A cross-district project between North Bellmore and Bellmore-Merrick schools gave students a hands-on lesson in creativity and practical skills when middle schoolers turned elementary students’ drawings into handmade stuffed animals.
Fourth graders at Newbridge Road Elementary School received the creations on March 13, when seventh- and eighth-grade students from Merrick Avenue Middle School visited to distribute the sewn projects based on monster drawings completed earlier in the school year.
The initiative was coordinated by fourth grade teacher JoAnn Belferder and Sarah Norton, a family and consumer sciences teacher in the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District and adviser to the Merrick Avenue sewing club. Norton’s students used the drawings as templates to design and construct the stuffed figures.
The project served as a skills-based exercise for middle school students, who applied sewing techniques learned in class, while also giving younger students the opportunity to see their original work realized in a different format.
During the visit, Merrick Avenue students presented each fourth grader with a stuffed version of their drawing along with the original artwork.
Norton also spoke to the class about family and consumer sciences courses offered at the middle school level, including instruction in cooking, sewing, financial literacy and career exploration.
School officials said the project highlighted collaboration between grade levels and provided an introduction to practical coursework students will encounter in the future.
