2nd week

panting class, every morning :) we were experiencing purple on this day.
isn't that wool delicious?
both of these are pics of Orchard house. this is where the craft studio is. those skeins are plant dyed !!!!

Sat

First week

WOW!!!!!! that is what I have to say about our first week. IT has been sooooooo fun! our class is full, . 12 wonderful women from all walks of life. most of us are away from our families for the first time.......and really enjoying our little "women's" camp!! in the morning I wake up around 6, do some Yoga and stretch I have been staying at the Painting and drawing teacher's house this week. after I shower and get ready, I am off with my 2 bags of books and supplies. I have to walk down a small path from her house, down to the school. it is about a 30 min walk. At 8 AM we arrive at the Gym and start our day. we start our day with spacial dynamics This week we are learning all about the 1st graders. So basically we were 1st graders. we play games all morning. After that class our legs are sore from jump roping, running, skipping, clapping and just basic movement. who would have thought rump ropping would give me sorer legs than running. we then grab our bags and take the 20 min walk back up the hill to the painting barn. We again are 1st graders learning about primary colors but we go further and learn the relation to the child's temperament. after that we head back to the craft studio (10 min walk) and have lecture time with a wonderful woman that has done 3 cycles of grade teaching (meaning she has taken 1st-8th grade 3 times) Here we talk about foundation studies and Anthroposophy. After 2 hours of lecture we have lunch at the college cafe. Fresh veggies from the bio dynamic garden, brown rice, pasta, beans etc. sooooo healthy and yummy! next we go back to the craft studio and start our crafts. doll making, knitting, plant dyeing, harvesting plants for dyeing, etc the crafts end at 6PM and I enjoy my dinner at the cafe again. after that I make my 30 min walk up the hill again to my bed.....But I can't sleep because I still have more to learn. I am prepping for my art classes with the 7th and 8th graders. and lucky for me, I am staying with the arts teacher! so again I sit for 2 more hours and learn about the 7th and 8th grade art curriculum.....finally I get to close my eyes and fall asleep...but first I must convince the house hold dog to get off the foot of my bed, this he does with a growl and snarl...and so I sleep now,only to do te day all over again in a few hours PS I am working on loading pics, but it has not worked yet

its COLD HERE!!!

Berrrrrrrrrr we have been enjoying weather out here that Phoenix gets only in the winter! Deer, Bunnies, horses and more! I will send pics as soon as I can figure out how to connect my digital camera to this crazy computer

hats

Hats on PLEASE! I made this last night for a friend's son who is 8 months old

recorder cases

Here are the 3 recorder cases I made this week.
2 crochet and 1 knitted.
the other picture is of NKK living in her bathing suit. she gets up in the morning and changes right into a suit. we go to swim class around 9:30 and she decides to stay in it for the rest of the day. even when we have to go to a "no swim suit zone" she ops for putting shorts and a shirt OVER the suit...just in case the grocery store or the farmers market has a pool for her to swim in.

I also made that crazy sour apple color futon cushion cover this past weekend.

knitting needles

Knitting Needles -home made!
we took dowels and sharpened them with a hand crank pencil sharpener. after that we sanded and sanded and sanded, then we waxed and sanded and sanded and sanded! till they were nice and smooth.
We then pulled out the femo and started to sculpt. Aletha and Satdarshan started to make the earth, then it turned into the earth and sun, then the moon had to come into the picture... we baked the femo and after that, finished it off with some good old glue.
Now we have our beginning knitters on their way to making many magical things

waldorf yarn and swim class

Teachers

Well yesterday I was able to speak to 3 teacher on campus and I am still flustered at how they all seem to think that giving you advice on how to change your whole curriculum would be a good idea for a new teacher. yah right! This curriculum has worked for 100's of handwork teachers all of the world and has been tried and true for the current one....... need I say more!

swimming class...........be back

3rd grade

here is what I am looking at for the 3rd grade.. some children didn't start making a recorder case last year so they will start after making their bracelet. I also want to have them make some animals like this mouse. This recorder case took me 2 hours while I sat and watched Dream Girls (a sweet movie if you want to see what it was like for rising African American stars in the 60s/70s)
Some good soul singing. I wish I had their voices!
And the mouse took me about 15 minutes. So I am guessing it would take them 2 months on the recorder case and water bottle holder (similar pattern) and about 3 classes on the mouse.

pin cushions

Pin cushions for 6th and 7th grade.

The girls and I tried out wet and dry felting. NKK made a little owl wool blob that she would not allow to be in the photo.

Getting things ready for the week

This week I am taking inventory, looking over class curriculum for each grade and hopefully connecting with some of the teachers. I want to get as much done before I go as possible. I know that when we get back I will be busy!
I found the schools weaving loom in the old 3rd grade classroom. I would LOVE to be able to use it with the children but was told that it is something the teacher does with the children...yet last year they skipped that skill. I am thinking about getting small looms that the kids can have in their laps. they can make water bottle holder straps and belts to wear.
I am also looking at the idea of wet felting with the 6th and 7th graders. this is something that I need to get busy and start teaching myself how to do it. I bought a wet felting book, now I need to sit down and read it! Maybe that would be a good craft project for today with the girls... I will post pictures.

The picture of the star fish is one of the 4 we caught when we were down at rocky point. I keep pictures from our seaside trip as wall paper on my computer, to remind me to relax into summer :)

quote for the day : "I am your teacher, I will always want more. I have a bottomless hunger for your excellence." -YB

1st grade

OK , so I have been going over 1st grade items. Remember I need to bring work that they have done this year to Sunbridge college. Here is what SDK knitted for us this year... This is before I put it in the wash to felted. The pot holder is hers, the chicken was a green pot holder from a another first grader from another year . So I took it home to play with ideas for next year. I had SDK finger knit and we sewed on the feathers. Do you think it looks like a chicken? Maybe they can do 1 pot holder, one chicken and 1 cat. They also did a pouch this year, but I didn't take a picture of SDK's pouch yet.

summer vacation

our second day of summer vacation.....ahhhhhhhhhhhh
we need a new hammock in our back yard, but a blanket will do. Yesterday the girls and I went over the Nalli's house and I was taught a 2 hour felting class...IT WAS SOOOOO COOL
here is what I made
Nalli has the most amazing talent to "paint" felt. By this I mean that the way she felts looks like she is painting with a brush...it is just so hard to do that. I strive to make my work look even a little like hers.
She is such an amazing person, I wish I had the chance to know her earlier.
We discussed so many things.
One thing that was very helpful was talking about the artistic work for faculty next year. She has so many good ideas.
She also showed me a sculpture that her sister did, it just blew my mind! she was a tall, very graceful felted woman with long sculpted hair. THIS I HAVE TO TRY! I will post my attempt...

I have also had the constant thought of next year's handwork on my mind.
The same thoughts keep rocking around in my mind. How to Hold each class, motivating the students, finishing projects, budget for materials and working with faculty.

I am suppose to bring to Sunbridge college, some work that the children did this year from Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd...

first posting

Here I am posting my first post.
I hope this little blog brings some fun to those friends who read it.
As I take my journey into the world of Waldorf teacher training......