfish. First we got a t shirt and cut little strips in the bottom of the t shirt. Then we tied the strips together in a most sensational way. Then we did the same with the sleeves. Put a drawstring in then ka-bag you are done. I made it sound quite easy but it was hard and delightful at the same time. I could already tell that the t shirt bag was going to be useful.
By Malika
Today the class made t-shirt bags because we are learning about the great plastic problem. We made them in the morning so we got lots of time to get them finished. We did it because we want to stop the ocean from getting filled up with plastic. We worked with Amanda, Janet and little bit of help from Mr M. We only used old t-shirts so that we wouldn't use new ones that we didn't to give away.I hope that the ocean doesn’t get filled up with plastic .
By Ryan
Today our class made some awesome bags to keep our environment healthy because there are 35.8 million pieces of plastic in the ocean. Also, we are doing this to save our whales and other animals. Because the ocean gets polluted with plastic. We had help from Janet, Amanda and a very, very little bit from Mr M. We made these mind blowing bags by cutting the bottom of a t-shirt into strips and tying the strips together, then we did the same with the sleeves. After that, we made a hole in the neck line and made the handle. That’s how we made the amazing bags. I really enjoyed it so you should too.
By Scarlett
Today in inquiry we had Janet and Amanda come in and help us with making our own fabric bags. They turned out GREAT! We did it in our class. I made mine for my Mum, Dad And Summer. We wanted to try and stop people from using plastic bags, like Mum and Dad. They use too much plastic bags. We also did it because there's nearly over 35 million plastic bags in the ocean. Whales think plastic bags are jellyfish. Whales eat plastic bags,and get poisoned WE could even get it in us, and kill us! Anyway BAN PLASTIC BAGS!!!!!
By Mav
Today our class made legit t shirt bags. We did this as a part of our whale inquiry. We should stop using plastic because it kills our sensational whales. There are around about 35.8million pieces of plastic in the ocean which poisons our whales with chemicals.These days, we need to stop using plastic. Now we need to look out for what we eat because all our fish could be poisonous or have plastic in them & if we eat them, we could end up with plastic in us! If we keep on using plastic, whales will fill up with plastic & they just die. Is that what we want? No so stop using plastic!!
By Lochie
Tuesday the 27\3\18 Janet and Amanda helped our class to make a t-shirt bag so we could stop using so many plastic bags. The reason why we did this is because there are 35.8 million bits of plastic in the ocean. That's more then there is sea life.
By Anoghus
