The Grade 3 STEAM Fair this year took a fashionable turn with the first ever ‘Adaptive Clothing Fashion Show.’ In direct connection to their curricula, students were tasked with imagining, designing, and then building different articles of clothing to relieve some of the challenges that differently abled people face in their daily lives.
As part of their literacy unit, students read Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper, a novel about a girl named Melody, an 11-year-old with cerebral palsy who cannot walk or talk but has a photographic memory and brilliant mind. Melody strives for communication and inclusion while navigating prejudices of the “normal” world. Ultimately, she achieves her goals through technology (a communication device), and Rashi students internalized the profound lessons of resilience, determination, acceptance, and the power of having a voice.
In addition, Rashi third graders recently completed a science unit on magnetism. This gave them the tools to begin thinking about real-world applications for magnets. Beginning with empathy, students put themselves in the minds & bodies of their differently abled clients who face daily challenges when getting dressed. In teams of three, they thoughtfully designed and built prototypes of adaptive shirts, shoes, cleats, swimsuits, aprons and pants.
Kol-lab Makerspace Coordinator, Matt Walczak, described the hard work and iterative process, emphasizing that students rebuilt their products four or five times. “That’s such an important part of building and engineering – they got to a place where they were a lot prouder of what they made and it was more like the vision they had in their head.” Walczak noted that trying and failing is critical to the learning process, and these Rashi third graders certainly rose to the challenge.