The Handwork teacher

I am a mother to two beautiful girls and I teach Handwork and Fine Arts in our local waldorf charter school in Arizona.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Birthday poems for 3rd graders



Birthday Poem
There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.
Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.
Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.
by Shel Silverstein

Birthday Poem
I'm the Dragon of Grindly Grun,
I breathe fire as hot as the sun.
When a knight comes to fight
I just toast him on sight,
Like a hot crispy cinnamon bun.
When I see a fair damsel go by,
I just sigh a fiery sigh,
And she'd baked like a 'tater-
I think of her later
With a romantic tear in my eye.
I'm the Dragon of Grindly Grun,
But my lunches aren't very much fun,
For I like my damsels medium rare,
and they always come out well done.
by Shel Silverstein

Birthday Poem
Be glad your nose is on your face,
not pasted on some other place,
for if it were where it is not,
you might dislike your nose a lot.
Imagine if your precious nose
were sandwiched in between your toes,
that clearly would not be a treat,
for you'd be forced to smell your feet.
Your nose would be a source of dread
were it attached atop your head,
it soon would drive you to despair,
forever tickled by your hair.
Within your ear, your nose would be
an absolute catastrophe,
for when you were obliged to sneeze,
your brain would rattle from the breeze.
Your nose, instead, through thick and thin,
remains between your eyes and chin,
not pasted on some other place--
be glad your nose is on your face!







Birthday Poem

by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.


Birthday Poem

by William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;
A poet could not be but gay,
In such a jocund company!
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

2nd grade Auction project



I have been working with the 2nd grade (my younger daughter's class) to make their auction project. we got big canvases and they painted water color paintings, then we split up the class (27 kids) into 4 groups and they each chose a story from their 2nd grade curriculum 

1 )St Martin
2) St George and the Dragon
3) Gnomes counting jewels (math gnomes)
4) A season tree

all the pictures were torn up into small pieces and glued onto the canvas

Waldorf Greek Olympic games poem

My daughter wrote this poem last year before going to the Greek Olympics.  5 poems were chosen to be read to the Gods.  Her poem was the first chosen.



Greek Games   

Oh great and mighty gods of the games,
we stand before you and offer our names
We are the wise ones the champions of Desert Marigold,
for you we will honor the games as truth be told.

The Javelin so straight and tall
Will glide through the air and gracefully fall
The discus so lean and round
Will sour through the air and hit a golden mound

Oh great and mighty Gods we offer our call
Watch theses wrestlers as some fall and others stand tall
The long jump is here to show
How we sore through the air
Like a running hare

May you be pleased with these games,
As we sit before you under many names.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

5th grade socks

It was really hard for my 5th grade to finish their socks by winter break. Last year only one child was behind because of illness, this year almost every child was behind and needed help to finish. very disappointing. !

So the questions is, is it their class temperament?  choleric melancholic should be good workers

Year of the Dragon and snake should have no problem.  I don't understand

But in the end, they all finished.  Now it is time to switch with the other half of 5th grade. that group is the beginning knitters. they will make hats and recorder cases.