Every teacher should take vacations

Yah, those are my feet....that's as much of me as you get to see




My family and some friends took my husband, my kids and I to Mexico for a week on the beach....I just turned 30...............Yippeeeee for me. We had a BLAST! I love going with lots of people places....I love caravaning and organizing meals and staying up late playing board games...FUN!

Waldorf Handwork Teacher Training

This is Chris Marlo, she co-Teaches with Renata and I think she is probably one of the nicest humans on earth. I am not kidding, you can't get her mad, she has only nice bones in her body. Really, a truly kind soul, we should all learn from her example. She also teaches the grades handwork at Spring Valley school
This is Renata Hiller. She is the Mother of all Handwork teachers. She taught the first Handwork teacher training in America. So all the other trainings are based off of her teachings.





Just so you all know. I am getting my training at the Three Fold Craft studio...formally known as Sunbridge College Craft Studio in Spring Valley NY. I am going into my 3rd year and it is a 4 year program

http://www.threefold.org/fiber_craft_studio/applied_arts_program.aspx

more waldorf middle school art work from the kids

7th and 8th grade Waldorf School painting and charcoal

Just a few shots of some of the kids work. I have 20 8th graders and 18 7th graders.











Here are some of their latest work

4th grade in politics

So my 4th grade are REALLLLLLY into politics.....its not in their main lesson, its a self induced passion.

For the past 3 weeks they only want to talk about Obama and every teacher they pass on our walk to the Handwork room they ask "who are you voting for"

So to scratch this itch...so to speak

I decided that we would have an election in Handwork class. A book Election and the winner would be the president and they should all read the winning book.

They were very excited. They had to choose a party (a color) and the book (the candidate).

Then a week later I would have them cast their ballets in the voting box.

Sooooooo, yesterday was the day....we had an election I had little pieces of paper cut and a box with a slit that was on a table behind a screen and they each went over one at a time and cast their ballet.

THEY LOVED IT!!!!!

and the winner was

DRUM ROLLLLLLLLLLLLL

the winner was a book I can't even find a picture for

"story of an Ugly Kid"

and the Vice President book was

Obama's book (which they have not read but some said they want to get it on Audio and listen to it in the car)

and then there was Harry Potter as 3rd place.


Without getting to much into the whole REAL aspect of politics. this seemed to make them really happy and satisfied.

First grade finger play and verses

after we say our first grade verse I go into saying small poems or songs that play with your fingers.

so I thought I would share my monthly poem rotation with you.

My first one for Aug/ Sep was

Pea Pod
Seed Pod
Bean Pod and
Poppy Pod
Split when they ripen and
open with the pop

take thumb and pointer and touch them together and rob them together in a circle.
then thumb and middle , rub in a circle. kind of like rolling a small piece of wax between your fingers.
go to thumb and ring and last thumb and pinky

change hands.


two first graders meet in the lane and bow most politely and bow once again
How do you do
and how do you do
and how do you do again. etc......
(I think i put this song in a post about a month ago)



late september:

A Knight and a lady went riding one day
far into the forest away, away
The Knight said oh lady pray have a care
this forest is evil beware beware,
A fiery red dragon it lay on the path
the lady wept sourly alas alas
The Knit slew the dragon the lady was gay
they road off together away away



October:

Five little witches on a Halloween night
Made a very, very spooky sight.
The first witch danced on her tippy tiptoes.
The second witch tumbled and bumped her nose.
The third witch flew high up in the air.
The fourth witch combed her fuzzy hair.
The fifth witch sang a Halloween song.
Five witches played the whole night long!
- Anonymous

Thank you fairynest for the poem

farting shoe

So I walk into 8th grade and shake the 8th grade teacher's hand and my berks fart!

Yah they fart! My heel and the sole of my shoes makes a pocket of air and FAAAART!

I look around at my shoe and .....I didn't say what I should have said "my shoe farted!"

I just say "good afternoon 8th grade"

Yah.......so what to do? new shoes?

Michaelmas time

As Michaelmas is right around the corner I see that our community needs the courage and strength that this time of year brings.

The symbol of St. Michael taming the dragon really means that the human needs to go within and find the inner strength that lives with in each of us. Fear, depression, and hate is the dragon. Strength, courage and joy is the angel light within each of us.

This past week our community has been struck by different very challenging and sad events. 3 beautiful souls passed away. One was a teenage girl and the other was a pregnant mother and her baby.

We had a child diagnosed with cancer

and another child broke his arm.

It has been a very challenging week for our community.

a funny moment

yesterday as I was walking 4th grade to the Handwork room the line leader asks me, "Do teachers go to the bathroom?" I told her of course we do. She said. "you must have SUPER bladders. My main lesson teacher hasn't gone to the bathroom once this year."


I got a good laugh out of that

3rd, 2nd, and 1st grade updates

This is more a note for me to see how the year is going so that next year I can look and see where we were at this time.

We are exactly 4 weeks into the school year. My 2nd graders re sanded and waxed their needles, we plant dyed yellow wool for lions and I told the story of the lion and the mouse. They finished their mice....except 2 children who are new to the class. And they have started on their lions. 20 children in 2nd grade. 1/2 are on their second leg....first leg is 11 stitches and 9 bumps (2 rows per bump).

The mouse was 10 stitches knitted until you make a square. sew together and stuff. add felt ears and sew them on.

I have a story teller in 2nd grade and she is reading Stuart Little....perfect for the mouse project. they were really into it!

3rd grade is continuing crochet from the second half of last year. 26 kids in this class.
in the picture you can see my fast crocheters have almost finished their recorder cases.
next we move to the Stone soup puppets.

1st grade: They made their needles, they finger knitted they draw stings for their handwork bags (I make handwork bags for 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade. In their class colors. Pink, orange and yellow)
They wound their balls of yarn from small skeins that I made. They learn to cast on and caste on enough stitches to fill the needle.
Most have knit 2 rows at week 4.

that 's all for now

7th grade wet felted renaissance hats

I think that we should all throw in some ideas on craft ideas.....if you have an idea let it out!

I just got a question on how to wet felt hats. we wet felt hats in 7th grade.

So I use the book "Felting by Hand" by Anne Einset Vickrey

http://www.snoods.com/hats.html

http://www.vertetsable.com/demos_elizabethanhats.htm

http://www.vertetsable.com/demos_feltboots.htm

http://www.vertetsable.com/demos_feltapplique.htm


these sites will help too.

life was different 100 years ago!

Picture taken in Culver city in 1912

Rule for Teachers, 1915

1. You will not marry during the term of your contract.
2. You are not to keep company with men.
3. You must be home between the hours of 8 PM and 6 AM unless attending a school function.
4. You may not loiter downtown in ice cream stores.
5. You may not travel beyond city limits unless you have the permission of the chairman of the board.
6. You may not ride in a carriage or automobile with a man unless he is your father or brother.
7. You may not smoke cigarettes.
8. You may not dress in bright colors.
9. You may, under no circumstances, dye your hair.
10. You must wear at least two petticoats.
11. Your dresses must not be any shorter than two inches above the ankle.
12. You will keep the schoolroom neat and clean, sweep the floor at least once daily, scrub the floor at least once each week, clean the blackboards once a day, and start the fire at 7 AM so the room will be warm at 8 AM.

-Cabell County, West Virginia
Board of Education, 1915



Rules for Teachers, 1872

1. Teachers each day will fill lamps, clean chimneys.



2. Each teacher will bring a bucket of water and a scuttle of coal for the day's session.



3. Make your pens carefully. You may whittle nibs to the individual taste of the pupils.



4. Men teachers may take one evening each week for courting purposes, or two evening each week if they go to church regularly.



5. After ten hours in school, the teachers may spend the remaining time reading the Bible or other good books.



6. Woman teacher who marry or engage in unseemly conduct will be dismissed.



7. Every teacher should lay aside from each pay a good sum of his earnings for his benefit during declining years, so that he will not become a burden on society.



8. Any teacher who smokes, uses liquor in any form, frequents pool or public halls, or gets shaved in a barber shop will give good reason to suspect his worth, intention, integrity, and honesty.



9. The teacher who performs his labor faithfully and without fault for five years will be given an increase of twenty-five cents per week in his pay, providing the Board of Education approves.

3rd Grade

The year of "everything goes upside down" the 9 year of change......parents breathe through it and teachers hold your breath.

BEGINNING VERSE

"From the cotton field plants
the cotton is won and washed and spun
plants give the cotton and we give it form
with line on line and row on row
the one long thread begins to show
the work of our fingers, with patients transforms
now the cotton field plant can clothe our form."

END VERSE

" My hands are a bowl they hold water just fine
my hands are a shelter, a pillow, a line
my hands are spinners and weavers too
my hands are my most useful tool
They've done their work
they've done their best and now its time for them
to rest."

Blessings on your day 3rd grade boys and girls.



Verses to teach them to crochet.

how to hold your yarn. "pinky pointer hold your yarn ( or work)
Here the yarn wraps around the pinky then the pointer and the pointer points while the middle finger and the thumb holds the work.

single crochet
"under the bridge catch a fish and pull it through, now you have 2, catch another, easy as butter."

Chain stitch "Into the bunny hole, grab some carrots for me, out of the bunny hole and you're home free"

or just talk about fishing and the crochet hook is the pole and and hooks onto fish in the pond .

plant dyeing with 3rd and 5th

Yesterday I got out the dye pots and we had a party at school.....not literally.

I had 5th grade dye their skeins for their horses
and 3rd grade dyed their skeins for their recorder cases

And once the Kindergarten teachers saw the dye pots they ran over with 10 yards of flannel and dyed skin color (madder root and black walnut) for their knot babies.

and here is the view as you walk into my handwork room


HOW TO PLANT DYE WITH 3rd GRADERS


I did this with them after 3 or 4 classes, so they had projects that they were working on in their handwork bag.
I had dye pots ready. I had a sample of the recorder case and we talked about darkest to lightest. I told them to think about what colors they wanted and I had pre cut papers with crayons for the recorder pattern...they colored in the space where they would be filling in the dark color, then they would color in a line for the light color, then they would go back to darker for a bit (less color now) then they would do more light, then less dark, then more light, then one line of dark. then all light.
we colored for about 10 mins and one by one when they were done, they came outside and dyed their skein by putting it in the dye pot.....that's it, then they went back inside and continued their projects. at the end of class they rung out their skein and hung it.
So it took one class only. the next class they paired up and rolled balls of yarn . I got the unbleached yarn bulky weight from Brown sheet.

The mind of a child

this morning our Carpool (they drive a white minivan) came to pick up my girls and they arrived in a fancy new red van. My older daughter looked at it and said "wow, did they plant dye their van?"
She was totally serious!
So cute!

here are some other thoughts from my girls

My Handwork room

the yellow room is now filled with 12 tables and sewing machines for 8th grade.


Here is my room. it looks totally different from last year. I painted it this summer (last week, it was white) and we took out the library that was sharing the space. Now I only share this space with the after care program....

So, welcome to my room

I'm in a committee, I'm in meetings

So If you don't know what it is like to be in a waldorf school faculty meeting...let me give you a small peak into my world that I have been enjoying for the last week from 8AM on......

Oh, give me your pity, I'm on a committee,
Which means that from morning to night
we attend and amend and contend, and defend,
with out a conclusion in sight.

We confer and concur, we defer and demur,
And reiterate all of our thoughts.
We revise the agenda with frequent addenda,
And consider a load of reports.

We compose and propose, we support and oppose,
And the points of procedure are fun!
But though various notions are brought up as motions,
There's terribly little gets done.

We resolve and absolve, but we never dissolve,
Since it's out of the question for us.
What a shattering pity to end out committee,
Where else could we make such a fuss.

Anonymous author

If you don't hear from me

I am starting school in 1 week and I am in meetings alllllll this week and then the race begins.... oh sorry the journey into the world of love and light and learning :)

So, keep checking in....

painting with young children

First grade verse

There's a bridge of wondrous light,

Filled with colours shining bright:

Red and yellow, orange and green,

The Fairest colours ever seen.

Blue and violet, magic rose,

down from Heaven to earth it goes.

followed by the song:

Rainbow fairies come to me,

Dance upon my paper free.

Help to make my painting bright,

Filled with colour, warmth and light.

6th grade or Kindergarten teacher project

cotton tubing from medical supply store




fold 4 corners into the center and attach to the center . this will make it about 1/2 the size you thought it would be. but gives weight to the marionette.





This year I will have my 6th grade put on 2 puppet shows.

The invisible one

There was once a large village situated on the border of a lake there lived an old man, a widower with three daughters. The youngest of those was a small humble girl who did nothing for herself but always served others. Because of this, her eldest sister took advantage of her and treated her with great cruelty. The second sister was somewhat kinder, and sometimes stood up for her younger sister. Now because of all the hard work the younger sister did, her skin was often dirty and burnt from the sun so she was given the name Oochuwuki, the Rough-Skin Girl.

When her father returned home from the day, he would ask why the child was so dirty, and her sister would promptly say that it was the fault of the girl herself, for even though the father had forbidden her from going close to the fire, she had done so anyway, and had fallen in the soot. The father would shake his head, and wonder what would become of his youngest daughter. But he loved her greatly and often brought her flowers and sweet honey, things that his older daughter did not care for.

At one end of the village was a lodge in which lived a being who was always invisible. He was a mighty hunter, handsome and strong. He had a sister named Nukumi, who attended to all his wants, and it was known that any girl who could see him might marry him. As it happens, many tried but none of these girls could ever see him.

One day, it occurred to the two older sisters that they should go and try their luck at seeing the Invisible One.

The eldest sister wore her finest clothing and took great effort to look her best. She walked to the lodge of the Invisible one and there was greeted by Nukumi who welcomed her into their wigwam. When the sun was starting to set, they walked down to the lake and there they waited.

"Do you see my brother, he is coming now around the lake?" Asked Nukumi

"Certainly," replied the elder sister

“What is his bow made of” asked Nukumi

"Of birch ." Replied the elder sister

"Very well, let us return to the wigwam."

When they entered the wigwam, Nukumi asked her guest not to take a certain seat, for it was the seat of the Invisible One. After they had cooked supper, the elder sister waited with great curiosity to see the invisible one eat. Soon enough she got proof that he was a real person, for as he took off his moccasins they became visible, and his sister hung them up. She also could see food leaving his dish and disappear in mid-air, but beyond that she would see nothing. After this the Elder sister left the wigwan with head held low and she walked home.

The Middle sister went the next morning, also dressed in her best and hoping to win the chance to see the Invisible one.

Nukumi welcomed her guest and again when the sun was starting to set, they walked down to the lake and there they waited.

"Do you see my brother, he is coming now around the lake?" said Nukumi

"Certainly," replied the middle sister

“What is his bow made of” asked Nukumi

"Of Pine ." Replied the middle sister

"Very well, let us return to the wigwam."

And just like her elder sister she saw the moccasins appear out of thin air and the food disappear from the bowl.

The Middle sister left and slowly walked home. When she got home she told her sister’s that she had failed to see the invisible one and that only a person who was pure of heart could see him. With this she told her younger sister, oochuwuki, to go and try. Their elder sister only laughed and said if she couldn’t see him then no one could.

But the next morning Oochuwuki, made her way to the Invisible one’s lodge. She did not have any special outfits or shell necklaces to ware, but she was light heart and full of love.

Nukumi welcomed her guest and again when the sun was starting to set, they walked down to the lake and there they waited.

"Do you see my brother, he is coming now around the lake?" said Nukumi

"barely can I see him," replied Oochuwuki

“What is his bow made of” asked Nukumi

"Of rainbow wood ." Replied Oochuwuki Nukumi was surprised and asked one more question just to make sure

“and what is his string make of?’

“ of the milky way” replied Oochuwuki

"Very well, let us return to the wigwam for you can see him."

When they reached the wigwam, the Invisible One's sister took the strange clothes off Oochuwuki, and washed her with water from a special jar. Under her gentle hands, the young woman's scars disappeared, leaving her skin shining and smooth. She also combed Oochuwuki 's hair, and as she did, it grew to her waist, black and gleaming as a raven's wing and ready for braiding. Oochuwuki had not been treated with such kindness since her mother had passed on, and the joy in her face transformed it into one of surpassing beauty.

Then the sister opened a chest and took out a beautiful wedding outfit, and asked Oochuwuki to wear it. She had just put it on when a deep voice said, "Greetings, my sister."

Oochuwuki turned to the entrance and stared at the magnificent young hunter. She saw surprise light his face when their eyes met.

"Greetings, my brother," said the sister. "You are discovered at last!"

The Invisible One walked over to Oochuwuki and took her hands in his. "For years I have waited to find a woman of pure heart and brave spirit. Only such a one could see me. And now that I have found you, you shall be my bride."

~*~

And so they were married. And from then on, Oochuwuki had a new name: the Lovely One.