Gnomes

This is what I'm doing when I'm not stressing about reports that still need to be written, when I'm not packing for destination unknown, when I'm not attending a parent night, when I'm not baking for the 8th Grade commencement, when I'm not attending a meeting, when I'm not sleeping off a fever & cold, when I'm not stressing about $$$ (or better the lack thereof), when I'm not wondering about future housing arrangements:

I'm sewing up the final crew of gnomes my 2nd grade students have been working on during handwork this year. The children who take their time with things are finishing their gnomes during these last few days. I do let the girls have "girl gnomes," although that's not quite an accurate picture of the world of the elementals. This fella & two ladies are today's creations. Twelve down. Three to go. You can find the pattern here on my blog or at Ravelry.

Beeswax Crayons & Lo Shu

Beeswax crayons in their second year of use. I just recently gave out a gray, so that one looks rather new. For 3rd grade I will simply replace those that need it & during the last week of 2nd grade we will clean them with a wee bit of olive oil on a rag. We do a lot of golden backgrounds. I have some students who have used up a golden block in its entirety, nothing left. Quality tools for quality work. - I love the Stockmar crayons made from beeswax. This is their German webpage, but you can also purchase them in the U.S., for example here. (I do believe this is a home-based business.)

Do you know the story of Lo Shu and the magic number squares? Quite something for 2nd graders to discover. My classroom is a worksheet-free zone - except for an occasional math practice sheet, but those are always written by me by hand & I do the math, too!

LoShu all finished along with the Chinese characters. This particular student made a really big turtle, so the Chinese symbols are a bit hard to see up there in the corner. They were so excited that I let them write something in Chinese. They copied it from my chalkboard drawing.

Then some more "magical math" on the board. It can be hard to hold the attention of a group of children who are "ready for summer," but on this hot Friday Lo Shu did the trick.

Beeswax Crayon Birds

Hoot! It's Friday.

This past week it was time for some animal drawings in 2nd grade. Owls, birds, mice, lions & bears to be specific. We took a step-by-step approach, using basic shapes. I tried to convey the idea of drawing with living lines & also to build a shape from the middle out rather than starting with outlines - in all of it staying away from the cartoonification of the animal. We did one as a guided class drawing & then the children came up with their own, unique ones...

More 2nd Grade Knitting

Another gnome finished. This one was made by a girl in my class & she requested it be a "girl gnome," so no beard. (While the students do all the knitting, I always sew them up.) I came up with the idea for shoelaces. Wish I had thought of that with the others. I will take it to her this afternoon. Spring has come to Richmond. Photos by Nathan.

S p r i n g... In 2nd Grade

I posted about these as a WIP Wednesday a while ago. I haven't finished my set yet, but my 2nd graders have finished theirs - as you can see. They are so excited about these egg covers. Those who have siblings are planning to hide chocolate eggs underneath - away from brothers & sisters. Some struggled completing one, so the fairies will have to come this weekend and help a bit. Others finished three and are now working on lil' baby chicks along with it. I love the big, red comb on the yellow one. How fiery.

2nd Grade Waldorfiness

School life goes on in the midst of it all...

I have started to introduce cursive writing to my 2nd graders, the Vimala alphabet to be specific. Usually a teacher should only introduce things he or she has mastered, but I must admit I have not yet mastered this style completely. It is quite a will-activity to change one's handwriting! It was a journey inspired by this book. I highly recommend it.

The students have been learning it for about a week now while listening to stories of Saint Francis. We are making a book about his life so to speak. It will include his famous Canticle of the Sun, which they are learning by heart. Some illustrations are crayon drawings, while others are paintings. Here's some of the work thus far...

Yes, the lower case "t" is crossed all the way at the top. It looks a bit unusual, doesn't it? But the author says that each letter as an inner meaning. The "T/t" is about destiny - how far are we willing to reach to find our destiny in life? All the way! Thus the "t" is crossed at the very top. I've given my students the image of reaching for the stars, crossing the "t" way up there...

The students are also working hard on memorizing the class play. I wrote last year's class play, but I just couldn't wrap my mind around it this year. This year's play will be Saint Athracta's Stags.

We're playing "Amazing Grace" on the pentatonic flutes. Yup. It works!

I'm having the class take a break from their regular handwork project, the gnomes, and they will be making the Spring Chicken Egg Covers from Peace Fleece. What wonderful yarn! Such a great kit. The children who have completed their knitting projects will then move on to crocheting a shopping bag. Crocheting goes nicely with learning cursive writing.

Yes, I'm busy!

Spicin' Up Math

Yesterday was a wonderful day & today I'm still riding a bit on that "high," so here's a Waldorf math ride for you. What you see here is work that was done by 2nd graders after they had been introduced to these forms in the spirit of "beautiful numbers make beautiful forms." Have you ever experienced math like this? Buckle up and get ready for the ride!

Take a paper, make a circle & divide the circle into 10 equal parts. (You may cheat with a compass if you are older than a 6th grader, but free-handing a circle is a nice exercise in itself.)

Going clockwise, place numbers from zero to nine. (Our number system really goes from zero to nine, not from one to ten.) Then, say a times table in your head and "connect the dots," ignoring the tens in the process. For example: The fours table goes 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36, 40. You will then start with number 4 & draw a line to 8, from 8 to 2, from 2 to 6 and so on.

You will end up with something that looks like this...

Isn't that just awesome?

In this manner all times tables make different forms & some numbers do similar things.

You will see that 1s create a 10-sides polygon & that 9s do the same thing, just in reverse order. 2s make a pentagon, and 8s do the same thing, just in reverse order. 3s make a 10-pointed star & 7s do that, too, but in reverse order. 4s make a pentagram, and 6s do the same thing, just - yeap, you guessed right - in reverse order. 5s are rather boring, but they make a straight line.

It was so exciting for my 2nd graders to learn the - usually dreaded - times tables this way. I don't believe that education needs to be entertaining, but when something like this unfolds in front of you, it's just amazing! Beautiful numbers do make beautiful forms. We did a lot of jump roping, too. Try it! We had some visitors in our class during the math block and even these adults had never seen this before. They were quite amazed. There's enough meat (or tofu) here for an entire 2nd grade math block!

Head, Heart-N-Hands Thursday

I'm trying to find a balance between personal stories, craftiness & Waldorf-education related posts on this blog. I've come to love the idea of "WIP Wednesday," although Wednesday often passes me by. I'm going to start "Head, Heart-N-Hands Thursday," hoping to post impressions of bookwork across the grades as well as samples of practical work, recitations & songs. - It is never intended as something to be copied, but I know many take inspiration from it & I have often found such a peek into the classroom a helpful thing for the growth of my own ideas.

Below are some impressions of 2nd grade bookwork. They are of Saint Gall, or Caillech - his Irish name. They were essentially free drawings, although the children did receive some guidelines as to what should be in the picture. You can see the wide spectrum of the work 2nd graders do. Most importantly they loved the story and they were really into doing the bookwork!

Betty Botter

I had originally envisioned the tongue twister Betty Botter as "just" a speech exercise, but then the students ended up loving it so much that I actually had them create a book entry with a free drawing. So much enthusiasm. I just love the work!

Dove Of Peace

To decorate the halls for the Holiday Bazaar, each class is asked to create a holiday themed painting. My students wondered when they would get to use the white crayon that is in their tin this year. When I visited the Christchurch Rudolf Steiner School this summer (ehmmm winter), the 3rd graders had created wonderful Noah's Ark themed paintings using the crayon resist method. That's what came to mind when I tried to find something to do with that white crayon. My students drew a white dove onto white paper - not an easy task. They added a lil' olive branch in its mouth. They then wrote words like love, joy, happiness, friendship, peace... in red underneath the dove & finally painted blue over it & - as if by magic - the dove appeared.

Star Boys

The other day, when posting about the felted Lucia crowns, I mentioned the star wands the boys will be carrying. The stars are all still in raw form. The parent of a student kindly cut them out from 3/4" wood. They are 8" in diameter. I had left the choice of 5-pointed or 6-pointed up to him. They have a 3/8" hole drilled in the bottom where a 3-foot dowel will be glued into. - I suppose that makes them more like a star staff. The parents of the boys will now sand the edges & then paint the stars golden.

In our Santa Lucia procession the boys will have the star wands in one hand and a jug of (a non-alcoholic version of) Gloegg in the other. The girls will carry the Lucia bread. Oh, I should mention that the girls will also be wearing a red sash tied around the waist. It will simply be a 6x48" silk scarf dyed red.

I will invite the parents of students to gather in the library in the morning so they will be the first ones to enjoy the beautiful Lucia singing & their children will serve them Lucia bread and Gloegg. Then the students will journey from class to class. They will leave a Lucia crown in each class and the boys will serve Gloegg to the teacher. Of course we will also visit all the lovely people in the administrative offices.

I've had a Lucia I felted for the nature table for years. I'm going to make a star boy to go along with her. In a traditional Swedish procession there's also a Tomten (gnome). I will share the pictures as soon as I'm done creating. I should probably also post the recipe for the baked Santa Lucia crown & the non-alcoholic Gloegg. Don't get me wrong. I'd prefer the alcoholic version, but that's not the thing to serve at school to teachers!

Stay tuned.

In Darkest Winter Night...

Instead of choosing the oldest or youngest child in the class to be Santa Lucia and instead of rotating a Lucia crown with burning candles among the students before we enter the various classrooms, I decided that the nine girls in my class should all be Lucia this year & I'm asking parents to come felt Lucia crowns at my house. The first get-together was last night & look how beautiful they all are! The boys will have stars, cut from wood, painted golden & attached to a long dowel. I'm looking forward to Santa Lucia's Day!

Saint Brendan

The story of Saint Brendan is one of my favorite saint stories. What adventures. A quest of seven years! The pictures here were guided drawings my students created.

A favorite part of the long story was the story of the Easter worship on a "small island" that turned out to be a whale. One of Brendan's men shouts out, "Brendan, the island is sinking." - The students just loved that part!

Pumpkins...

♥ Autumn is my favorite time of the year! ♥