Wet felting slippers with 7th grade

Wet felting with 7th grade.

Wowee, these kids are amazing and fun and loud and kooky and all the things you could imagine from a 7th grade.  I decided to wet felt slippers with about 30 7th graders at the same time in a classroom with one tiny sink ... and it has been fun and a real learning experience...I have never done this before, so I am learning quite a bit.  It has been fun, frustrating, soapy, stressful, loud, impressive, and more.  I think they really have enjoyed it thus far, but at this point I think they are learning mindfulness and not rushing ahead as some are not turning out the way they should, but no fear...patches, needdle felting, sewing will fix all that in the end.  Like we always tell them "If you can't fix it, feature it"!

Michaelmas

Awe, look at this two headed dragon!  These 6th graders really were so inspired this year...and I was totally "hands off" and let them do whatever they wanted, and look what happened!  

At our school we call Michaelmas "courage day", so no-one mistakes the day for something religious since we are a public charter school, and although it is not, we have to be careful I guess...silly really.  The day begins with the 2nd grade doing the St. George and the Dragon play, the 6th graders play the part of the dragon as well as make the dragon (it is very cute, they are also class buddies, the 2nd and 6th grade, so it works out so well!)

It was a super hot day, near 100 degrees!  After the play, the whole school participates in 

"Courage day" festivities, where we have various feats of courage...pretty fun, but oh so hot!

After our play, I went over the Sacramento Waldorf School to watch their Michaelmas play, always a treat to see what the parents and children of the 6th grade come up with for their dragon!

This one was fire breathing!

Well, I need to muster the courage to slay some personal dragons, but it is just too darn hot in these parts!  That will have to wait for cooler weather, even the dragons are seeking cooler places....

Happy Fall !

Almost Michaelmas

Well, things are heating up...literally it is going to 100 degrees this weekend in Sacramento!  The last weeks have been in the 90's, and it is getting difficult to believe it is fall...it is making the natives restless!

It is time for change and introspection, but the weather is not cooperating!  

The first two months of a handwork teacher's year are so very stressful...be nice to your handwork teachers, they work really really really hard....

Biodynamic Gardening

 Potatoes

 Compost

Carrots

Did I mention I have added another 4 classes in Biodynamic Gardening?  I am helping Farmer Jim with 5 thru 8 one day a week, transforming our garden into a place of beauty!  I love this day!  I get to be out in the sunshine, get dirty, and enjoy the kids in a different environment.  These pics were from the 8th grade, who harvested and gave it to the kindergarten for soup, and their big job is the enormous compost pile!

They wanted to eat the carrots so badly, but it was a good exercise on giving...

8th grade quilt

Remember that quilt we made last year as a wall hanging for the school, but I never took a picture of the finished product?  Well, here she is in all her glory...the pic is taken at an angle because it is hung on the stage which is at the moment storage for all kinds of stuff, so this is the closest I could get.  You can see where some squares never made it, but it still is pretty awsome...

Steiner on handwork, in a nutshell.

While going through my notes on the history of the sewing machine, its role in the industrial revolution (not to mention economics, as it was the first household item to be bought with the HP , hire purchase, system...think "rent to own"...Singer had a good business partner in Clarke...time to live beyond our means, woohoo!)

Oh, I do digress...what I came across was a notion, perhaps a quote but my notes do not show a quote, so I am assuming it is a rephrasing maybe from Rudolf Steiner...of the whole purpose of handwork in the Waldorf school:

Steiner stated that the purpose (of handwork) was not necessarily to teach a particular skill, but rather to inspire a mindset of confidence and connectedness in the individual.

Yes!

Oh, and this is my fave picture of Rudolf...about the age of my own son...

Yarn dye 5th grade

First week of school has been a whirlwind!!

Between school starting and a huge wedding in Lake Tahoe, with out of state family visitors and weeks of fun activities, it has been pretty crazy staying on top of things!  Last relatives left yesterday, and now I can concentrate on school...that said, I am pretty impressed by what we got done.  At times it felt like I was running a marathon!

So, here is the batch of dyed yarn from the new 5th graders!  I didn't get a shot of it drying on the fence darn it, but here it is hanging in the window of the classroom (this is about a third of it).  The colors are vibrant!

We used only Kool-aide this year!

We soaked the hanks of wool (untreated hanks from Brown Sheep) in a water and vinegar bath for a couple of days first.

Then, the wool is pulled out, coiled on a plastic wrapped table, and the Kool-aide is sprinkled on top.

Coils are put in gallon plastic bags with the child's name on it and set in the sun on the black top play ground.

Bags were brought in at the end of the day and stored for a few days until next class time-rinsing.

I fill three large pails with cool water, the kids pull the yarn out, gently dunk, dunk, dunk...squeeze like milking a cow (don't want to felt it!) then hang it up to dry.  I was amazed that not a DROP of colour came out of the yarn!  It is really really really colour fast, and it soaked up every bit of it!
These will make a hat and two wrist warmers for each child in 4 needle knitting.

WHAT I LEARNED...

The colour of the Kool-aide dye is the colour of the ice cubes on the packet, NOT the colour of the packet itself (thank you Victoria...)

Next year we may mix the Kool-aide with a bit of water to be spooned on the yarn, OR the yarn has to still be pretty wet to soak up the crystals...

It easily takes 2 hours to dye with 30 children.

From the wedding...and baby makes three!
Love my boys...