around the uft
Knitting pretty
Apr 10, 2008 10:26 AM
Paraprofessional Donna DeSilva shows a student how to get started on the loom.
Knit one, purl one. Fingers of the students in a 2nd- and a 5th-grade class and the student council at PS 222 in Brooklyn flew around the kid-friendly knitting loom, turning brightly colored heaps of donated yarn into more than 250 hats for newborns in hospitals and shelters around the country. Paraprofessional Donna DeSilva got the idea for the knitting project when she learned about the charitable organization Newborns in Need while doing research for a course she was taking. Now it’s the talk of the school with classes not involved clamoring to join and the knitters still going strong during snack time, early in the morning and during lunch. The boy who announced early on, “Boys don’t knit!” has had a change of heart and is now an enthusiastic hat maker. DeSilva said, “This has enriched their lives and mine, too.”
Students proudly hold their handiwork high with encouragement from helpers (from left, toward the back) teacher Maureen Owens, librarian Marie Riordan, teacher Jamie Wright and paraprofessionals Inci Tangul and DeSilva.
