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, May 20, 2015

7th and high school science in a waldorf school


painting for both 7th ad 11th graders and a knitted project I saw and really want to copy for our science room at school 

New mud house in our school garden

Straw bale and mud 





4th grade handwork Auction project





Thursday, March 19, 2015

back after a long break

its been so long since I last checked in here

Had another baby and took some time off. But I am back to show work from my students

9th grade black and white drawings.  The eyes were a lesson we did together. the rest were their finals.



















Saturday, June 15, 2013

Batiking in high school

So I am leaning how to batik now

here is a great tutorial on how to batik without the hot wax.  she uses glue gel

batik.htmlhttp://www.thatartistwoman.org/2008/09/how-to-do-fall-glue-batik.html


Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Doll tutorial Waldorf

Fairy wool dolls is doing a great tutorial

Here it is
http://fairywooldolls.blogspot.com/2013/03/blog-post_29.html?showComment=1365005285495#c5973306633987986711


If that didn't work go to fairywooldolls.blogspot.com 

Sunday, March 3, 2013

sandro Botticelli


my 7th graders final art piece in her renaissance block.  not finished  

Waldorf water color collage

Here is another collage the third grade is working on. It will be the story of star money.
Four kids glue at a time onto the canvas with mog podge.


  • use canvas
  • tear water colored paper into small tiles
  • paint canvas with glue. wear gloves
  • place background  pieces on canvas
  • paint over the pieces with second layer of glue
  • place foreground pictures on canvas
  • final glue layer 





Thursday, February 7, 2013

3rd grade math clock


collage project

some people have asked how to do the collage project I did last year with the 2nd grade.  we will be doing it again  this year and here is the info I gave the parents


This year the students of the third grade have taken water colored paintings and transformed them into a collage painting  glued onto a canvas.  In essence they started with one idea  (painting color shades) and with that transformed the color pieces (tiles) into a form on the canvas.   The students took 4 blank canvases and created two pictures that connect.  One is a Noah’s ark theme and the other is the story of Star Money.   




Basically the children paint on water colored paper ....just like they normally do.  make sure there is lots of different colors.  then they rip the paper into small bits and put them into baggies that match in color.  so you have like colors together.  then you take the canvases and glue.   that mag pag stuff or is it mog pog .  
have the kids paint the canvas with the glue. place the background tiles and glue on top.  next add the main story on top of the background.  glue place and glue again 

where have I been

Well I have been missing in action for awhile now.  But I am slowly getting more time to check in again.

I hope people are still checking in and able to use some ideas from this blog.

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. 

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Waldorf 7th grade reproduction Human A & P



You can get this book at Bob and Nancy's book Waldorf Book store. 
Linda Knodle has other books as well that are VERY good for this topic. The activities and the drawings are great for waldorf teachers

Human Fertility

For use with 10 - 12 year olds Grades 4-7
Linda E Knodle
Coming of Age Curriculum Series
Lessons in Support of the Inner and Outer Changes in Puberty and Adolescence
Softound
$29.95

We are happy to be able to offer Linda Knodle’s newest editions of her original Human Fertility curriculum. She has now created two separate curriculum guides to better support the needs of different adolescent age groups.
In this first volume, offered in support of students in grades 4-7, Linda guides teachers, parents and community leaders through a detailed curriculum offerings designed to create a warm understanding of the physical and emotional changes the students are experience. Further, Linda helps adults weave a welcoming community around these teenagers.
This is truly a heartfelt work which has already graced the lives of hundreds of adolescents and the adults who care for them.
Contents:
Part One: Preparation for the Course
  • Introduction
  • Sample Rotation for Middle School Blocks of Study
  • Daily Main Lesson (Sample)
  • Elements of the Lesson
  • Preparation: Before Classroom Work
  • Preparing Yourself
  • Preparing the Faculty Letter for Faculty or Adult Community
  • Preparing for Parents Letter for Parents
  • Preview Questions for Interviews
  • Overview
  • Preparing for the Students Details of the Day
  • Spelling List
  • Resources for Teachers and Parents Resources for Students
Part Two: Lesson Plans
Part Three: Supplements