5th Grade Learns About Sheep and Wool
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May 19, 2022
Broadus Fifth Grade students who dyed wool are pictured below with Liz Riter of the Powder River Conservation District. Pictured are Paisley Blakeman, Karlee Emmons, Reese Emmons, Mesa Fleming, Thorin Hanson, Addison Harper, Kacyn Hinman, Kimber Hodge, Tyler Jurica, and Samantha Three Fingers-Hart, as well as 5th grade teacher Mrs. Zellers. (Photo courtesy Liz Riter)
By Liz Riter
Liz Riter, Powder River Conservation District and Wilson Renner, Natural Resources Conservation Service, visited the 5th grade classroom on May 11th to teach them about wool and benefits of sheep for conservation. We discussed how sheep are used on ranches for nuisance and noxious weed control as well as the many different products which come from wool.
Unfortunately, we couldn't coordinate getting the sheep and shearer to the school after cancelling for the blizzard, but there were different types of wool to observe. Wilson explained the different grades of wool and their uses. Then students took a small amount of raw wool and "picked it". This cleans the dirt and vegetative matter out of the wool in preparation for washing it. Then they washed and carefully rinsed the wool so as not to felt it and then left to dry. Clean wool roving, donated by Running Wild Yarn and Becky McEuen, was put into quart jars to dye with Kool-Aid. The kids chose the color they wanted and were excited to watch the dye move from the water to the wool in the next few days. After these are rinsed and dried the class will learn how to felt their wool into beads. This is a fun and colorful day!
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