Western Waldorf Teacher's Conference

Wow, the Western Waldorf Teacher's Conference was AMAZING and all about handwork!!! My particular break away workshop was felting slippers.  Luckily, the green wood workers were right outside my window, so I feel like I got tutorials in both.  More pictures in a few days when I have more time, but here is a look:

(oh, and the insights from Angus Gorden of Ruskin Mill were so inspiring,   more on that later too!)

February Western Waldorf Educator's Conference

 Off to February Waldorf Teachers Conference!  I'm prepared to be inspired...already am after a rousing speech from Angus Gorden (I'm sure I spelled that wrong...) from Ruskin Mill !!!  This one is all about handwork and the importance of it especially in these days of so much media!  Oh, I am so excited!

 'A Radical Re-Visioning of Waldorf Education'
“To meet the future, we must turn the ship of Waldorf education one hundred and eighty degrees towards the arts, aesthetics, and the practical life.” – Rudolf Steiner
“...right education requires a co-working of teachers, doctors and biodynamic practitioners” —Eugen Kolisko.

In this conference we will work with the Kolisko imagination of the cross-disciplinary hub of pedagogy, health, and biodynamics. A Waldorf curriculum that is braided with biodynamics offers an opportunity for a new consciousness of the human being and the earth and a re-imagining of practical learning and aesthetics.

Materials from the earth, whether they are gold, beeswax, wool or wood, can be lifted through the genius of the hand towards service. Through the production of rose-gold balm, honey, felt slippers or a wooden stool an aesthetic emerges that inspires and reanimates practical learning and teaching. These deeds of transformation require sensory engagement and lawful movement— a right relationship to the three planes of space. We can observe the movements of how the practitioner performs will-intentions and movement-intentions that facilitate not only wellbeing, but also social health.

This educator’s conference should be seen as a coherent event in which the participant is guided to an understanding of the role of practical education and movement as a powerful aide towards incarnation. In the practical arts workshops the participant will enter directly into experiencing how will-developed intelligence engages the power of imagination and can deliver an inner sense of wellbeing. Ruskin Mill Educational Trust has actualized these insights and has implemented a practical arts curriculum over the last 30 years.

8th grade project to give to the school this year is a wall hanging quilt...this is the design they made:

First finished hat and wrist warmer set of the school year (5th grade 4 needle knitting)!!!  Look at the hand dyed yarn!  I love this, I love how every single child dyed their own wool!  Socks are next (the sock yarn was bought variegated yarn...pre-dyed).  Not every student will finish all three projects, but most will....this is a class of go-getters!

7th slippers and blacksmithing .

I sure haven't been keeping up on this blog!  Oh well, that means I have been very busy with students and handwork and a lot of fun in my personal life!

Anyhoo...here are some pictures of first, a few finished boiled wool sewn slippers from 7th grade.  They took to this project with such enthusiasm this year!  I would love to do wet felted slippers, but with 30 students it just doesn't work.  This is my second choice, and they really had some fun with it this year.

The next two pictures of the knife is actually my son's knife he made in his senior year at Sacramento Waldorf School in his Blacksmithing class.  He loved it, and he loves his handwork teacher.  The shape of the top is for a bottle opener...hmmm.  They had to go to the river to get the mud to make the forges, sew the bellows...chop the wood for the coals...I wish I had this class!

Michaelmas

Well, up to the last minute my 6th graders were putting finishing touches on their dragon head!
It looks great...and very intimidating!

We made it with paper mache...all their design.  I will miss "Courage Day" at our school so that I can attend my son's last Michaelmas at his high school...

singer sewing machine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2WVejdbYFs

just love these old adds....seems kinda pricey for those days.  Love the husband sitting around reading the paper while his wife happily sews away!  lol....

Animated Sewing Machine

Wow, while reviewing the history of the sewing machine to teach my 8th grade, I came upon this which really is great to understand how a sewing machine works...but alas, we do not use videos in a Waldorf methods school, but I think between my drawings and our "Human Sewing Machine" , plus taking a machine apart, they get it....
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML8CMNzW6Tg&feature=related

pretty cool!

First Day of 2011-12

Oh boy, here we go again!

Probably one of the best opening rose ceremonies yet!  Our new music teacher had faculty and staff singing an African song in 4 parts, and we all came up to the front like a flash mob at the beginning...it was pretty cool, ya had to be there!

I did have one class today, 5th grade.  We just talked about our Summers, I gave them the skinny on the year, then we had some free time...some still had their cross stitch from last year, and were working on those--how fabulous!
What we will be doing in 5th:
 *Last minute addition of pencil roll ups, something we do in 6th grade, but the class has a need, so here we go first thing...pencil roll ups.
 *Dyeing our wool for hats...next week in small groups while others are sewing pencil roll ups.
 *Refresher in knitting and purling and casting on...most should remember, this was a great knitting group.
 *Hats, wrist warmers, socks.
 *Later we will get an old fleece they harvested and card, dye and drop spindle spin it!  I am hopefull to make rock drop spindles...the school has some of the regular kind, but I like the idea of walking down to the river, finding their rock, spinning, then returning that rock.  This may happen in Nov or Dec, we shall see.
 *For those high achievers, or those who are just frustrated with knitting but tried their best, we will crochet a little at the end....it seemed to be all the rage with last year's 5th at the end of the year, so why not?!

Verses dilemma !!!

Ugh, I am so tired of the old handwork verses I have been using, but cannot seem to come up with anything original or even already existing poems or songs....

 I would love to have a song for opening verse...mostly for upper grades....the verses I am trying to change are for 5th grade and up... Ideas anybody??

We start school this week, all my supplies are in disarray and underneath another teacher's supplies who cannot get into his classroom due to the flooring finnish curing...we are both very anxious about it!  Oh well, it will be what it will be and we may just start a little late...

Here are some more pictures of the process for the cement bird bath!  So fun!  :

Until then, I will continue my search for verses...

Finished birdbath

Kind of going backwards, but these are pictures of the cement birdbath I made with my 8th grade at the end of the year.  We made faux bois stands with hypertufa.  I recommend this project, it is cheap and turns out beautifully!  It was the perfect project for this class as it was not too difficult, because I had a very hard time keeping them focused at the end of the year!

Just checking in over summertime...

OH MY, this Summer of doing absolutely nothing and everything has been glorious!

Sacramento Waldorf Handwork display

I visited our local private Waldorf school's open house and checked out the Handwork display...lovely work!  The weaving is a high school project, but the rest are typical lower grades stuff.  I do like the flute cases, and was inspired by the simple quilts made by 8th grade as giving projects.  The animals, usually a 6th grade project, were enormous and adorable!  I could never let my students all do different animals!  I will admit, I was very jealous in speaking with their handwork teacher to find out the class size is a quarter of mine....literally less than 10 students in a class while I have 30 plus!  Even so, I am very proud of my public waldorf charter and the work we do!  They also have a much bigger budget...thank goodness I am such a penny pincher!

Paper maiche marionettes

 

I am just loving how these are turning out!  We mixed up a paper mache "clay" that uses toilet paper, joint compound, linseed oil, and flour, and it is very moldable and durable, can be sanded or drilled like wood...so we are using it to form the feet for our marionettes.  I'll include the recipe later, I left it at school and can't remember it by heart, but it is very easy!