Lady spring

so my older daughter is in charge of the nature table in her class this week...its her class chore.....well, along comes Handwork mommy all excited and can't wait to add little things to the nature table...

First on the List...."we need a lady spring"..."she has to hold a bird and a nest"


so here she is ready for 2nd grade

1st grade project # 6 and felted people

I have 4 children in the 1st grade who are about to start their 6th project...fast knitters!!!!!
we will be making a rainbow ball
14 stitches
3 ribs/6 rows per color. put yarn needle through the top and pull. this will gather it. sew it up, stuff it and put a bell in the middle...DONE!

puppet show is starting

"puppet show is starting".....bell sounds....."take your seats everyone"

7th grade art class

So during our 9 week fine arts block I have been really enjoying working with the 7th grade. This has to be one of my favorite classes. They have good manors and they are well trained in the art area.

Today the mainlesson teacher and 3 other parents and I went to the Art Museum. we were able to be so close to such wonderful art. I had given the children pictures of the art and taught them the artists names several weeks ago so that when they saw the paintings they had a connection. which they did!!! they were delighted to see the same picture that had been in their class as a small 4X6 picture and now a large 7 foot tall oil painting

What is amazing about these paintings is the they are all painted again and again... in a series. the artist just repeated the work...for different reasons...perfectionism, money, politics, wanting to see the different seasons or light change...etc.

It was wonderful! and I think it is very important to share the experience of going to a museum and seeing paintings that are 100+ years old with your class or your children at home.

national downshift week

take part in this...its important!

I feel good that our school and my home is able to really live into this week

we are having our bi annual book fair at school and the children are strongly encouraged not to watch TV...as Waldorf children should not watch it anyway...but this week especially.

take on the challenge
http://www.downshiftingweek.com/howtotakepart.html

wet on wet painting with 7th grade

This was the painting we did this week. I brought in organic apples and had them paint an apple hanging from a tree. we started with painting a wash of yellow on half the paper and a wash of blue on the upper side of the paper. meeting the colors will create green. this becomes the branch. we add in red. the 3 primary colors make brown. add leaves, apple blossoms and then the apple. great exercise for 7th grade. vale painting is lots of fun. the step back from their work. let it dry and come back for another wash of color to add on layers

answers to paper questions

So this is what we did...in truth this was our first time.

So the girls and I cleaned up the house on Saturday morning and we collected all the extra pieces of drawing paper that was discarded, receipts, scraps left over from making the birthday invites...all white paper.

And then we added flowers and essential oils.

the only extra color was the beeswax crayon left on the paper from drawing.


It did turn out really nice and white.

Here is a U tube I found on how to make paper.

My frame I made from a pot holder loop kit and some mesh fabric I had hanging round. It just safety pinned it to on the back so it wasn't permanent.

http://video.about.com/familycrafts/
How-to-Make-Paper-With-Kids.htm

eating from our garden

this is the time to visit phoenix. everything is growing, the farmers market is full of fresh goodies and our own garden is getting ready to provide us with lots of yummy goodies.

I also wanted to show you our final our come with the paper

lots of thoughts

I am playing catch up at the moment. I posted about 4 times yesterday with thoughts I want to share. I don't have the chance during the week so by Friday I have lots to say.

Some friends of ours (a married couple) just went on a 2 week journey to India. and I have been reading her Blog and have been taken back in time to when I lived there for 4 years when I went to an International High School. Her journey is wonderful I encourage you to read it.

http://motherofpinky.blogspot.com/

Next on the list it eating better. Poppy & Mei's mom has inspired me to vigorously be more conscious of my diet.

We do eat pretty well. all organic, vegetarian simple eaters. But it's not enough these days.

when I came back from my February handwork training I was inspired to start making this kale drink that one of the other students would make every morning.
so since Feb. I have had this drink every morning.
its Kale, mustard greens, spinach, dandelion leaf papaya juice, orange juice and then we blend

Paper making for 3rd 7th & 8th

So for next year we will be making paper for our Handwork lesson books

3rd will make them because they are making all sorts of stuff in the 3rd grade. its their building year

7th and 8th need books for their pattern, design and how to of handwork (8th grade does history and diagram of the sewing machine) (7th grade does lots of felting)

so here it is
what you need

paper that is soaked over night in a bowl of water
blender
frame with a mesh stapled on top
rolling pin
towel
flowers
scented oils

The next birthday party

Its time for the next party
So we are making invites because my older princess is turning 8!!!!!

we were also practicing making the party crafts.

Since it is a Luau we will be making our own Leis from flowers using a needle and thread.

after that we will go onto playing games which will make the great Tiki Gods happy and they will reward us with gifts

More to watch and learn

and go to this site : www.millenniachild.com

parrot alarm

Here in Phoenix it is not uncommon to see parakeets and parrots flying around and landing in your tree or hanging out on phone lines.

So for the last 2 mornings I have been woken up (5 AM) by a parrot who mimics a car alarm. it does a very good impression of the car alarm. the alarm that changes sounds every 5 beats.. Ahh , ahh, ahh, ahh, ahh, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, ooooowp, ooooowp etc

some times it goes longer than 5 beeps. I recorded it after about 20 mins of listening to it but I can't get it to show here....I will try and post it...
I think I need to go outside and talk to it....:) ask it to please be quiet.

7th grade block crayon drawing

So after having Eugene Schwartz in town and hearing how he thought that not only the lower grades should use Block crayons but also the upper grades. He then showed us main lesson drawings from 8th graders done all in block crayon...totally amazing!!! I decided that for the next Fine arts class on Wednesday, we would do Block crayon drawings. These pictures were ideas that I was going to do in charcoal and then water color but we will see how the 7th grade does in crayon. I will have to go to the first grade teacher and ask to use their blocks. We will be painting the apples next week but this week we will start with drawing them

what do you think? its so fun playing with crayons again. !

My current display case

at the moment this is my display case. It changes every week because as children finish projects they put them in display case and take them out as other children finish. that way we always have something in there and children are always bringing things home.

Eugene Schwartz

What a great speaker...really interesting stuff. What I took from the lecture was that we need to bring more art into our schools. more appreciation for what once was and more appreciation for what is to come...the technical age.

Eugene Schwartz on Waldorf through the grades

We also have Eugene Schwartz here this week and he is speaking to our community and giving advice (guidance) to our faculty.

Here is a small U tube he did on what is waldorf education through the grades

Eurythmy

I just ran across this U tubes video of Eurythmy at the Green Meadow waldorf school. The first teacher was our Eurythmy teacher during our training .

At the moment we are in a 5 week Eurythmy block at our school. 2x a year we bring out a Eurythmy teacher to teach at our school and we rearrange the schedule so that K-8th can have Eurythmy 2x a week.

So here is a look into that world